The Use of the Definite Article with Class Nouns

The Use of the Indefinite Article with Class Nouns

The indefinite article is used:

1.With a class noun in the singular when the object expressed by the noun is presented as belonging to a certain class. In this case the indefinite article in the meaning якийсь, який-небудь.
e.g. He gave me a message for you.

You have never bought a car, have you?

She looked in her hand-bag for an envelope.

2. With a predicative noun when the speaker states that the object denoted by the noun belongs to a certain class.
e.g. She was a lawyer by profession.

The waiter was an old friend of mine.

3. When the noun is used in a general sense. What is said of one representative of a class can be applied to all of the representatives of the class.
e.g. A drowning man catches at a straw.

A detective story helps to while away the time.

A new-born puppy is blind.

4.There are cases when the indefinite article preserves its old original meaning of one.

e.g. A stitch in time saves nine.

An apple a dav keeps the doctor away.

This meaning is generally found with:

♦ nouns denoting time, measure and weight. e.g. A week or two passed...

♦ numerals hundred, thousand, million and the nouns dozen, score if one
hundred, one thousand etc. is meant.

e.g. He seems to have half a dozen languages in his finger-tips.

♦ after the negative not (e.g. not a word, not a...)

e.g. Only a month now remains and not a moment must be lost.
Not a word was spoken, not a sound was made.

The definite a rticle is used:

1. When the noun denotes an object or objects which the speaker singles out from all the objects of a given class. An object is singled out in the following cases:

♦ when the speaker and the hearer know what particular object is meant, i.e.
when the situation itself makes the object definite. In this case the definite
article often has the meaning of той.

e.g. H ow did you like the plav?

Mabel looked at her mother. Her mother saw the look.
The screenplay was based on the novel.

♦ when the speaker uses a limiting attribute pointing out a particular object. In
this case the definite article has the meaning цей, саме той.

e.g. This is the house that Jack built.

1 can't find the book which you gave me last week.

1 took the opportunity of talking with my father for a moment.

2. When the noun denotes a thing unique (the Sun, the Moon, the Universe, etc.)

e.g. The Sun was getting warmer.

The sky outside the window was already dark.

The world is all before him were to choose.

3. With nouns used in a generic sense. A noun used in a generic sense becomes a composite image of the class. A noun in a generic sense denotes the whole class.

e.g. The cuckoo is a lazy bird.

Tire airplane has made the world a small place.

NOTE. When the noun man is used in a generic sense no article is used.
e.g. Man reveals secrets of nature.

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

e.g. He had always been interested in that mysterious being - the woman.

4. The definite article in a generic meaning is also used with collective singular nouns denoting mainly social classes or groups (the proletariat, the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, the public, the press),
e.g. His first novel was favorably received by the press. The police were unable to cope with people's wrath.

NOTE, the nouns mankind, humanity take no article.

e.g. " Mankind lives on a wonderful planet", the speaker said.

5. Partially substantivized adjectives are used with the definite article in the
generic meaning as they denote groups of people (e.g. the blind, the poor, the
rich, the young, the old, etc.). This is also the case with some adjectives
denoting names of nationalities (e.g. the British, the French, the Chinese, etc.)
e.g. The young are often intolerant. Fortune favors the brave.

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