No article

Countable nouns are used with no article:

GENERALIZING

· We use no article with plural nouns to talk about things in general – to talk about all books; all people, etc. This is the most common way of referring generally to a whole group. Compare:

Move the books off chair and sit down. ( =particular books )

Books are expensive. ( NOT The books are expensive. The sentence is about books in general – all books )

I’m studying the life of Beethoven. ( =one particular life. )

Life is complicated. ( NOT the life … The sentence is about the whole of life. )

· Most (meaning “the majority of”) is used without the:

e.g. Most birds can fly. (NOT the most…)

Most of the children got very tired. (NOT the most …)

HALF-GENERAL

· Some expressions are “half-general” – in the middle between general and particular. If we talk about African butterflies, British painters, European museums we are not talking about all butterflies, all painters or all museums, but these are still rather general ideas (compared with the butterflies I got before my exam, the painters I am fond of, the museums we visited in Europe). In these “half-general” expressions, we usually use no article.

e.g. African butterflies

· However, the is often used when the noun is followed by a limiting, defining phrase, especially one with of.

e.g. the butterflies of Africa

· This is common with abstract nouns as well. Compare:

e.g. eighteen century history – the history I did at school.

sixties music – the music we heard last night

poverty in Britain – the poverty I grew up in.

A/AN

Countable nouns are used with a/an

NOMINATING

· When the speaker denotes what kind of object he/she has to do with. In this case the indefinite article has the nominating meaning:

e.g. She has a watch of her own.

In the plural we normally express similar meaning with some/any or no article:

e.g. I liked the room because there were flowers in it.

Have you got any matches?

CLASSIFYING

· After a copular verb or as to classify people ort things – to say what group, class or type they belong to (the classifying meaning):

e.g. Her brother was an artist.

I am looking forward to being a grandmother.

He decided to become an engineer.

Don’t use plate as an ashtray. ( NOT …an ashtray)

GENERALIZING

· When the noun is used in a general sense, i.e. to talk about any noun member of class (the generalizing meaning “ every,any, all”):

e.g. A spider has eight legs ( =any spider )

A seagull is a large white and grey bird. ( =all seagulls are… )

WATCH OUT! We can not use a singular noun with a/an in phrases that refer to the whole group:

e.g. A tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.

Tigers are in danger of becoming extinct.

The singular with a/an also loses its general meaning when it isn’t the subject of the sentence. We use the plural (or the …, see below):

e.g. I’ve been studying a seagull (= one particular bird )

I’ve been studying seagulls. (=seagulls as a group)

NUMERIC

· There are cases when the indefinite article preserves its old original meaning of “one” (“ the numeric meaning ”):

e.g. a stitch in time saves nine.

· This meaning is generally found:

1) with nouns denoting time, measure and weight:

e.g. A week or two passed.

sixty pens a kilo

thirty miles an hour

twice a week

2) with the numerals hundred, thousand, million and the nouns dozen or score.:

e.g. An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.

· However, we use the in measuring expressions beginning with by:

e.g. Do you sell eggs by the kilo or by the dozen?

He sits watching TV by the hour.

Can I pay the mon th

THE

Countable nouns are used with the:

SPECIFYING

· When the noun denotes an object or objects which the speaker singles out from all the objects of a given class (the specifying meaning), e.g. when a listener / reader knows (or can work out) which particular person(s), thing(s) etc. we are talking about. Compare:

Did you lock the car? (The listener knows very well which car is meant).

We hired a car to go to Scotland. (The listener does not know which one)

15. Syntax: The extract under review is characterized by the use of … sentences. The spoken type of speech is characterized by the use of short simple sentences, even elliptical sentences may be used. In the written type of speech mostly long, compound, complex and composite sentences are used. Complex and compound sentences are mostly used in narrations and descriptions, and simple sentences are mostly used in conversations and dialogues. (examples …)

16. Vocabulary: As to the vocabulary common/ neutral words prevail …/ in spoken type of speech most of the words are neutral/ colloquial/ literary. In the written type of speech there are many bookish, literary words(mostly scientific words and also the words which are not understandable to uneducated people).

(Neutral words form the bulk of the English Vocabulary and are used in both literary and colloquial language. Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. Unlike all other groups, neutral words don’t have a special stylistic colouring and are devoid of emotional meaning. Bookish or learned words – words of high flown stylistic colouring used usually in official or high flown style. Colloquial words - words used in private, unofficial type of communication but not violating the received standard.

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