§ 27. The article is not used with nouns in appositive of-phras- es when the head-noun denotes a title or a post, e.G. They nominated candidates for the post of President and

Vice-President.

He got the degree of Master of Arts.

When I was a young man, the position of schoolmaster car- ried with it a sense of responsibility.

§ 28. The article is not used in the adverbial pattern from - to, in which the same noun is repeated after the prepositions, as in: from tree to tree, from street to street, from town to town, from day to day, etc. Such combinations are to be regarded аs free combinations (not set phrases) as the number of nouns thus used is practically unlimited. Care should be taken not to confuse

such free combinations with set phrases, which are somewhat sim- ilar to the above mentioned pattern but limited in number:

a) from head to foot, from top to toe, from top to bottom, from beginning to end, from South to North. (Here after the prepo- sitions from ... to we find two different nouns, not the same noun. The number of such units is limited.)

b) hand in hand, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, face to face, day by day. (The same noun connected by different preposi- tions is repeated here. The number of such units is also limited.) § 29. There is no article with nouns in direct address. e.g. "How is my wife, doctor?" "Well, young man," said Eden with a smile, "what can I do for you?" § 30. After the exclamatory what we find the indefinite article with singular nouns. e.g. "What a car!" she exclaimed. I thought what an unhappy man he must be! What a narrow-minded, suspicious woman Maria was! With plural nouns there is no article, in accordance with the general rules.

e.g. What marvellous books you've got!

It is noteworthy that no article is used after the interrogative what modifying a noun.

e.g. What question did you want to ask me?

§ 31. The definite article is found within an of-phrase preceded by one, some, any, each, many, most, none, all, several, the first, the last, the rest, the majority.

e.g. "One of the letters is from Tom," she said.

Most of the lecturers had other jobs in the town.

Several of the boys knew that my father had "failed in busi-

Compare the above given combinations with: one letter, most Lecturers, several boys, etc.

§ 32. There is a fluctuation in the use of articles in the follow- ing type of combinations: a sort of (a) man, the sort of (a) man, what sort of (a) man, this sort of (a) man, that sort of (a) man, some sort of (a) man; a (the, some, what, this, that) kind of (a) man, a (the, some, what, this, that) type of (a) man.

e.g. He showed us a new type of bulb.

"What sort of a day have you had?" I asked him. I said: "It's not the sort of situation one laughs at." It was too dark to see what kind of a house it was. "What kind of car was it?" Ramsden asked.

The more commonly found variant is the one without any article.

THE USE OF ARTICLES WITH UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

The Use of Articles with Uncountable Abstract Nouns

§ 33. Abstract nouns, like concrete nouns, fall into two class- es: countables and uncountables. 1

Among abstract countable nouns we find, e.g. answer, belief, conclusion, doubt, effort, fact, government, holiday, idea, job, lie, mistake, opinion, plan, principle, promise, question, reply, sen- tence, visit, word and many others.

Countable abstract nouns may be used in the singular and in the plural.

e.g. He had a brilliant idea. I like their method of work.

He always had brilliant ideas. I like their methods of work.

The class of uncountable abstract nouns includes such nouns as: anger, beauty, curiosity, excitement, freedom, grace, happiness,

¹ The division of nouns into these two classes is a matter of tradition and can hardly be accounted for either semantically or grammatically.

impatience, jealousy, love, modesty, nervousness, pride, respect, strength, time, violence, work and many others.

Uncountable abstract nouns are used only in the singular.

It is sometimes difficult to draw a line of division between countable and uncountable nouns. Some abstract nouns are used as countables in one meaning and as uncountables in another:

Uncountable Countable

work — работа a work — произведение

silence — тишина, молчание a silence — пауза

decision — решительность, a decision — решение

решимость kindness — доброта a kindness — доброе дело

experience — опыт an experience — случай

из жизни favour — милость, располо- a favour — одолжение

жение failure — неудача, провал a failure — неудачное дело;

неудачник society — общество a society — организация,

кружок

nature — природа a nature — натура, характер

grammar — грамматика a grammar — учебник

(наука) по грамматике

observation — наблюдение an observation — замечание

e.g. They walked in silence along the path. After a long silence he began his story. She spoke with decision. You must carefully think before you take a decision.

He is a wicked person who is insensible to kindness. If you write him you will be doing him a kindness.

He has been doing this kind of work for many years, so he

has a good deal of experience. It was an unpleasant experience and he didn't speak of it.

There are also a number of abstract nouns which appear both as uncountables and countables without any noticeable change of meaning, e.g. chance, change, difficulty, language, profit, reason, temptation, torture, trouble, war and some others.

Some of the nouns that generally tend to be uncountable are in certain constructions regularly used with the indefinite article. Here belong comfort, disgrace, disappointment, pity, pleasure, re- lief, shame and some others. They are found with the indefinite article when they are used as predicatives after a formal it as subject (a) or after the exclamatory what (b):

e.g. a) It is a pleasure to see you.

It was a relief to know that she was safely home, b) What a disappointment! What a pity!

But we say: I'll do it with pleasure. She gave a sigh of relief. He now knew what disappointment was. She felt pity for the poor child.

§ 34. The use of articles with countable abstract nouns does not differ from their use with countable concrete nouns: in the singular countable abstract nouns are used with the indefinite or definite article; in the plural they are used without any article or with the definite article.

e.g. He told the child a story. He told the child stories.

The child knew the story he told. The child knew the stories he told.