Is it right not to put a "the" before some superlative adjectives such as "first"?

3

I find this example quite interesting without using a "the" before the word "first":

7:05 p.m. First question is directed to Christie, who's asked what concrete steps he would take to get Americans back to work.1

I'm quite sure it is correct to say,"The first question is directed to Christie", then why is there a "first" alone? Is that acceptable in standard English? Is it right not to put a definite article "the" before some superlative adjectives such as "first"?

1. CBSnews

dennylv

Posted 2015-11-11T02:25:43.560

Reputation: 4 361

Where did you find this? – Nihilist_Frost – 2015-11-11T02:49:57.137

It was found on CBS news site. You can click the sentence links to that news report. – dennylv – 2015-11-11T02:54:51.957

1Probably just typing fast. Since it is a play-by-play, perfect grammar is probably not the first concern – user3169 – 2015-11-11T02:55:06.597

2Something I learned while trying to practice my German by reading articles online, one shouldn't entirely trust news outlets to use their own language properly – Joseph Rogers – 2015-11-11T06:40:01.710

2I have found that for short reports like these, some words are omitted for brevity and somewhat to make some drama for the reader. – Beta Decay – 2015-11-11T07:09:30.850

For the record, thus has nothing to do with being a superlative. He could also have said "second question" or "next question," which would expect an article in proper English, but would also be dropped in spoken English like this. – Azor Ahai -- he him – 2015-11-11T20:32:28.087

Answers

1

The noun phrase first question does sound a bit weird here, and it would sound weirder in normal written English, which usually expects the first question.

Note that this text is a live commentary on the debate, so some features of the English used here are context sensitive, especially the use of short sentences that don't carry a whole lot of detail. Definite articles are often left out in other contexts, such as lists. So I wouldn't say it was incorrect in this context, just different.

It is also similar to interviewing someone, and you are sitting across the table and instead of saying the first question... or perhaps more likely my first question.., one could very well just say: First question... and then ask the question.

But in most contexts, yes we would expect a determiner before first.

user20792

Posted 2015-11-11T02:25:43.560

Reputation:

Asked: 2015-11-11T02:25:43.560

Viewed: 503 times

Active: 2015-11-11T16:47:12.517