articles / Articles with Uncount Nouns

ARTICLES WITH MATERIAL NOUNS

No	Rule	Article	Examples
I.	Basic rule: in a general sense	no article	Blood is thicker than water.
II.	When modified by a descriptive attribute	no article	He brought cold beef, French bread and fresh butter.
III.	When a portion is specified by a limiting modifier the context the situation	the	The meet they had been brought was tough. My parents gave me £5000, and I used the money to buy a car. The milk has turned sour.
IV.	Material nouns turn into countables when they denote: a type of food product or material a portion (unit) of food or drink an object made of a certain material		The wine was only an ordinary white table wine. We ordered a coffee, two ices and a salad. a glass of orange juice; a tin of sardines

ARTICLES WITH ABSTRACT UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

No	Rule	Article	Example
I.	Basic rule: in a general sense	no article	He is a young man of sense, of character, and of fortune.
II.	When a notion is specified by a limiting modifier the context the situation	the	The life I have chosen involves a lot of complications. Fanny was confused but the confusion showed discontent. The weather was good for the time of the year.
III.	When modified by a descriptive attribute: pre-modifier post-modifier certain, peculiar (or implied)	a	It was an aesthetic education to live within those walls. He turned on her with an anger which she had never seen in him before. She listened to his words with a peculiar intensity.
IV.	Exceptions to Rule III: the indefinite article is not used 1) if the adjective denotes degree time authenticity national, geographical, social characteristics 2) with the nouns advice fun, health, information, luck, news, permission, progress, society, space, weather, work 3) if the adj+noun preceded by a preposition functions adverbially or attributively, the article may be dropped	no article a (optional)	I’m in absolute despair. They talked of modern poetry. It gives me sincere satisfaction. We talked of literature and Roman history. He was disillusioned in bourgeois philosophy. It was quite hideous peasant work. I’m not going to give you fatherly advice. She looked down with fresh shame.