Exercise 2. In some of the sentences below both the noun groups that are underlined are possible. In others only one is correct. Put a ring around the ones that are correct.

1. Do you suffer from a malaria/ malaria?

2. I get fed up when I have a cold/ cold because my nose goes bright red.

3. What is the best treatment for flu/ the flu?

4. I took some aspirin for a headache/ headache.

5. Leukemia is cancer/ a cancer of the blood.

6. Don’t sit in a draught or you’ll catch a chill/ chill.

7. She developed stomach cancer/ the stomach cancer a month after the marriage broke up.

8. When the Czar has a cold/ cold all Russia coughs. (Russian proverb)

9. Cancer/ The cancer causes a lot of suffering.

10. Anybody who is 25 or 30 years old has physical scars from all sorts of things, from tuberculosis/ the tuberculosis to polio/ the polio. It’s the same with the mind. (M. R. Kaufman)

Special Roles

 

Exercise 1 . Insert articles where necessary.

1. Charles was __ head of the French branch of Roffe and Sons. (S. Sheldon)

2. Now Rinaldo Pazzi, __ chief inspector of the Florentine Questura, had to decide what his honor was worth, or if there is a wisdom longer than considerations of honor. (Th. Harris)

3. She was __ woman enough to know when a man wanted her all right … and when one didn’t. (P. Jordan)

4. His father had been __ president of one of the southern universities and his grandfather a divine of some eminence. (W.S. Maugham)

5. In April, Animal Farm was proclaimed __ Republic, and it became necessary to elect __ President. (G. Orwell)

6. Franz, __ resident pathologist at the clinic, a Voudois by birth, a few years older than Dick, met him at the tram stop. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

7. With Elkins, __ second secretary at __ Embassy, he shared an apartment. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

8. By the end of the week he would no longer be __ Head of Security Police. (J.H. Chase)

9. Belle became __ president at her bank. (C. Bushnell)

10. I was still __ child enough to consider Christian name like a plume in the hat. (D. du Maurier)

11.  Walden had just been made __ partner in a corporate law firm and had recently gotten engaged to a dermatologist. (C. Bushnell)

12. Three years after he had joined the company, Rhys was made __ general sales manager. (S. Sheldon)

13. I blew it and I’m __ man enough to admit it. (M. Gabot)

14. “Is that Tyler Kydd, __ actor?” Mr. Big asked. (C. Bushnell)

15. __ captain is full of bright ideas. That’s why he is __ Captain. (J.H. Chase)

16. “Call the Mercantile Bank in Chicago. Ask for Bob Vance. He’s __ president.” (S. Sheldon)

17. When Anna’s father died two years later, Walther Gassner was made __ member of the board. (S. Sheldon)

18. I’m __ son of Giuseppe Martini. (S. Sheldon)

19. Sir Alec Nichols, __ Member of Parliament, was seated at one of the small corner tables, having lunch with a guest, Jon Swinton. (S. Sheldon)

20. “When you’re __ Prime Minister, don’t forget old Ireland.” (K. Saunders)

21. Mary North was __ daughter of a journeyman paper-hanger and a descendent of __ President Tyler. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

 

THE USE OF ARTICLES WITH PROPER NOUNS

Personal Names

Exercise 1 . Insert articles where necessary.

1. Isabel frowned slightly. I think she was beginning to have a notion that __ Larry who had entered the room a few hours before, though unchanged in appearance and seemingly as open and friendly as he had ever been, was not __ same Larry, so candid, easy, and gay, willful to her mind but delightful, that she had known in __ past. She had lost him before, and on seeing him again, taking him for __ old Larry, she had a feeling that, however altered the circumstances, he was still hers. (W.S. Maugham)

2. I came here when __ first Mrs. De Winter was a bride. (D. du Maurier)

3. “A little background first.” Doemling consulted his notes. “We knooowww Hannibal Lecter was born in Lithuania. His father was a count, title dating from the tenth century, his mother high-born Italian, __ Visconti…” (Th. Harris)

4. How did you get on with __ old Danvers? (D. du Maurier)

5. “No,” declared Tom emphatically, __ new Tom, clothed by Brooks, shod by Franks. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

6. __ young Gray Maturin was eager for him to take it. (W.S. Maugham)

7. He seemed all right again now, happy and cheerful, __ Maxim I knew and loved, and he began talking about Frank Crawley. (D. du Maurier)

8. I was introduced to a stoutish, tall man with a red face who looked somewhat ill at ease in evening clothes. He was __ Dr Nelson, but at the moment that meant nothing to me. (W.S. Maugham)

9. I asked __ little Clarice about her. (D. du Maurier)

10. “Well, must go,” she said. “Must see what __ adventurous Iris has been up to.” (H.E. Bates)

11. I should have remembered __ name de Winter. I’ve never attended __ Mrs. de Winter in my life. (D. du Maurier)

12. __ Kitty of this morning faded; the soiled kimono rolled up and disappeared; the pouts, and rages, and tears all were washed away. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

13. __ Blaines were attached to no city. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

14. I am just ‘__ good old Kerry’ and all that rot. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

15. It was well past its first glory on the day __ curious Mrs Roger Fairboalt came to see __ beautiful Mrs Harold Piper. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

16. “Doctor Baker? I don’t know __ Doctor Baker. There used to be a house called Rose Cottage near the church, but __ Mrs. Wilson lives there.” (D. du Maurier)

17. In 1916 he managed to get to Vienna under the impression that, if he did not make haste, __ great Freud would eventually succumb to an airplane bomb. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

18. In every store where she had ever traded she was whispered about as __ beautiful Mrs. Page. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

19. I wouldn’t be __ Rosalind you love. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

20. About a year and a half before, Doctor Dohmler had some vague Mr Devereux Warren, of __ Warren family of Chicago. (F. Sc. correspondence with __ American gentleman living in Lausanne, __Fitzgerald)