Practice. The article is a structural part of speech used as a determiner with nouns

Unit 1

The Article

General Notion

The article is a structural part of speech used as a determiner with nouns. Since there are no articles in our native languages sometimes it is difficult to understand the rules of their usage. Why there is no article in Ukrainian or Russian? Because these languages are synthetic ones. We can easily determine any part of speech regarding their inflexions: рука, людина, вікно, лагідний, добре, працювати.

In English however, words of different parts of speech can be grammatically homonymous: a work – to work, a play – to play, so we need an article to determine the noun.

Moreover, in Ukrainian, there is no fixed word-order. It is possible to say: Вчора вчитель пояснював учням нову тему. або Вчитель пояснював нову тему учням вчора. In English it would be of fixed order. Yesterday the teacher explained the pupils a new topic.

While comparing these examples we can speak about something already known to the hearer (the theme) and something new (the rheme). The nouns which appear in the sentence as the theme are usually used with the definite article, and the nouns which are considered as the rheme are usually used with the indefinite article.

Peter has a cat. (Rheme)

The cat is black. (Theme)

As we see there are two articles in Modern English: the indefinite article and the definite article.

The indefinite article has the forms a and an.

· The form a is used before words beginning with a consonant sound:

a book, a pen, a student

· Some words start with a vowel letter but begin with a consonant sound, so we use a before these words, too: a university (/ə ju:nI"v3:sItI/), a European (/ə jU@r@"pI@n/), a one-parent family (/ə "wVn "pe@r@nt/)

· Abbreviations said as words are also used with the form a: a NATO general, a FIFA official

· The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel sound: an opera, an apple. These include words that begin with a silent letter “h”: an hour, an honest child; and abbreviations said as individual letters that begin with A, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, O, R, S or X: an MP, an FBI, an IOU

The article is pronounced / @ /, / @n /; when stressed it is pronounced / eI /, / {n /.

The definite article has one graphic form the, which is pronounced in two ways: / Di/ before a vowel sound and / D@ / before a consonant sound.

The indefinite article has developed from the Old English nu­meral an (one), and as a result of its origin it is used only with nouns in the singular. The definite article has developed from the Old English demon­strative pronoun and in some cases it has preserved this demonstrative meaning in Modern English. The use of the definite article shows that a particular object is meant.

These two articles are related to other determiners in the following way: the = this, that, the same; a (an) = some, any, such.

The absence of articles (sometimes called “zero” article) with class nouns in the plural, with abstract nouns and nouns of material has grammatical significance: it shows that the nouns are used in a general sense.

Exercise 1. Put the numbers in the sentences below into the correct row according to the pronunciation of “the”. The first one has been done for you.

/ðə/: _______________________________

/ði /: _1______________________________

Get the (1) address from the (2) post-office.

Only the (3) other afternoon, climbing up from the (4) Underground, I found the (5) staircase barred.

Compare that to the (6) UK figure of about 1000 deaths.

The (7) porter at the (8) door looked a shade bleak.

He is now the (9) enemy of God as well the (10) opponent of man.

The (11) ruse is basically the (12) same as the (13) one used by Odysseus.

They lived only five minutes from the (14) university.

Exercise 2. Complete these sentences by putting “a” or “an” in the spaces provided.

1. It is always fatal to ask _____ expert. 2. Secretive as _____ boy of six, secretive as _____ old man of seventy. 3. _____ brilliant young woman with _____ M.A. degree. 4. She dislikes him as _____ being, as _____ creature. 5. I prefer management on _____ one-to-one basis. 6. _____ hour _____ day would be enough.

Exercise 3. Put the following words or phrases in the correct category according to their initial sound. The first one has been done for you. When you have finished, practise saying them together with “a”, “an”, and “the”.

arm BBC ear eye FBI agent finger

hand head honest man honour leg MP

neck nose one-man band toe ugly man UK

umbrella uncle uniform unit university useful idea

Pronounced with an initial consonant sound; use “the” / D@ / or “a” / @ /: ______________________________________________________

Pronounced with an initial vowel sound; use “the” /Di / or “an” /@n /: _ arm_ ________________________________________________________

Exercise 4. Write “a” or “an” in the spaces.

1. ­­____unreasonable decision 2. ____ unit of work 3. ____honorable man 4. ____UFO 5. ____happy girl 6. ____ elephant 7. ____ BBC programme

8. ____ universal problem 9. ____ eucalyptus tree 10. ____ X- ray 11. ____ T- shirt 12.____ H- bomb 13. ____ hospital 14. ____ UNESCO worker

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