The following phrase sounds to be incorrect for my ears.
“… to avoid bending of the rules.”
Shouldn’t it be either
“… to avoid the bending of the rules.”
or
“… to avoid bending the rules.”*
The last two seem to be definitely better than the original. Is it so? If yes, which one sounds better?
Answer
Any of the three can be used in the right context:
"… to avoid bending of the rules." (by anyone)
"… to avoid the bending of the rules." (in a specific instance)
"… to avoid bending the rules." (myself)
Suppose I’m an English professor who has teaching assistants and has given a class an essay to write. In this context, the following all “sound natural” to me as a native speaker:
-
I wrote a detailed marking scheme to avoid bending of the rules by the TAs
-
I gave John a “B” to avoid the bending of the rules that would have been needed to give him an “A”.
-
I gave John a “B” to avoid bending the rules
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : vsz , Answer Author : Emmet
