Ahoj, v následující větě mám problém se 3 členy

The coroner has asphyxiation as cause of death, from a crushed windpipe and…fractured dislocation of the cervical vertebrae.

1 – cause of death bez členu, přitom často vidím v množném čísle “causes of death”. 2 – a windpipe – průdušnice je jedna, zrovna tady bych pochopil spíše určitý člen, který je ale naopak u 3 (cervical vertebrae) – krčního obratle, kterých je naopak více (a tam bych tedy spíše pochopil i neurčitý).

Díky

Hi Klotyl, The coroner has asphyxiation as the cause of death(,) from a crushed windpipe and…fractured dislocation of the cervical vertebrae.

How I (native English speaker) understand/feel the use of (the) articles here: it's true that there's only one windpipe, but the overriding reason for “a” here is “first mention” (of the crushed windpipe). The cervical vertebrae: there are two reasons here for “the”. (1) “Assumed context”: we are talking about the vertebrae that (everyone knows) are present in the human body; (2) we want to define which vertebrae we mean – the cervical vertebrae, not the lumbar vertebrae, not the thoracic vertebrae. “Asphyxiation as cause of death” (no article before “cause”) is also possible, but less likely – Ngram. If the writer omits the article in front of “cause”, it's because (a) he is considering “cause of death” something like an item in a list, such as “name”, “sex”, “date of birth”, “date of death”, “cause of death” (and in that kind of usage articles are usually omitted) or (b) he consider's “cause of death” as a kind of “abstract concept”. Cause (and death, too, for that matter) can be countable or uncountable. “Asphyxiation as a cause of death” is also possible if there was more than one cause of death. But you have to look at every example in its full context. “First mention” is a very strong (and usually overriding) marker for the indefinite article, so we have to know the full context to understand if the use of the article can be attributed to the “first mention” reason or not.

Thanks! To provide the context – yes, this was “first mention”. But..the vertebrae is also mentioned for the first time there, and yet the “first mention” is overriden by the other reasons and the definite article is used.

Cervical vertebrae je množné číslo, tam neurčitý člen být nemůže. I v jednotným čísle by tam ale s největší pravděpodobností bylo the z důvodu, který uvedl DesperateDan výše.