Article (grammar)

An article was a part of speech used to identify a noun. In particular, articles indicated the definitiveness of something.

Following his regeneration, the Fourth Doctor told Harry Sullivan that, whilst Sullivan was a doctor, he was "the Doctor. The definite article, you might say." (TV: Robot ^[+]Loading...["Robot (TV story)"]) Similarly, the Twelfth Doctor corrected a Mondasian Cyberman, adding that he was "The original, you might say," and ironically faced the same assertion when he crossed paths with the First Doctor. (TV: Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])

When the Fourteenth Doctor and Rose Noble asked how to refer to the Meep, the Meep replied, "my chosen pronoun was the definite article; I am always 'the Meep'." Upon learning this, the Doctor admitted "I do that". (TV: The Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) Renouncing one's personal name and taking a title preceded by the definite article was a process done by many Time Lords known as an Elective Semantectomy. (PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil ^[+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)"])

Behind the scenes

• The Fourth Doctor's assertion that he was "the definite article" was a pun on two possible meanings of the phrase— one indicating the grammatical definite article "the", as used in the title "the Doctor" vs "a doctor", and the second using "article" to mean "item" or "object", indicating that of all doctors, the Doctor himself was the definitive one.
  • The Doctor's change of this to "the original" in Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"] both references this latter meaning, with the idea that the Doctor himself inspired the word "doctor" suggested by River Song in A Good Man Goes to War ^[+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"] and the Twelfth Doctor himself in The Return of Doctor Mysterio ^[+]Loading...["The Return of Doctor Mysterio (TV story)"]. It also references how the First Doctor, particularly to his future self, was the first incarnation to use the title "the Doctor".