Grammatika_sovremennogo_angliyskogo_y
.pdf3) Nouns denoting parts of the day have no article when they are used as predicatives.
e.g. It was evening when he decided to lay his books aside and take a walk.
It was nearly midnight and neither of us had eaten for a long time.
It was dusk but I could see Henry walking across the field. However, if these nouns are used predicatively with a descriptive attribute, the indefinite article is used (see point 2 above).
But the article is not used with nouns denoting parts of the day if they are modified by one of the following adjectives:
e.g. It was early morning. It was broad day.
It was high noon.
It was late evening.
The adjectives early, late, broad and high do not describe any part of the day here, but just indicate the time of the day with more precision. (Morning refers to a longer period of the day
than early morning or late morning.)
4) In many cases the use of articles with nouns denoting parts of the day has become traditional.
a) In some prepositional phrases either the definite article or no article is found. They are to be treated as set phrases. The definite article is used in: in the afternoon, in the daytime, in the evening, in the morning, in the night. No article is used after the prepositions at, by, about, past, before, after, towards, till, until, e.g. at night, at dawn, by day (' '), by night (' '), by noon (' '), by midnight (' '), past noon, about midnight, before dawn, after sunset, etc.
e.g. I would take pills at night to make me sleep quickly, but I never found any pills that would keep me asleep till daylight.
Rain was now falling in sheets as it so often did before dawn. After midnight I walked to the beach with him, sad to see him
leave so soon.
b) There is no article with the nouns morning, day and dawn when they are used as subject to the verbs to break, to be at hand; the same is true of the nouns evening, night, dusk when they are followed by the verbs to fall, to gather, to set in, to be at hand, to come.
e.g. Day was breaking when we set out.
The sky was overcast and dusk fell early.
Dawn was breaking among the olives, silvering their still leaves.
c) There is no article with nouns denoting parts of the day when they are modified by the names of the days of the week and the words tomorrow and yesterday.
e.g. I went to Aunt Milly's house on Friday evening.
He spoke to Lin on the telephone on Thursday afternoon. I shall see him tomorrow morning.
She was here yesterday afternoon.
Note. Compare: We met on Saturday night (' -
') and We met on a Saturday night (' -
').
d) There is no article in the following phrases: all day {long) and all night (through) (but we say: all through the night and all through the day), day after day, night after night, day in day
out, from morning till night, (to work) day and night, in the dead of night, late at night (but early in the morning).
e) There is a tendency to use the nouns denoting parts of the day without any article in attributive of-phrases. Yet, the definite article is used when a particular day, night, etc. is meant.
e.g. He always woke up with the first sounds of morning.
After the bombardment he couldn't recognize the street that had been so familiar to him at the beginning of the day.
Names of Seasons
§ 46. To this group of nouns belong: winter, spring, summer and autumn (AmE: fall). The use of articles with these nouns presents great difficulty because we find a good deal of fluctuation here.
1) The definite article is used with these nouns when reference is made to a particular winter, spring, summer or autumn present, past or future, or to a season of a particular year. As a general rule, this limitation is clear from the situation or context, but it may also be expressed by a limiting attribute. The nouns usually have the function of subject in this case.
e.g. The summer was exceptionally trying in the town.
The winter was very fine that year and we were very happy. The summer wore on. He was still working hard.
The autumn of 1914 was very warm.
But when these nouns are used as the subject to such commonly used verbs as to approach, to be over, to come, to come to an end, to pass, to set in and some others, either the definite article or no article is found. In this case reference may be made to a particular season or to the kind of season in general.
e.g. (The) winter came early and unexpectedly with a heavy fall of snow.
(The) summer was over but we had not heard from him yet. In those parts (the) spring usually sets in early.
The same fluctuation is observed when names of seasons are used in general statements as a subject to a nominal predicate.
e.g. (The) winter is very long here.
(The) summer is a rainy season on the island.
2) The definite article is generally found when names of seasons serve as an object in the sentence. This is usually found after the verbs to hate, to like, to love, to spend, to talk about, to wait for and some others. In this case reference may be made to a particular season or to the kind of season in general,
e.g. He looks like somebody who spent the summer at the sea. Dave loves the winter.
I liked the summer there, on account of the bathing, I think.
Sole. Although the use of the definite article is the norm in this case, occasionally no article is found.
3) When names of seasons have a descriptive attribute and are
: PRESSI ( HERSON )
the centre of communication they are used with the indefinite article (in its aspective function).
e.g. We had a short summer.
He had passed a sluggish winter and a lazy summer.
4) When names of seasons are used as predicatives they have no article.
e.g. It was summer and the place broke up in red flowers. However, when these nouns in their predicative function are
modified by a descriptive attribute, the indefinite article is used (see also point 3 above),
e.g. "It has been a terrible summer," he said.
"It was a remarkably fine autumn," she added.
But the article is not used with names of seasons if they are modified by the adjectives early and late which do not describe the season but serve to indicate the time of the year with more precision. {Early summer means the first month of summer; late autumn means the last month of autumn.)
e.g. It was early summer. It was late autumn.
5) There is a great deal of fluctuation in the use of articles with names of seasons when they are used as adverbial modifiers in prepositional phrases. After the prepositions in, till, until, before and after names of seasons may be used either with the definite article or without any article. Reference again may be made to a particular season or to the kind of season in general.
e.g. The sun in (the) summer warms the skin, but in (the) winter when it appears it warms the heart.
In (the) autumn young Ben was to go to a preparatory school. "Can't you wait until (the) winter?" Sam asked.
I don't think they'll be able to get through with the work before (the) winter.
But after the prepositions through, for and during the definite article is to be used.
. Through the autumn, a busy time for me, I was often uneasy. "Are you going to stay here for the winter?" Jack asked after a while.
He stayed in Paris during the summer and worked without a break till autumn was well advanced.
6) In attributive of-phrases names of seasons usually have no article, as in: the warmth of spring, the dust of summer, three months of winter, the colours of autumn.
Note. Note the following set phrases used adverbially: (to work) winter and summer, early (late) in the autumn (summer, etc.), all the winter (spring, etc.).
Names of Meals
§ 47. The group includes the nouns: breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and tea.
1) In the overwhelming majority of cases names of meals are used without any article. In this case neither the function of the noun nor its being part of a set phrase is essential.
e.g. Lunch is ready and we can go in.
Dinner was at an end.
I was having tea with her.
He came in when we were eating breakfast. John came to lunch at the appointed time. They met for dinner.
"Stay to tea," said Mrs Watson.
His eyes still bored me as they had done at tea.
2) The definite article is infrequent with names of meals. It is used in a clear case of back reference or if there is a limiting attribute.
e.g. The supper was very different from the one of the evening before.
The dinner was excellent, but Isabel noticed that John ate
very little.
He was greedily eating the lunch his mother had given him.
3) The indefinite article is used when names of meals are modified by descriptive attributes. The indefinite article has its aspective function.
e.g. I'll try to give you a decent lunch. Walter wanted a very special dinner.
You can get a good supper here.
As soon as he was dressed, he went into the library and sat down to a light French breakfast.
4) Occasionally, owing to a change of meaning, names of meals become countable nouns. This occurs in the following cases:
a) when they denote dinner party, tea party, etc. Both the definite and the indefinite articles may be found here.
e.g. Fleur said: "We had a dinner last night."
I was having a wash and a brush-up before starting out to go to the luncheon Elliot had invited me to.
Each Friday night Mr March used to give a dinner to the en tire family.
b) when they denote a portion. In this case the noun is used with the indefinite article denoting one.
e.g. I have not enough money to buy a dinner at such an expensive restaurant.
He wheedled a few francs out of me for a dinner and a bed.
Names of Diseases
§ 48. This group includes a considerable number of uncoun table nouns, e.g. pneumonia, influenza (flu in colloquial English).
scarlet fever, cholera, diabetes, lumbago, cancer, diphtheria, tuberculosis (consumption), mumps and measles (the last two are used with a singular verb), etc.
1) Names of diseases are generally found without any article, as in most cases they are used just to name the kind of disease.
e.g. The doctor said he had pneumonia and told him to keep warm. The boy Roger arrived home with measles.
He had a bad attack of lumbago. He had almost died of cholera. She was suffering from diabetes.
: PRESSI ( HERSON )
The boy had been ill for two days and his mother thought it was scarlet fever.
She fell ill with flu.
2) The definite article may be used with names of diseases in a clear case of back reference or if there is a limiting attribute.
e.g. The family were sitting around watching TV, recovering from the flu.
After the diphtheria Jane felt very weak and depressed.
Note. Certain nouns which are not special medical terms are used to name diseases. They may be countable or uncountable.
e.g. He had a (bad, splitting) headache. He had a toothache.
He had a sore throat. He had heart trouble.
I have a boil on my hand. She had a bruise on her leg.
The Noun sea
§ 49. The noun sea is regularly found with the definite article. This may be accounted for by different reasons. In some cases it may be understood as a generic singular.
e.g. The sea covers nearly three fourths of the world's surface. He always spends his holiday by the sea.
In other cases it is used with the individualizing definite article, e.g. A cold wind was blowing from the sea.
Let's go for a swim in the sea.
Certain Countable Nouns in Their Phraseological Use
§ 50. There are a number of countable nouns in English, which are often used without any article, as they undergo a change of meaning and become uncountable.
§51. The nouns school, college, hospital, prison, jail, camp, church, court, bed, table and occasionally market are used without any article when, as part of set phrases, they lose their concrete meaning and express the purpose which the objects denoted by these nouns serve. Thus hospital comes to denote treatment, prison — punishment, school — studies, bed — sleep, etc. Compare the following examples:
e.g. After lunch Dr Reily went off to the hospital.
"How long were you in hospital with that wound?" she asked. They had a hospital in the town during the war.
Madame Duclerk sat at the table darning socks.
I asked her to tell me who all the people at table were.
In the cafe we had a table to ourselves, but those around us were soon filled.
The road to the prison was blocked by policemen. He would be sent to prison if he were caught. Perhaps he was in a German prison.
I softly drew the chair to the bed and sat down.
He went to bed early, but lay awake for a long time.
I found a bed made up for me, and placed the candles on the old-fashioned chest of drawers.
It should be noted that the use of a descriptive or limiting attribute destroys the idiomatic meaning of the phrases in question. See the examples above and also compare the following sentences:
e.g. He was sent to school.
He was sent to a secondary (good, public) school.
He was sent to the best school in the town.
§ 52. The noun town in some prepositional phrases may be used without any article when it means the centre or business part of a town, the town one lives in, or the nearest town to a country place- e.g. She drove into town and drew up at the curb beside the drugstore.
I called up and asked her if she wouldn't prefer to lunch in town.
I thought that he would be out of town next week.
§ 53. A considerable number of different nouns when used in adverbial prepositional phrases have no article, e.g. by train, by plane, by boat, by coach, by bus, by tram, by taxi, by air, by car, by sea, by post, by mail, by phone, by radio, by accident, by mistake, by hand, by chance, by letter, by land, by sight, at hand, off hand, [ in detail, in person, on board, on deck, on foot, on tiptoe, at sea, to sea, on hand, on leave, on business, on holiday, etc.
e.g. It was nearly eight o'clock, and I had to go home by taxi.
I had already told her by telephone about my talk with Keats.
You needn't tell me about it in detail.
§ 54. There is no article in a number of combinations consisting of a preposition + a noun + a preposition. Such set phrases are to be treated as compound prepositions, e.g. in addition to, in charge of, in contrast with, in regard to, in support of, in reply
to, in connection with, on account of, in comparison with, in conformity with, in honour of, in memory of, in pursuit of, in favour of, in combination with, in answer to, in defiance of, with regard
to, in recognition of, in return for, in place of, in relation to, in search of, by reason of, by way of, etc.
e.g. I rushed through the passage in search of my mother. My father found himself in charge of a factory.
However, in some other set phrases built up on the same pattern the definite article is used, e.g. under the influence of, in the centre of, on the invitation of, by the side of, in the middle of, on the initiative of, under the pretence of, etc.
§ 55. There is no article in some combinations consisting of a preposition 4- a noun + a conjunction which are on the way of becoming compound conjunctions, e.g. for fear that, on condition that.
However, in some cases the definite article is found, as in: on the ground that, for the reason that.
§ 56. The definite article is used in the following set phrases: to the forest, in (to, across) the fields, to (at) the cinema, to (at) the theatre, to the pictures, to (in) the country, on the spot, in the slums, in the trenches. (Note, however, that the nouns museum, picture gallery, concert, exhibition do not form such set phrases.)
e.g. I took Marian aside and asked her to come for a walk. We
: PRESSI ( HERSON )
went to the fields.
We had an early dinner and went to the theatre.
"Oh," he said, "Sarah*s come in. She's been to the pictures." I knew that Aunt Lin would not ring up because it was her
afternoon at the cinema.
But if these nouns indicate a particular object, the articles are used with them in accordance with the general rules. But this case is not common.
e.g. We found that the film was on at a cinema across the river. Charles suggested that we should have a meal and go to a theatre.
§ 57. The definite article is also used in the following set phrases: to play the piano, to play the violin and the like. But no article is found in the combinations: to play volleyball., to play hockey, to play golf, to play cards and the like.
The Use of Articles with Nouns Denoting Unique Objects
§ 58. There are a number of nouns in English denoting either concrete objects or abstract notions which are considered to be unique. These nouns are neither countable nor uncountable as, on the one hand, they express oneness but, on the other hand, the idea of more-than-oneness, is inconceivable in connection with them 1. Such nouns are used with the definite article as reference is always made to the same object or notion. They include:
1 Occasionally some of these nouns are used in the plural for stylistic purposes.
e.g. The morning skies were heavy with autumn mists.
1) names of unique objects, such as the sun, the moon, the earth, the world, the globe, the unive rse, the Milky Way, the ground, the cosmos, the atmosphere.
e.g. The sun was falling flat across the field and the grass was pale with it.
We had been there all day, the whole party of us; the ground was littered with our picnic.
Even when these nouns have descriptive attributes they may be used with the definite article in accordance with the rule stated above.
e.g. Only the yellow light of the low autumn moon ruffled the water. The stars were quivering in the frosty sky.
However, the indefinite article in its aspective function may also be used in this case. Then attention is focused on the noun and it becomes the centre of communication, which is as usual marked by strong stress.
e.g. There was a splendid tropical moon and a soft breeze last night.
It was a glorious night, with a great full moon gleaming in a purple sky.
My first reply was: "Of course, I want to see a better world."
I did not see Charles Strickland for several weeks.
No article is used either if names of persons are modified by such attributes as little, old, young, dear, poor, honest.
e.g. Young Jolyon, standing by the little piano, listened with his dim smile.
When dear old Emily went back to town after staying with them for a fortnight, she sent the children a doll's house.
We find no article with names of members of a family, such as Mother, Father, Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother, Grandfather,
Baby, Nurse, Cook, when they are treated as proper names by the members of that family. In this case such nouns are usually written with a capital letter.
e.g. "How nice that you've come!" she said. "Mother is still resting, but she will be down soon."
She went into the hall: "Is Nurse back?"
§ 61. However, both the definite and the indefinite articles may be occasionally found with names of persons.
The definite article is used:
1) with a name in the plural to indicate the whole family,
e.g. The Elliots were intelligent people.
He didn't even know the Browns had a daughter. He's very different from the rest of the Jacksons.
2) with a name modified by a limiting attribute,
e.g. Is he the Jones who is a writer?
Now she was more like the Julia of their first years of marriage.
3) with a name modified by a descriptive attribute when the limitation is clear from the context or situation (a) or when the attribute indicates a permanent quality of the person in question (b).
e.g. a) A remarkable number of guests went without coffee because it was not the right sort, a detail that had been overlooked by the embarrassed Otto.
b) He slapped him on. the shoulder, which startled and slightly annoyed the prim George Augustus,
The indefinite article is used:
1)to indicate that one member of a family is meant, e.g. I have often wondered if Arthur was really a Burton.
2)with a name modified by a descriptive attribute when it is the centre of communication in the sentence,
e.g. He was met at the door by an angry Isabel, who demanded to know what he meant by coming home at that hour.
Note 1. If a name is preceded by Mr, Mrs or Miss it may be used with the indefinite article to denote 'a certain'.
e.g. He was a lawyer, a Mr Reid from Melbourne.
My landlady knocked at the door and said: "A Mr Parkis to see you," thus indicating by a grammatical article the social status of my caller.
Note 2. Sometimes, owing to a change of meaning, names of persons become countable nouns indicating concrete objects (a) or typical features associated with
a well-known name (b). The articles with such nouns are used in accordance with the general rules for countable nouns.
e.g. a) Lanny has sold them an especially fine Goya. He wanted to know how much a Buick cost.