Table tag non-validation

I've been noticing for some time that, when using the W3C HTML validator and
using an HTML 4.01 trans DTD, I get an error such as seen below. Why would
the validator be looking for the "APPLET", etc. etc. start-tag when it's a
straight run-of-the-mill table (or nested table) that I'm coding? I thought
the 4.01 trans DTD was still accepting the <.table> tag?

Line 21, column 62:
  <.table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4">
                                                                ^
Error: document type does not allow element "TABLE" here; missing one of
"APPLET", "OBJECT", "MAP", "IFRAME", "BUTTON" start-tag
Sharon

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Sharon F. Malone
http://www.24caratdesign.com
"web page design and Internet writing services"

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