Theory and Grammar - The Article

General description of the definite and indefinite articles or their absence meaning, facts about their origin. Detailed rules and recommendations of the use of the article or its omission in dependence on various features of the noun and of the sentence.
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CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

I. THE ARTICLE MEANING

1.1 The Indefinite article

1.2 The Definite article

1.3 Absence of the Article

II. THE USE OF THE ARTICLE WITH DIFFERENT CLASSES OF NOUNS

2.1 COMMON NOUNS

2.1.1 The Use of the Article with Class-Nouns

2.1.2 The Article with Generic Singulars and Plurals

2.1.3 The Article with Nouns Considered to Be Unique

2.2 SYNTACTICAL RELATIONS

2.3 NAMES OF MATERIALS

2.4 COLLECTIVE NOUNS

2.5 ABSTRACT NOUNS

CONCLUSION

LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

The main purpose of the studying is making students' knowledge of the English language more profound, building up their vocabulary, consolidating the skills acquired at high school with an emphasis on using English for communication in a variety of contexts and topics. In the classes we study and practice all aspects of English including speaking, listening, reading, writing, pronunciation and grammar.

One of the most difficult parts of grammar is the use of the article. The determining factor seems to be whether or not there are articles in the student's first (native) language. If it doesn't have them, as the Russian language does, then the student will have additional problems to face when studying a second language that does. Even quite advanced students make frequent slips with articles.

Compounding the problem is the fact that there are no good rules as far as articles are concerned. Many course books offer 'rules' but there are so many exceptions that they are difficult to apply and students have to fall back on learning them by heart. So we can see that the problem of the use of the article is very significant and actual, especially taking in account that this topic is not appreciated by teachers as worth of detail studying for a long term.

The purpose of this course paper is studying the theory of the article and learning the choice of the article which depends on various features of the noun and of the sentence in which it occurs. It will be done through examining of theoretical material of different scholars with examples, their analysis and further explanation in small details of the use of the articles with examples from original woks in the English language of different authors to make the articles not so difficult to be applied by the students.

The course paper consists of following parts:

1 chapter (theoretical) - general description of the definite and indefinite articles or their absence meaning, facts about their origin;

2 chapter (practical) - detailed rules and recommendations of the use of the article or its omission in dependence on various features of the noun and of the sentence, in which it occurs. This part includes a lot of examples and explanations of the use of the article; conclusion and the list of literature in which 20 sources are numbered.

I. THE ARTICLE MEANING

The article is a form-word of the noun, and serves to specify it.

There are two articles in Modern English: the indefinite article and the definite article.

1.1 The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article has the forms a or an and is used with a noun in the singular. The form a [?] is used before words beginning with a consonant: a book, a house. The form an [an] is used before words beginning with a vowel: an apple, an orange.

The indefinite article originated from the numeral one (01 English an), but not directly from that numeral. The numeral one acquired the meaning of an indefinite pronoun = a certain (compare with the Russian: Один товарищ сказал мне это, where один has also the meaning of a certain -- некий, какой-то). The indefinite article developed from this pronominal one (= a certain). The original numerical meaning is still preserved in the indefinite article in such expressions as: not a (= one) word did he say; in a (= one) minute; at a blow, at a stretch, of an age, at a time:

They are of an age. Don't speak two at a time. Rome we not built in a day. His character may be seen at a glance. A stitch in time saves nine.

Owing to its origin from the numeral one, the use of the indefinite article is limited to countable nouns in the singular.

In the plural the noun has no article in a similar situation

A drop of rain fell on my hand. Drops of rain fell on my hand.

The indefinite article is used before a noun in the singular to indicate that the object denoted by the noun is one of a class or group without defining what particular place it occupies in that class or group. Thus, the indefinite article is used to refer a thin to a certain class and is therefore a classifying article:

Give me a pencil (some pencil or other, it does not matter which, any pencil will do; the speaker does not point out particular object, but only indicates that it is one of a class A girl wants to see you. (The speaker merely informs that the person in question is one of those human beings whom we call "girls.")

The noun which is used with the indefinite article may have a descriptive attribute. A descriptive attribute describes the person or thing denoted by the noun or gives some additional information Such an attribute only narrows the class to which the object denoted by the noun belongs but does not show that the speaker single out one particular object within that narrowed class:

Give me a red pencil (any pencil out of the class of the pencils). A young girl of about seventeen wants to see you (The person in question is one of those human beings whom we call "young girls of about seventeen.")

1.2 The Definite Article

The definite article has two pronunciations: before a vowel and before a consonant.

The definite article the is a weakened form of the Old English demonstrative pronoun (nominative, dative accusative etc), which in Old English, besides the function of a demonstrative, had also the function of the article. The demonstrative force of the definite article is still felt in such expressions as nothing of the (that) kind; at the (that) time; under the (those) circumstances; for the (that) purpose.

The definite article is used before a noun to show that in the mind of the speaker and the hearer the object denoted by the noun is marked as a definite object, distinct from all other objects of a class or group of objects of a certain description. That is why the definite article is an individualizing or limiting article. This article is used before nouns in the plural, as well as before nouns in the singular number:

Give me the pencil. (The speaker indicates that he has a definite pencil in mind, that which is on the table, in the hand of the person addressed, etc). The girl has come. (The speaker points out a particular girl, that girl, who was expected to come, who has already been spoken about, etc).

When the noun is used with the definite article the context or the whole situation shows that the mind of the speaker is concentrated on that particular object:

...the sharp wind beats, the windows rattle and the chimneys growl. (Dickens) ...she ran so fast that we were very near the cottage before I caught her. (Dickens) He wheeled his bicycle into the barn. (Lawrence). Stars were sparkling out there over the river... (Galsworthy).

The use of a limiting attribute is a means to show in the context of the sentence that the object denoted by the noun is singled out by the speaker from all objects of the same description and is therefore used with the definite article:

...at last they reached the outskirts of the forest, and saw, far down in the valley beneath them the lights of the village in which they dwelt. (Wilde). Both uncles then began to talk about the years they had spent in England... (Mazo de la Roche). The room where we sat was small and dingy... (Lea Сock) ...the song of birds... filled the air... (Dickens). The room, in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall... (Dickens).

The definite article is also used to refer back to an object which has already been mentioned:

Peggotty had a basket of refreshments on her knee ...Peggotty always went to sleep with her chin upon the handle of the basket, her hold of which never relaxed... (Dickens). ...she... brought out... a purse which she put into my hand ...I had now leisure to examine the purse. (Dickens).

1.3 Absence of the Article

In a number of cases the noun is associated neither with the definite nor with the indefinite article. I kit not every absence of the article is a mere omission of it. We сan speak of the omission of the article when it is dropped in newspaper headings (The local weekly newspaper came out in banner headlines: "Heroic Act of Local Boy” (Gordon), in stage remarks (Crossing to window and looking out), (Galsworthy); in telegrams (Wire definite answer), in dictionaries, etc. Here the omission of the article is a question of conciseness of style and; lie definite or indefinite article may easily be inserted without a...