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И. П. Крылова, Е. М. Гордон -- Грамматика совре...doc
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§ 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 at- tribute.

e.g. The supper was very different from the one of the evening be- fore. 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 mod- ified by descriptive attributes. The indefinite article has its aspec- tive 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 defi- nite 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 ex- pensive 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, tu- berculosis (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. 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 dis- eases. 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