The Use of the Definite Article with Class Nouns. Exercise 6.Look at the noun groups underlined in the sentences below

Unit 3

Exercise 6.Look at the noun groups underlined in the sentences below. Where you think the speaker or writer is familiar with the items referred to, complete the sentences by putting “it” in the spaces provided. Where you think the writer or reader is not familiar with the items referred to, put “one”.

1. I'm looking for an atlas. Do you know where I can get ______?

2. I've lost a button. I don't suppose I'll ever find _______.

3. Our son wants a bicycle but I don't think he should have _______ yet.

4. “Here's a hundred pounds. ” – “Thanks, but I won't need _______ “

5. I bought a new television last week but my wife doesn't like _______.

6. “Would you like a beer?” – “Yes. I'd love _______”

7. She wants a new car but he says they don't need _______.

Exercises 7. Look at these sentences. Decide if you can replace “one” with “a ” without changing the meaning, putting “yes” or “no” in the spaces provided.

1. It measured one quarter of an inch. ______

2. The distance is one kilometre, four hundred metres. ______

3. 5110; that's five thousand, one hundred and ten. ______

4. He drank one coffee and two orange juices. ______

5. There's only one thing we need now. ______

Now, with these sentences, decide if you can replace “a” with “one”.

1. I only asked for half a kilo. ______

2. He works eighty hours a week. ______

3. The river is a mile wide. ______

4. That seems a good idea. ______

5. A millimetre is a thousandth of a metre. ______ ______ ______

Exercise 8. Change into sentences with “what” and “such”. Insert article where necessary.

Example: Mary, is, pretty girl.

What a pretty girl Mary is.

Mary is such a pretty girl.

1. She, is, good cook.

2. She, has, expensive furniture.

3. We, are having, fine weather.

4. This, is, hot climate.

5. It, is, cold day.

6. They, are gathering, useless information.

7. This car, has, powerful motor.

8. She, has, long eyelashes.

9. They, are, helpless people.

10. This, is, fancy restaurant.

Exercise 9. Give examples of interrogative and exclamatory sentences beginning with what, following the model. Pay attention to the order of words.

Model:

What	awful heat! a fine day! an intricate piece of machinery! a pleasant-looking young girl! wretched weather!
What	article is it? sort of man is he? kind of hooks do you like? kind of work were you offered?

Exercise 10. Make up sentences with the following words. Pay attention to the place of article.

1. Beautiful picture, so, I, have never seen.

2. Difficult question, too, is, this.

3. Puzzling question, is, it, rather.

4. Rather, is, long story, it.

5. Poem, by Robert Burns, many, set to music, is.

6. Have never read, interesting book, I, so.

7. Such, have never read, interesting book, I.

8. Too, is, short string, this.

9. Is, quite, little room, it.

10. Many, of this specialist, article, in magazines, was published.

11. Ordinary thing, is, quite, it.

Exercise 11. Explain why the indefinite article is used with one and the same noun repeated several times in the following extracts.

Jack: Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am?

Lady Bracknell: You are the son of my poor sister, Mrs. Monscriff, and consequently Algernon's elder brother.

Jack: Algy's elder brother. Then I have a brother after all! I knew I had a brother! I always said I had a broth­er. Cecily — how could you have ever doubted that I had a brother! Algy, you young scoundrel, you have never behaved to me like a brother in all your life.

Exercise 12. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Містер Твістер ніколи не виходив з дому без калош та парасольки. 2. У маленькій кімнаті книжкова полиця зручніша, ніж шафа. 3. Нещодавно я познайомився з одним моряком; він щойно повернувся з навколосвітньої подорожі. 4. Він любить пити не з чашки, а тільки зі склянки. 5. У морському параді взяли участь підводні човни й авіаносець. 6. Я не палю сигари. Не могли б ви пригостити мене цигаркою. 7. Не проїхали ми й кілометру, як щось трапилося з колесом. 8. Ви можете дати мені почитати якийсь журнал? – В мене є зараз журнали, але не думаю, що вони вас зацікавлять. 9. Скільки людей може вмістити такий зал, як цей? 10. Така проблема має вас зацікавити. 11. Мені потрібно купити поштову марку. 12. Це була висока біла будівля. Позаду будівлі розташовувався великий сад. 13. Вона не промовила ні слова у відповідь. 14. Фіалка не пахне так солодко, як конвалія. 15. Ти купив яблуко дитині? 16. Вона зробила крок назустріч йому. 17. Вона була досить молодою жінкою і такою привабливою. 18. Це дуже важка для тебе гра. 19. В цій книжці є цілком докладний опис подій. 20. Ти навчаєшся в такій видатній школі. 21. Багато цікавих питань було обговорено під час зустрічі.

Exercise 13. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Час зробити перерву та перекусити. – Гарна думка! 2. Якщо хочеш зробити доповідь англійською мовою, тобі потрібен словник. 3. Мій друг – гід. Він дуже гарний перекладач. 4. Я не начальник, я звичайний службовець. 5. Дочка моєї сестри дуже мила дитина. 6. Він відомий критик. Між іншим, він ще і не поганий письменник. 7. Коли я була дитиною, в нашому домі завжди була тварина. 8. Це було велике місто. Це було дуже сучасне місто. 9. Хью – розумний хлопчик. До того ж він дуже ввічлива дитина. 10. У Стівена є друг в Америці і дядько в Австралії. 11. Вчора я написав листа і пішов гуляти. 12. Я не можу піти з тобою на прогулянку. В мене побачення. 13. В неї ангельське обличчя і приємний голос. 14. Мері не була привабливою дитиною. В неї було худе сердите обличчя і рідке світле волосся. 15. Це дуже гарне питання. Ти завжди ставиш розумні питання. 16. Півтора року досить, щоб закінчити цю роботу. 17. Лікар має бути добрим, уважним та знаючим. 18. Бібліотека – це установа, де можна взяти книжки на тиждень, або навіть на місяць. 19. Ніколи раніше я не зустрічав такої доброї людини. 20. Яка велика кімната! Які зручні меблі!

The definite article is used both with singular and plural nouns. It has the specifying meaning and the generic meaning.

In the specifying meaning the definite article denotes that the following noun refers to a particular object (thing, person) or particular objects as distinct from all others of the same class:

Nothing was natural in the room except the plants.

The definite article is used in the generic meaning when reference is made to a class of objects as a whole:

The tiger is dangerous.

The cat is a domestic animal.

Class nouns are used with the definite article:

1. When the speaker mentions a noun for the second time:

For lunch I had a sandwich and an apple.The sandwich wasn’t very nice.

If it is clear what item the speaker is referring back to, he normally uses a pronoun:

I have bought a book.It cost $2.50.

He can also use another, more general noun:

There was an enormous cat crouching on the counter… The animal looked up at Mrs. Bixby.

Angelica took the shell in both her hands and we peered at the thing.

Sometimes, however, the noun with definite article should be repeated:

· when the first mention occurred a long time before and a pronoun or noun would not make a connection with it:

But then I came on a man playing a harp. It was a black harp… and the man was dressed as a gorilla!

· when the speaker is referring to one of two different people or things that have just been mentioned together:

Suddenly Marsha heard what sounded like a fight between a man and a woman. She tensed, prepared to call for help, till she realized that the woman seemed to be getting the better of it.

· when the speaker wants to add something to the noun:

The full development of an idea may well take years of hard work but the idea itself may arrive in a flash of insight.

· as a way of avoiding repeating a pronoun too often:

Lyn lived with her husband in a house that they had bought for a song in nearby Seyer Street. The house was cheap partly because it was falling down.

2. When the speaker and the hearer know what particular object is meant. No special indication is necessary:

What do you think of the table? (= the table we are looking at)

How did you like the play?

I have got the magazine.

Note. It should be borne in mind that, there is a difference between knowing what object is spoken about and knowing the object itself:

I. - I do not care to speak to the girl. I have never seen her.

- Won't you speak to her?

- But I do not know the girl either.

II. - Who told you about it?

- A girl.

- What girl?

- My sister.

In the first dialogue the speaker and the hearer do not know the per­son at all, but they know whom they mean, so the definite article is used. In the second the speaker knows the person, but he presents her to the hearer merely as one of a class, so the indefinite article is used.

3. When the speaker uses an attribute pointing out a particular object:

This is the house that Jack built.

4. When the situation itself makes the object definite and when the speaker wants to talk about something that is associated with an earlier item (even though he hasn’t mentioned it before) just to show that there is a relationship or association between the items:

The wedding looked dismal. The bride was too old and the bride­groom was too young.

I went to the window again to try to smash the glass. (the glass in the window)

He needed a whisky, but the bottle was empty. (the bottle containing the whisky)

5. When the noun denotes the object or group of objects, which is unique or considered to be unique.

Here are some words, which belong to this group:

the devil the earth the equator the moon

the north pole the planets the pope the sky

the solar system the south pole the stars the sun

the universe the world

The sun was getting warmer.

The indefinite article can be used when we mean a certain as­pect in which the sun, moon and sky appear to us, a certain state of the sun, the moon, the sky. In this case an attribute is used:

A pearl-white moon smiles through the green trees.

6. With nouns used in a generic sense. A noun used in a generic sense denotes a genus taken as a whole, a thing taken as a type, a genre. A noun becomes a composite image (збірний образ) of the class and is used to talk about the general features and characteristics of a class of things:

The tiger has always had the reputation of being a man-eater.

The telephone was invented in the 19th century.

The tragedy and the comedy first appeared in Greece.

Note. Groups of nouns which are used generically: names of animals, plants, professions and occupations, collective nouns denoting social groups, scientific terms, etc.:

The verb is a part of speech.

When the noun man is used in a generic sense no article is used:

Silas felt that his trust in man had been cruelly destroyed.

When the noun woman is used in a generic sense it is used with the definite article or occasionally without an article:

He had always been interested in that mysterious being — the woman.

Woman is man's helpmate.

The noun people is used with the definite article when the idea of collectivity is emphasized (meaning “all the persons forming a state”). When this noun means “persons, human beings in general” it has no article:

The Ukrainian people are fighting against nuclear danger.

People often believe in fairy tails.

The public is always used with the definite article but public opinion – set-phrase.

A noun used in a generic sense should not be confused with a noun used in a general sense:

The	1. The lion is a wild animal. 2. Conan Doyle is a master of the detective story.	The emphasizes the class itself, without regard for concrete representatives of the class.
A	1. A lion is a wild animal. 2. A detective story helps to while away the time.	Aemphasizes an individual representative of a class. It has the sense of any or every.
No article	1. Lions are wild animals. 2. Detective stories are very popular with people.	The plural form without an article emphasizes all the representatives of this class

7. When nouns are modified by adjectives in the superlative degree and by ordinal numerals:

Miss Tox had the softest voice that ever was heard.

8. With nouns in word-groups the first component of which is some, many, none, most, all, both, half, one-third (the fractions) and the second a noun with the prepo­sition of. Often, of the makes the situation specific:

Most of the students looked both angry and uncomfortable.

Note 1. With all, both, half the prepo­sition of may be omitted before article:

Both the girls were rosy-cheeked and plump like their mothers.

All the children in the room looked at Santa Claus.

“Half the people who want to learn to fly never come back for lesson number two,” Charlie said.

In general statements without modifiers after the nouns and in cases, when there is no desire to be specific, of the may be omitted:

All children like sweets.

Both men wore conservative business suits.

9. When nouns are modified by adjectives which are used to identify unique things:

They even use the same lawyers.

The next attack took place four hours later.

I began the last section of the book.

Here is a list of adjectives, which are used in this way:

following last main

next only opposite present

principal right same sole

ultimate usual wrong

This is not a rule, only a strong tendency; the indefinite article sometimes occurs with them (except with “next”, “following”, and “same”):

He paid a last visit to America.

The indefinite article can be used before “ only ” when it is used in the expressions “only child”, “only son”, and “only daughter”:

I was an only child.

Note 1. The definite article is used with “wrong” even when it does not make sense to talk about only one wrong possibility:

We are all in the wrong business.

In this case there is possibly more than one wrong business. However, there are some cases where the indefinite article is used:

We’ve taken a wrong turn

Note 2. “ Same ” often appears without a following noun:

The same is true for men.

Note 3. “ Next ” and “ last ” are commonly used in time expressions without the (for example, next week):

10. With substantivized adjectives and participles.

A combination of the definite article and substantivized adjective can be used to refer to all the people with that characteristic. “The poor” means people who are poor.

Many adjectives can be used in this way; here are some common ones:

aged blind brave dead deaf disabled

educated elderly free handicapped homeless hungry

injured living needy old oppressed poor

powerful rich sick starving strong uneducated

unemployed weak wealthy wounded young

Note. They behave like nouns in the plural and are followed by a plural verb:

The rich have not responded.

11. With collective nouns denoting social groups:

The workers have nothing to loose.

12. With nationality words when referring generically to nations or racial groups (suggesting the whole body of):

The Chinese have their own version of this proverb.

It seems to me that the British are too often their own worst critics.

But when not the whole body of but separate representative are meant the definite article is not used:

Italians are good singers.

Note. These words always begin with a capital letter; and they are followed by the plural form of a verb even if they do not look plural.

13. At the beginning of stories, in titles of stories and novels:

“The Enemy”, “The Letter”.

This is a stylistic device. The author indicates in this way that the reader will shortly be told more about these things.

14. Stressed “the” meaning “best”. People sometimes stress the definite article to indicate that something is the best or only thing of a particular kind:

Billiards is the game. or Billiards is the best game.

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