ARTICLE USE WITH CERTAIN GROUPS OF NOUNS

Material Nouns

Exercise 1.In the following sentences insert articles where necessary and comment on their functions.

1. It is commonly accepted today that __ brown bread is good for you.

2. When they came to __ coffee he asked her whether he might offer her __ liqueur. (W.S. Maugham)

3. I drank __ brandy and put __ glass back on the silver salver. (D. du Maurier)

4. “Fetch Alphonse,” Pop said. “I daresay he wouldn’t say no to __ brandy. I want one too.” (H.E. Bates)

5. I drove fast to Slim’s bar where I could examine the papers and have __ sandwich and __ beer before deciding on __ plan of campaign. (J.H. Chase)

6. He ordered __ double whiskey on the rocks, lit a cigar and stretched out his short fat legs. (J.H. Chase)

7. After the inevitable delay __ whiskey was placed before him, and he savoured his first drink of the day. (J.H. Chase)

8. “What’ll you have?” “__ Scotch, I guess,” Jaffe said and fumbled for a cigarette. “That’s a hell of a shirt you’re wearing.” (J.H. Chase)

9. Afterward he went to the bar of the Crillon and drank __ small coffee and two fingers of gin. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

10. Her least favourite thing is __ sushi. (M. Gayle)

11. Elizabeth took a sip of __ hot coffee. (S. Sheldon)

12. “Could you dash down to the machine, and get me __ black coffee?” (K. Saunders)

13. All our towels are made of __ Egyptian cotton.

14. Heaven sends us __ good meat, but the Devil sends cooks. (D. Garrick)

15. Dinner at the Huntercombes’ possessed ‘only two dramatic features – __ wine was a farce and the food a tragedy’. (A. Powell)

16. The dinner was: __ cold tinned ham and cold hard mince pies. (N. Mitford)

 

 

Names of Meals

Exercise 1.In the following sentences insert articles where necessary and comment on their functions.

1. The best way of disposing of them of course was to give them __ dinner and take them to a play, but that was often difficult when he was engaged every evening for three weeks ahead… (W.S. Maugham)

2. Elliot was of opinion that __ breakfast was a meal that you should share only with total strangers. (W.S. Maugham)

3. “Thank you for __ lovely dinner.” (H. Fielding)

4. They had just arrived at __ dinner for a European fashion designer who was trying to stage a comeback in New York. (C. Bushnell)

5. I’d like it very much if you’d come to __ bachelor dinner. And also to__ tea Friday at Jebby West’s. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

6. Pop rushed at once to pick him up but Ma said __ breakfast was ready. (H.E. Bates)

7. I will give the orders about __ lunch. (D. du Maurier)

8. Dick was taking Rosemary to __ tea from which Nicole and the Norths had resigned in order to do the things Abe had left undone till the last. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

9. During__ dinner the twilight faltered into dusk, and later it was a starry dark outside. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

10. I arranged to give __ luncheon for them. (W.S. Maugham)

11. __ dinner, Mademoiselle Dupont had suggested, should be at eight-thirty. (H.E. Bates)

12. This must be __ cold lunch that was put out in the dining-room yesterday and I had not eaten. (D. du Maurier)

13. “Wouldn’t you like to see it, Clifford? I’ve asked them to__ tea for you to see it.” (D.H. Lawrence)

14. Frith says Maxim was down to __ early breakfast. (D. du Maurier)

15. I could imagine the little crowd at __ Saturday lunch. (D. du Maurier)

 

Periods of Time

Exercise 1 . In the following sentences insert articles where necessary and comment on their functions.

1. It was __ cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

2. It was __ dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows downstairs, filling the house with __ grey-turning, gold-turning light. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

3. During __ afternoon I had a long, lonely session with my thoughts. (J.H. Chase)

4. It was __ warm beautiful night. (W.S. Maugham)

5. He did not leave her till __ chink of light through __ drawn blind warned them that __ day had broken. (W.S. Maugham)

6. __ evening was already turning to__ dusk. (P. Jordan)

7. We were up before__ dawn and we didn’t stop work till __ nightfall. (W.S. Maugham)

8. It was __ wonderful, warm, starry night with __ moon lighting up all the rhododendron bushes. (H. Fielding)

9. __ night came and the last tourists were shooed out of the Palazzo Vecchio. (Th. Harris)

10. Then the day afterwards she would be up at __ dawn driving to London. (D. du Maurier)

11. Like Lieutenant Canby, I marched off unwillingly into __ suddenly insufficient night. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

12. As he spoke the car became one of many once again, __ dusk had fallen without my noticing it. (D. du Maurier)

13. It was __ night when the long silver transport pulled up to the barn at Muscrat Farm. (Th. Harris)

14. I got to the office after nine o’clock __ following morning. (J.H. Chase)

15. It was __ night still, but __ stars were pale in __ sky, and __ day was at hand. (W.S. Maugham)

16. __ evening after__ evening the senior singing had drifted over the campus in melancholy beauty. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

‘Past’, ‘present’, and ‘future’

Ø ‘Past’, ‘present’, and ‘future’ generally have the definite article:

· ...the dangers in thinking only of the present.

· ...plans for the future.

· ...more people than I had ever been responsible for in the past.

Ø But ‘present’ and ‘future’ can be used after ‘at’ and ‘in’ respectively with a zero article:

· ...since there is no certain answer at present.

· Try to remember it in future.

Ø In American English ‘in the future’ is used rather than ‘in future’.

Ø It is possible to use the indefinite article when talking about the life of one particular person:

· He has a future.

· … a man with a past

 

Exercise 2. In the following sentences insert articles where necessary and comment on their functions.

1. I like men who have __ future and women who have __ past. (O. Wilde)

2. However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at__ present a penniless young man without __ past, and any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

3. I guessed that in __ past he had acquired a good deal of experience in dealing with Middle Western businessmen. (W.S. Maugham)

4. __ future was unknown. (D. du Maurier)

5. I feel you have __ future. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

6. I’m rather pagan at__ present. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

7. In the company of such as these he felt that he lived in __ spacious and gallant past. (W.S. Maugham)

8. That was __ past. There was __ present to worry about now. (S. Sheldon)

9. From the experience of __ stormy past. (W.S. Maugham)

10. It brought me to reality, and the facing of __ immediate future. (D. du Maurier)

11. She had gone to Baltimore to live – but since then she had developed __ past. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

12. Amory decided with a vague sentimentality that for __ present, at any rate, he would not sell the house. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

13. Every time she tried calmly to evaluate her situation and make a plan, her mind was overwhelmed by images of __ entire future with Feramo. (H. Fielding)

14. And then I tell her I want us to make __ new future – and what better way than with a baby? (M. Gayle)

Unique Items

Ø There are several things which are said to be unique in that only one example of them (or one set of them) exists. Here are some words which belong to this group:

the devil the north pole the solar system the universe

the earth the planets      the south pole the weather

the equator     the pope         the stars          the world

the moon the sky            the sun

Ø In some ways unique nouns are like proper nouns which also typically refer to only one item or set of items. And there is a tendency to use a capital letter with some of them (especially ‘devil’, ‘earth’, ‘equator’, ‘north pole’, ‘south pole’ and ‘pope’), as with proper nouns.

· ...a human being possessed by the Devil.

· ...on the surface of the Earth.

Ø However, it is not true to say that all these nouns only occur with the definite article. You can use most of them (but not ‘earth’ or ‘weather’) with the indefinite article or as plurals. If you talk of ‘a sun’ or ‘a moon’, you may be talking about another sun or moon elsewhere in the universe, or you may be trying to give a particular impression of ours:

· ...under a still-warm October sun.

· The moons, too, rapidly grew larger.

Ø ‘Earth’ is very often used with a zero article, especially after ‘on’.

· ...the smallest nation on earth.

Exercise 1.In the following sentences insert articles where necessary and comment on their functions.

1. __ universe is duly in order, everything in its place. (W. Whitman)

2. The clouds left us at Exeter, they rolled away behind us, leaving __ great blue sky above our heads and __ white road in front of us. (D. du Maurier)

3. __ earth and its resources belong of right to its people. (G. Pinchot)

4. The houses were white shells in a rounded grotto, pricked here and there by __ great orange sun. (D. du Maurier)

5. The only fence against __ world is a thorough knowledge of it. (J. Lock

6. It was too early for __ moon. __ sky I could see through the open doors was inky black with only a few stars. I was in a hell of panic as I forced myself out from under the car. (J.H. Chase)

7. And if there’s __ heaven above, he’ll be there, and will lie up against me so I can sleep. (D.H. Lawrence)

8. Every solar system has __ sun.

9. He was a Georgian, with the peculiarly regular, even stenciled ideas of Southerners who are educated in __ North. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

10. __ equator runs round the middle of __ earth.

 

Institutions in Society

Ø There are certain establishments of human society which are referred to with a zero article when we think of them as institutions in general rather than as specific buildings or individual places. Here is a list of words that can be used like this:

church          court   jail             school        

hospital      prison university       college

Ø Normally, when these words are used to talk about buildings they are countable nouns and follow the rules of article usage as count nouns. But when they are being used for their intended purpose there is a zero article; that is worshipping in church, studying in school/college/university, receiving medical care in hospital, being a prisoner in prison or jail, legal action in court:

· ...once he is taken home from hospital.

· In the morning all the peasants went to church.

· He left school at seventeen.

· ...to decide whether to go to court or not.

· His parents couldn't afford to send him to university.

· After 11 days in prison they were released.

Ø There are some differences between British and American usage here. Firstly, Americans say ‘the hospital’ instead of ‘hospital’ for institutional reference. Secondly, the word ‘university’ is not used in this way; the American equivalent of ‘at university’ is ‘in college’.

Ø ‘Bed’ behaves in a similar way; with a zero article it means the place where we sleep or rest, not a particular object.

· She went to bed and slept lightly.

Exercise 1.Insert articles where necessary.

1. Sometimes they would go to__ church together on Sunday and he would walk beside her and revel in her cheeks moist from the soft water in the new air. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

2. Have you thought about __ school for him? (S. Sheldon)

3. He’s stayed over a day from__ college, and he’s coming tonight. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

4. Do you suppose he is in__ prison under some false name? (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

5. They won’t let him out of __ jail. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

6. With no money to pay for __ hospital or doctors, Howard went back to work at the bank, full-time. (S. Sheldon)

7. Lara walked into __ hospital and asked the name of the corporation that owned it. (S. Sheldon)

8. “You should get right to __ hospital,” the doctor had told him. “You’ve lost a good deal of blood -” (S. Sheldon)

 

Geographical oppositions

Ø The definite article is used with a number of nouns which indicate geographical alternatives, for example ‘the town’ – ‘the country’ and ‘the sea’ – ‘the land’. We are not referring to a particular place, for example a particular town or forest. We are talking about the types of landscape or geographical environments where people live, work, or go for holidays. Here is a list of words that can be used like this:

the city       the desert        the land           the sea

the country          the forest        the mountains the seaside

the countryside    the jungle        the plains        the town

Ø  ‘Town’ when used with prepositions has a zero article when it means the centre or business part of a town, or the nearest town to a country place, or the town we live in:

to be in town to come back to town to leave town

to go to town to return to town      to be out of town

to live in town to stay in town

Ø The noun ‘country’ as an antonym to ‘town’ takes the definite article:

to go to the country

to be in the country

to come from the country

Ø ‘Sea’ is used with the indefinite article if it has a descriptive attribute; with a zero article in certain prepositional expressions:

· ...after he'd gone to sea.

...the main danger to naval forces and shipping at sea.

Exercise 1 . Insert articles where necessary.

1. I’ve got to get out of__ town. (J.H. Chase)

2. I don’t think it would do any harm if I quietly let it be known down in Kerrith and in __ country that __ London doctor has supplied us with a motive. (D. du Maurier)

3. So I drove into__ town. (J.H. Chase

4. I am going to __ country for tomorrow. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

5. I just arrived in__ town. (S. Sheldon)

6. “Mr. Adler is out of__ town on tour. Can I help you?” (S. Sheldon)

7. Monsignor wasn't in __ town. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

8. Let’s have a weekend in __ mountains.

9. A farm is an irregular patch of nettles bounded by short-term notes, containing a fool and his wife who didn’t know enough to stay in __ city. (S.J. Perelman)

10. I am not the type who wants to go back to __ land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel. (F. Lebowitz)

 

Parts of the body

Exercise 1.In the sentences below, only one of the underlined alternatives is appropriate. Cross out the one that is wrong.

1. She kissed him on his / the cheek. (S. Sheldon)

2. She punched her attacker in his / the face and he ran off.

3. After a while, Mary came in, her / the hair freshly combed.

4. The Baron leaned forward and looked her in the / her face.

5. He put his / the hand on the / her shoulder.

6. She leaned close to him, resting her / the cheek against him.

7. She slipped her / the arm under his and gave him a nudge.

8. The General had a pistol in the / his hand.

9. I kicked him hard on the / his leg.

10. He could have shot me in the / my foot.

11. His voice, rich in tone, had a musical quality that was grateful to the / myear. (W.S. Maugham)

12. My dog has hurt the / his leg.

13. Look me in the / my eye and tell me what you’re saying is true.

14. Can’t you think of anything else? You’ve got food on the / your brain.

 

Diseases

Ø Article usage with the names of illnesses and other conditions is sometimes inconsistent, and can vary with the same word. Normally nouns referring to illnesses are uncountable and are used with a zero article. Here is a list of common words like this:

AIDS anaemia appendicitis cancer cholera diabetes

diarrhoea hepatitis herpes influenza laryngitis leukaemia

malaria pneumonia rabies rheumatism scarlet fever smallpox

tonsillitis tuberculosis typhoid yellow fever bronchitis diphtheria

Ø ‘Cancer’ can also be countable, but combinations with it are uncountable, for example ‘lung cancer’.

Ø With the names of some common infectious diseases the definite article can be used, as well as a zero article, but it is not as common. This applies to ‘flu’ (but not ‘influenza’), ‘measles’, ‘mumps’, and ‘chickenpox’.

· She’s coming down with the flu./ I had a mild attack of flu.

· ...unlike the measles itself. / ...the first symptoms of measles.

Ø The definite article is found with names of diseases when the speaker refers to some particular case (with less dangerous diseases).

Ø Certain nouns which are not special medical terms are used to name diseases; they behave as countable or uncountable nouns: ‘a cold’, ‘a chill’, ‘a cough’, ‘a high blood pressure’, ‘a heart attack’, ‘a sore throat’, ‘a pain in the back/ in the knee’ are treated as simple countable nouns; ‘heart trouble’, ‘liver trouble’ – as uncountable nouns.

Ø Words ending in ‘-ache’ behave in different ways, in British English. ‘Earache’, ‘toothache’, ‘backache’, ‘stomach-ache’, and so on can be uncountable or countable, so you can say ‘I’ve got earache’ and ‘I’ve got an earache’.

· He was suffering from severe earache.

· One morning she developed an earache.

· ...various infusions which she used for sore eyes, toothache and muscular pains.

· ...when a woman with a toothache was brought to us.

Ø ‘Headache’, however, is a countable noun, and so you can have ‘a headache’ or regular ‘headaches’, but you cannot say ‘I’ve got headache’.

· Next morning she complained of a headache.

Ø In American English, all ‘-ache’ words are countable nouns, so it is not possible to say ‘I’ve got earache’, and so on.

Ø Note The noun ‘heartache’ is used figuratively denoting deep sorrow or grief.

Exercise 1.Insert articles where necessary.

1. The boy Roger had arrived home with __ measles; they were all in __ quarantine. I could not help blessing __ measles. (D. du Maurier)

2. When Amory had __ whooping-cough four disgusted specialists glared at each other hunched around his bed; when he took __ scarlet fever the number of attendants, including physicians and nurses, totalled fourteen. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

3. In actuality Dick was sick with __ flu. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

4. On an evening in early July, James Cameron suffered __ heart attack. (S. Sheldon)

5. Dick has had __ grippe and is starting home to-morrow. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

6. This cancer wing I’ve donated is particularly important to me, as you know that __ cancer was what took your beloved grandfather from me. (M. Gabot)

7. I am writing this from home to let you know I will not be in today due to the fact that I have woken up with __ sore throat, fever, and runny nose. (M. Gabot)

8. Love’s like __ measles – all the worse when it comes late in life. (D. Jerrold)