Nouns in set expressions used without an article

1. out of doors- надворі, на вулиці	The children spent most of the time out of doors.
2. to take to heart- брати близько до серця	Don't take things too much to heart.
3. to take offence - ображатися	If he had heard your remark, he would have taken offence.
4. to give (to get, to ask) permission - давати (отримати, просити) дозвіл	I asked permission to keep the book a little longer.
5. to lose heart- втрачати мужність, зневіритися	He found the subject very difficult at first, but he did not lose heart. He went on working hard and finally mastered it.
6. at present - зараз	You may go home, we don't want you at present.
7. from morning till night- з ранку до ночі	Не worked in his little garden from morning till night.
8. from head to foot - з голови до ніг	She was dressed in furs from head to foot.
9. from beginning to end - з початку до кінця	The whole story is a lie from beginning to end.
10. at first sight- з першого погляду	He fell in love with her at first sight.
11. by chance -помилково	They met quite by chance.
12. by mistake - випадково	I have brought the wrong book by mistake.
13. for hours - годинами	He could read for hours.
14. for ages - довгий строк, вічність	I have not seen you for ages.
15. by land, by air, by sea- по суші, повітряним шляхом, морем	I like travelling by sea.
16. to go to sea - стати моряком	My sister wants to be a doctor, and my brother wants to go to sea.
17. on deck - на палубі	We spent hours on deck.
18. to keep house -вести домашнє господарство	Her sister keeps house for her.
19. at sunrise - на сході сонця	We left the town at sunrise.
20. at sunset - на заході сонця	We arrived at the village at sunset.
21. at work - бути зайнятим чимось, за роботою	Whenever I come, he is always at work.
22. at peace -у мирі	We want to be at peace with all countries.
23. by name -на ім’я	His cat, Snowball by name, was playing on the carpet.
24. in debt -у боргу	Mr. Smith was always in debt.

So a considerable number of nouns of different character when used in adverbial prepositional phrases have no article, e. g. by accident, by hand, by letter, by land, by sight, at hand, off hand, in detail, in person, on board, on foot, on tiptoe, at sea, to sea, on hand, on leave, on business, on holiday, etc.

There is no article in a number of combinations consisting of a preposition + a noun + a preposition. Such set phrases are to be treated as compound prepositions: in addition to, in charge of, in con­trast with, in regard to, in support of, in reply to, in connection with, on account of, in comparison with, in conformity with, in honour of, in memory of, in pursuit of, in favour of, in combination with, in answer to, on top of, in defiance of, with regard to, in recognition of, in return for, in place of, in relation to, in search of, by reason of, by way of, etc.

I rushed through the passage in search of my mother.

My father found himself in charge of a factory.

However, in other set phrases built up on the same pattern the def­inite article is found: under the influence of, in the centre of, on the invitation of, by the side of, in the middle of, on the initiative of, under the pretence of, etc.

There are no articles in so-called parallel structures such as from tree to tree, from house to house. These are free combinations as they are freely built up by the speaker with the help of the pattern “ from + N + to + N”, in which the same noun is repeated:

He leaned back in his long chair and rolled from side to side with laughter.

There are also set expressions among parallel structures, the most common of which are: arm in arm, hand in hand, man to man, face to face, shoulder to shoulder, from beginning to end, from north to south, from floor to ceiling, from right to left.

At the end of the living-room there were bookshelves from floor to ceiling.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24