2. Use no article (known as zero article) when a plural countable noun is nonspecific.
They went to the country' store and bought eggs and cucumbers.
Note that quantity words are often used when a reference is nonspecific.
They bought some eggs and a lot of cucumbers,
3. Use zero article when you make a generalization (a generic reference) about a plural countable noun.
Dogs are friendly animals.
(The writer is making a generalization about all dogs, not any specific dogs.)
Flowers add color to a room.
4. Use zero article when you make a generalization (a generic reference) about an uncountable noun.
Love never lasts. Gold jewelry is expensive.
Do not add the definite article to a generalization just because the noun has an adjective in front of it. The adjective does not make the noun more specific. It m narrows the noun.
5. Use zero article (or maybe a quantity word) for a nonspecific reference to an uncountable noun.
She offered him advice and information.
She offered him some advice and a great deal of information.
Never use a/an with an uncountable noun.
Task 1. In the following quotations, identify each of the underlined nouns.
Еxample: Gentlemen prefer bonds, (Andrew Mellon)
Answer: Gentlemen – countable plural/nonspesific/ bonds = countable plural/nonspecific
1. The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. (Malcolm Forbes)
2. Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. (George Bums)
3. Happiness is a warm puppy. (Charles Schulz)
4. As far as I'm concerned, whom is a word that was invented to траке everyone sound like a butler. (Calvin Trillin)
5. The reward of labor is life. Is that not enough? (William Morris)
Task 2. In the following passage identify each underlined noun phrase as making a specific (S) or nonspecific (NS) reference.
My life would have been much simpler, I think, if I had learned how to drive when I came to America. An American1 without a car2 is a sick creature3, a snail4 that has lost its shell. Living without a_car5 is the worst form of destitution6, more shameful by far than not having a home7, A earless person8 is a stationary object9, a prisoner10, not really a grown-up11. A homeless perso12, by contrast, may be an adventurer13, a vagabond14, a lover15 of the open sky16.
D. Superlatives, Ordinals, and Sole References
1. The definite article is always used with superlative adjectives and nouns formed horn superlative adjectives.
She was the fastest swimmer in the race.
Only the strongest survive.
2. The definite article is always used with ordinals that show the position of something in relation to other things: first, last, next, second, third, etc.
Labor Day in the United States falls on the first Monday in September.
That's the tenth time today I have told you not to do that.
The definite article is used with certain adjectives that point to something being one of a kind: main, only, sole, chief.
The main reason that I came to the United States was to get a better education.
He was the only man she ever wanted to marry.
Task 3. Below is an extract from a text about neuroscience, try to explain the choice of articles.
According to Greenfield (1997), the greatest advances in understanding the brain's structure and processes were achieved from the work of two scientists in France and Austria in the middle of the 19th century. First, a French neuroanatomist, Broca, examined a patient who was unable to pronounce any words other than the sound 'tan' (and for this reason was known as Tan). When Tan died, Broca was able to examine his brain and discovered that the region that had suffered damage was completely different from what (ZERO) phrenologists predicted; according to (ZERO) phrenological theory, control over (ZERO) language was centred below the left eye socket, whereas in Tan's case the damage had occurred higher up in the brain. This is now known as (ZERO) Broca's area.
The second advance was led by an Austrian physician, Wernecke, who also worked with (ZERO) patients suffering from (ZERO) speech problems, though different from those studied by Broca. Unlike Tan, Wernecke's patients could pronounce (ZERO) words perfectly; their problem was that what they said was (ZERO) nonsense – a condition known as aphasia, in which words may be spoken in a jumbled order and the patient may also invent new words with no obvious meaning. (ZERO) Examination of the brains of these aphasic patients revealed that physical damage had occurred in a region quite separate from Broca's area. This led Wernecke to conclude that there is no single speech centre in the brain, and that different elements of (ZERO) speech are controlled in separate regions.
Task 4. Here is the next (and closing) paragraph from the text about brain research. The articles have been deleted, but this time you have to decide where one is needed. Read it and decide where you need to insert THE, A or AN.
In short, we can say that key historical developments in brain research were, first, movement from description of brain’s structure to explanation of how brain worked and, second, shift from simple view of brain as single unit to realisation that control over any one skill – such as speaking – is distributed across different areas of brain.
E. Articles Used in Phrases
Here are some examples of phrases in which the use of articles is not predictable. Destinations: to go to the store, to go to the post office, to go to the bank, but go to school, to go to church, to go to bed, to go home
Locations: at home, in bed, in school, in college, but in the hospital
Parts of the day: in the morning, in the evening, but at night
Chores: to do the dishes, to do the gardening, to do the cleaning
Mealtimes: at breakfast, after dinner; for lunch
There are hundreds of idiomatic expressions in English containing nouns.
Here are just a few examples of idiomatic expressions: some of the nouns in the phrases have articles and some do not. It is usually impossible tо explain why some idioms have articles and others don't. Be alert. When you meet a new idiomatic expression, look it up in the dictionary write it down, and pay attention to whether an article is used or not: to give a hand, to keep a straight face; to be over the hill, in the end;
to be on time, learn by heat, by mistake
Task 5. Complete this extract from a letter with a, an, the or – (no article).
There are several reasons why I think I should be considered for (1) ___ post