THE ARTICLE

THE ARTICLE

It is a form word and   has a lexico grammatical meaning

that of definiteness

indefiniteness

It has invariable forms: a /an : a book, an apple and

is placed in front of the noun/noun equivalents: a table, a red book

Classification of Articles:

I Definite Article

II Indefinite Article

Indefinite Article

- its forms are : a/an : a book, a boy; an ice cream, an apple

it is used with nouns in the Singular only

- it indicates that the object denoted is one of the whole class,

no specification of its individual features is given:

Give me a pencil! (any will do)

- a noun determined by it may get a descriptive attribute:

a woman with the black hair; an interesting book, etc.

Definite Article

- its form is the both for the Sing. and Plural :the girl(s); the apple(s);

- it pronounced differently /ti/ apple , / / book

- sometimes it takes the value of the demonstrative pronoun:

Give me the book from the bed! (that one )

- with the uncountable nouns it marks a limited quantity:

The water in the glass is cool.

Absence of the Article

- articles may be omitted for the sake of conciseness in newspaper headings, stage remarks, telegrams.

Use of Articles with different Classes of Nouns

Proper Names : NO Article is used :John, Smith, London

BUT 1) names of persons accompanied by Indefinite Article, meaning a certain of, one of: He is a Forsyte

both articles are used in front of names of persons when they are used

as common nouns:

He has the humor of a Dickens.

He is the Byron of his age.

3) names of persons in the Plural meaning the whole fam

Here are the Browns (all the members of the famil

4) names of persons used with Definite Article when preceded by an

attribute expressing state, mood, or a permanent characteristic:

the impatient John, the immortal Shakespeare

NO Article when the attribute is expressed by one of the adjectives:

young, old, little, poor, dear, honest pretty, lazy, silly : poor John,

lazy Mary, dear Bob

5) names of persons used with Definite Article when theyare modified by a limiting attribute even if they are preceded by one of the above

mentioned adjectives:

the poor Bob of his youth,

the Mr. Smith whom I know

6)when a personal name is preceded by a noun denoting state,

speciality, profession, occupation not used as title,the whole

combination is preceded by Definite Article

the girl Mary, the poet Byron, the composer Mozart

BUT most English titles and some foreign ones have NO Article

Queen Ann, King Richard, Captain Scott, Monsieur Laporte

Geographical Names

NO Article with the following names:

1)names of countries: Romania, England, France

BUT the USA, the United Kingdom of Great Britain

the Netherlands, the West Indies, the Congo, the

Sudan, the Lebanon, the Transvaal

names of towns: Bucharest, London, New York

BUT the Hague

names of towns having a geographical or historical

attribute: ancient Rome, southern Paris

compound nouns of places, buildings, monuments,

the first part being a proper name:

Hyde Park, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey

names of streets may/ may not get an article:

Oxford Street, Chancery Lane

BUT the Strand, the High Street, the Mall

6) names of months and days: May, June, July

Monday, Tuesday

when they get a descriptive attribute, they get an

Indefinite Article: I went there on a Wednesday.

names of seasons when the nature / season is expressed

BUT with Article when a certain period of the year is marked,

mostly with the preposition in, during :

winter was coming, in (the) autumn, during (the) winter,

in(the) autumn

WITH Definite Article

names of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, straits, channels,

the Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea, the Leman,

the Thames, the English Channel, the Suez Canal

NO Article

- when the words lake, loch, lough precede the

proper names: Lake Leman, Loch Ness

- when the names of the river are part of a compound noun

Stratford-on-Avon

name contains an of phrase:

the City of London, the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Dover, the Isle of Wight,

NO Article

- when the Saxon Genitive is in the structure:

St. Helens Island, St. Michels Mount

names of chains of mountains: the Alps, the

Carpathians

NO Article

- with single mountain peaks: Mont Blanc

BUT some exceptions: the Jungfrau, the St. Bernard,

the St. Gotthard

names of groups of islands: the Hebrides, the Canaries

names of deserts : the Sahara, the Gobi

names of provinces: the Ruhr, the Riviera, the Tyrol

names of capes : the North Cape,

the Cape of Good Hope

NO Article

- when the noun cape precedes the proper name:

Cape Horn, Cape Cod

names of places, buildings, monuments which

do not contain proper names : the Tower, The City,

the Channel

names of cardinal points: the North, the East

NO Article

- when used adverbially: to sail north

proper name resulted from an adverbial phrase:

the Argentina ( the Republic of Argentina)

the Tate (the Tate Gallery)

Other Proper Names with Article:

names of ships, hotels, clubs, theatres:

the Savoy (hotel), the Queen Mary(ship),

the Globe theatre, the Iseeum (club)

names of newspapers, magazines= attribute + common name

the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Worker

BUT Punch (proper name), Life, Time (uncountable)

The Spectator, The Star (countable)

Common Nouns

Countable nouns in the Sing. must be preceded by one of the

Articles if there is no determinative:

a book, the book, my book, this book

countable nouns used in the Sing, generically (representing a

whole class) both articles can be used:

A lion (any lion) is a ferocious animal.

The lion (the whole class) is a ferocious animal.

nouns denoting members of the family :father, mother,

brother, aunt, baby, nurse, cook may be used as proper names

by family members or friends not preceded by Article and

written with capital letters:

Where is Father? What about Baby? Cook has gone to the market.

nouns denoting parts of the day :morning, evening,

afternoon, night get the Definite Article when a

particular morning/evening/night is meant and is used

with the preposition in : It is seven oclock in the evening.

The day is cold, dark and dreary.

NO Article

- when they are used with the preposition at, by

at noon, at night, by day, from morning till night

names of meals get NO Article : breakfast, lunch, dinner

when used in a general sense

BUT both Articles are used when the content of a meal/

definite meals are meant:

The day of the dinner has come.

to give a special dinner

nouns school, college, market, prison, jail, court, hospital

camp, bed, table, sea are used without articles when

treated as abstract nouns and denote state, activities or the

aim associated with them: to go school=to be a pupil

to go to bed=to go to sleep

BUT institute, university are used with Definite Article:

at the University, in the Institute

the noun town used with preposition in the meaning of

town life get NO Article : Im going up to town.

It gets the two articles when it has the concrete meaning:

Arad is the town where I live. It is a nice town.

nouns like:

circumstances, conditions, events, matters, things

get NO Article :

Conditions were abnormal. the rush of events,

The idea was a great success.

Definite Article + adj. wrong, right+ countable nouns

I took the wrong bus.

He is the right man in the right place.

as, kind of, sort of + Indefinite Article (wavers)

She was now engaged as (a) governess.

What kind of (a) woman is Mary?

Indefinite Article may have a distributive value:

Six lessons a day(per day)

countable nouns ( in the Sing.) are used with Indefinite

Article in exclamatory sentences and without article in

interrogative ones:

What books are you reading ?

What an interesting book!

NO Article is used with nouns in direct address:

What is the matter, little girl?

NO Article + predicative noun(adjectival character)

+ enough :He is not fool enough to believe all these.

NO Article + predicative noun in adverbial clause of

concession when the noun is placed at the head of the clause:

Child as he was, he suffered much.

16) NO Article + nouns denoting kinship used predicatively

He was (the) son of a fisherman.

She married Peter Smith, son of late Professor Smith

NO Article + nouns denoting title, rank, state, dignity used predicatively or in apposition:

He is President of the Academy.

Mrs. X. is Rector of our University.

NO Article with homogenous parts of the sentence

expressed by countable and connected by the conjunctions

and, bothand, either or; neithernor:

Both books and copy books are on the table.

She took from the box tea-pot, sugar-bowl and milk-jug.

It is more usual to use the Definite Article in front of the

first noun of the sequence:

I put the books, pencils and copy books on the table.

Uncountables

when used in a general sense, they do not get articles:

Where there is life, there is hope

- when they are narrowed in their meaning, they get definite

articles: the life that was behind him

both articles may be used with nouns of material when they

denote various sorts of the substance or the objects made of the material:

It is a very good wine.

The wines of this region are excellent.

- names of illness are a special category: some of them are

used with an indefinite article: to catch a cold , to have a cold/ cough/headache/pain/ others with definite article:

to have the toothache/ the measles/the mumps

Collectives

- the use of Articles depends on the general meaning of articles

and on the aspect predominant in the given context:

Mine is a small family.

The family is small.

The family are in the garden.

the nouns of multitude are used with the definite article:

The cattle are grazing.

The police are searching the house.

Special Cases of Using the Article

the + most + adjective: the most beautiful

most+ nouns : Most of the books are on the shelf.

article + numeral: She has not read the ten books yet.

article + ordinal number: the third, the second

article + pronouns: Ill take the other book.

article + adjective: the last, the next,

article in set expressions: to play the piano/ violin

/the fool/ to pass the time; to get the upper hand

BUT some set expressions are without article:

by land, by train, by car, on shore, on board, in view of

to take place, to take part, to catch sight

Place of Article

- its usual place is in front of the noun: a long way, the new house

- Indefinite Article after the adverbs: quite, rather, just,

pronouns: both, and

quite a child, rather lonely, such a thing,

- Indefinite Article after the attribute expressed by an adjective

preceded by one of the adverbs: as, so, too, how

so short a time, as black a house inside as outside

- both articles follow the words half, double:

Half a minute ! We paid double the value.

Exercises

I. Insert the definite article or the zero article:

I. He ran into house and locked door. 2. milk is good for children and elderly people. 3. food in restaurant near me is very good.

4. Please, put butter, bread, and eggs in refrigerator.

5. lions are wild animals. 6. One of Mark Twain's well-known works is 'Life on Mississippi'. 7. In Asia elephants are used for carrying goods. 8. young boy on her right is English. 9. We often go to Manchester by train. 10. How many rockets have been sent to moon? 11. He came to his room late at night and told Uncle Rick how he had spent evening at cinema. 12. We have breakfast rather early. 13. Lizzie, baby-sitter , left Browns three weeks ago. 14. All the people in village go to church on Sunday. 15. In some houses dinner is biggest meal of day.

II. Insert the indefinite article or the zero article:

1.He made mistake in his translation. 2. Would you do me favour? 3. The electric light was important invention. 4. Where there's smoke, there's fire. 5. Meeting your family has been great pleasure. 6. He is studying law. 7. They asked him difficult question. 8. She wants to become auditor. 9. The bank manager gave his client very good advice. 10. We all like to eat good food. 11. generosity and loyalty are rare virtues these days. 12. Eggs are 50 p. dozen. 13. What bad weather we are having today! 14. She bought black dress and pair of matching gloves. 15. Exeter is city in England.

III. Supply the required articles
I. He speaks with great embarrassment of the event. The architect is consulting with authority on urban development. 2. water used in this beer comes from a special spring. In order to survive, we must
have water. 3. bread has been called the staff of life. bread you baked is delicious. 4. silver in this ring is of inferior quality. silver is used for money and jewelry. 5. genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. genius of Edison is universally recognized. 6. fresh milk tastes good. milk which I bought yesterday should still be good. 7. Everyone was impressed by sincerity
with which the witness spoke. We all admire sincerity. 8. After several attempts, he lost courage. He showed courage that surprised me.

IV. Fill in the blanks with the required articles:

Last year I stayed in little town in England called Stratford-on-Avon. I wanted to go to theatre to see some of plays of Shakespeare. theatre is near River Avon, beautiful river in which you can bathe and sail boats. When I arrived in Stratford, I was told to stay at hotel called ' Dirty Duck', but I couldn't find it. I asked many people where it was, but no one knew it. I saw policeman at corner of main street. I spoke to him and asked him if he knew ' Dirty Duck'. He laughed and told me that he knew it all right. It was just at bottom of street near Plaza cinema. I walked to bottom of street, saw hotel and read name above door. It was called ' Black Swan'!

V. Fill in the blanks with the indefinite article a/an, before singular countable nouns, or the indefinite pronoun some, before uncountable nouns or plural nouns:

1. He needs hammer and nails to fix the picture on the wall.

2. They have bought furniture for their new penthouse.

3. For breakfast I had only bread and
cup of coffee. 4. They are building house in my street. 5. Could you give me information about this university ? 6. people are fonof telling stories. 7. There was snow on the high mountain. 8. That little town lies in lovely valley. 9. I have terrible headache. 10I can give you advice, but I can't do the work for you.