A quote from The Economist (Higher education: The attack of the MOOCs):
“Anyone who thinks the rules of engagement have already been written
by the existing players is massively underestimating the potential of
the technology,” he says.May the definite article be omitted before “existing players”, or is the word “existing” a modifier that makes THE obligatory?
Answer
The presence of existing before players has no bearing on whether or not to use the article.
… the rules of engagement have already been written by the existing
players …
implies that the rules have been written by all of the existing players.
On the other hand:
… the rules of engagement have already been written by existing
players …
tells the reader only that existing players have written the rules, but not necessarily all existing players.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : CowperKettle , Answer Author : Shoe
