!!!!

We use the article a before a consonant sound and we use the arti-cle an before a
vowel sound; We use a, an only with sigular countable nouns when a) we speak about the
noun for the first time, b) when we characterise the object, c) with the numerals a
thousand, a hundred, a million, a dozen, d) after words what, such, rather, quite, e) with
the words a lot of, a few, a bit, a little.

The definite article is used: a) With the names in plural to indicate the whole family; b)
when we mean typical features associated with well-known names; c) with the names,
modified by a limiting attribute an indefinite article an is used.

You should use the indefinite article with the names of museums, theatres, picture
galleries, concert halls, cinemas, clubs and the hotels. Also with the names of ships, names
of languages, institutions and po-litical parties; you should use the names of the languages
without the article, unless the noun language is used: the English language, the Italian
language

Names of diseases are usually found without any articles. The definite article is used in the
case of back reference or if there is a lim-iting attribute.

We use no article with the names of the months, days and holidays. But: the September of
1975, the Saturday when it happened, the first Easter we spent together.
Seminar. Article
What two approaches are there to the status of the article?
There are two approaches to the status of the article. From one point of view, the group
“article + noun” contains two word-forms, it is a peculiar type of 42 word-combination,
then no “zero” article can exist, and the meaning of the definite and indefinite articles is
the meaning of two separate words. Another viewpoint regards the group “article + noun”
as an analytical form of the noun. This view states that the use of the definite, indefinite
and zero articles mark a grammatical category. This category is called determination
(definiteness-indefiniteness).
What is the semantic structure of the definite article?
The semantic structure of the definite article:
1) The seme of individualization, i.e. the noun determined by the definite article is singled
out of the class of similar objects;
2) The seme of uniqueness, signaling that the object determined by the article is the only
one: the sun, the earth;
3) The seme of demonstration, which makes the definite article similar in meaning with
the demonstrative pronouns;
4) The seme of generalization, i.e. the object is perceived as a generalized definition of all
the objects of the class (The horse is a domestic animal).
What is the semantic structure of the indefinite article?
The semantic structure of the indefinite article:
1) The seme of classification, i.e. the object is one of the similar objects of that class;
2) The seme of singleness, which signals that the identified object is one;
3) The seme of novelty, i.e. the indefinite article points out that the information about the
noun it determines is new.
What are the functions of the article?

The article is a function word, which means it has no lexical meaning and is devoid of
denotative function. Semantically the article can be viewed as a significator, i.e. a
linguistic unit representing some conceptual content without naming it, as an operator, i.e.
a marker of some cognitive operation, like identification, classification, and the like. There
are three articles in English: the definite article “the” and the indefinite one “a”. It has
become a tradition to also single out the so-called “zero” article, which is found in the
contexts where neither the definite nor the indefinite article is used.

Practice assignments:

Task 1. Define the means that render the category of definiteness/ indefiniteness

The category of definiteness/indefiniteness (determination) is a noun category, which is

usually expressed by articles that can be either a function word. Indefiniteness can be
expressed by means of the zero article or by the indefinite article. In the languages where
no articles are found this category is expressed by other categories, for example, in
Russian it can be expressed by case: «выпил воду» (def.) - «выпил воды» (indef.).

Task: A vehicle that uses the power of the sun; my oldest son, human beings; model
human beings; king’s last journey; to be in bed for hours; to be at work; the ones in the
window; two of those coats; washing powder; to buy food; cooking oil; a bottle of cooking
oil; an interesting experience; wine; the wines of Italy; two teas; a Mr. Brown; a dozen
eggs; half a pound of margarine; a jar of jam; to play music; to play some Bach; doing
research; to do a research into radioactivity; giving advice; mineral water; fizzy mineral
water; to contain egg (e.g. a pie); Dave; our neighbour Dave.

Task 2. Suggest examples in English to illustrate the below stated means of the
semantic category of definiteness:

a) determiners;

b) quantifiers;

c) preposed modifiers;

d) postposed modifiers.

Articles, quantifiers, and determiners are the little words we use before nouns. When
you see the words a, an, and the, you know that a noun will follow them. These words
are articles. Words such as each, every, either, neither, much, enough, which, what,
some, and any also mark nouns.
Quantifiers come before nouns or noun phrases and tell us how many or how much of
something. These words include many, a few, much, a little, plenty, a lot, some,
and enough. For example, "There are enough cookies for everyone," and, "I saw a
couple of horses in the field."
The words some and any are determiners. They always come before nouns or noun
phrases. We use any in negative sentences, for example, "We are not allowed to
have any pets in our apartment." And we use some in affirmative statements, such as, "It
is OK to use reference books for some exams." When used as a
determiner, some means certain or specific.

Task 3. Comment on how the articles render the category of definiteness/

indefiniteness of the nouns in the following sentences:

1. Is there life after death? She has lived the life of misery since the death of her husband.
2. They experience freedom from pain. The freedom to say what you want is a basic
democratic freedom. 3. There’s a feeling of love, joy, beauty and peace. My new car’s a
beauty. It’s a real joy to drive. 4. That numerous people have had Near Death Experiences
is not a doubt. There is still a doubt in my mind about whether it was a right thing to do. 5.
The future looks bleak — drought, disease and economic collapse. The drought in Africa
last year cost many lives. There is a drought every year.

Task 4. Supply the or —:

1. A lot of people are giving up _ meat. The meat we had for lunch last Sunday was tough.

2. As someone said,_ life is just one damned thing after another. I don’t know much about
the life of _ Napoleon.

3_ Running is supposed to be good for you. I ought to be fit with all _ running I do, but I
don’t feel fit.

4. Which is your favorite colour? — _ red. I think_ red one will suit you best. ___ red is
more your colour.

5. We learnt _ English at school. _ English we learnt was useless.

6. ___ London is a safe city today, but ___ London of the 18th century was pretty rough.

7. _ watches have become very cheap and very attractive. Most of the watches you see
today work on _ quarts.

8. ___ Bach gives me a great deal of pleasure. ___ Bach recording you bought for my
birthday is first class.

9. What has been the longest period of _ peace in _ history? If you study _ History, you’ve
got to read a lot.
10. I’m not interested in the price of _ silver or the price of _ gold.

11. Fasting (піст) during Ramadan is more difficult in the summer months.

Task 5. Read the text below. Put in a, an or the into each gap. Use one word only
in each space.

This is a true story about a man who chose the worst possible time for his crime. It
happened in London in the summer. The man stole a barge (баржа) on the River Thames
(in case you don’t know, the barge is a river boat used for carrying goods). An
owner of the barge soon discovered that it was missing and immediately imformed the
police so that they could look for it. Normally the river is quite a busy (жвавий) place,
and it would be difficult to find what you were looking for. On this day, however, there
was a dock strike and so there was only a barge on the river, the thief was quickly found
and arrested.

Task 6. Read the sentences below. Correct if it is necessary.

1. I was so tired I went to bed at nine. (...that..)

2. We had a very good lunch in the company canteen. (in the company’s canteen)

3. The life just isn’t fair sometimes. (The life sometimes isn’t fair)

4. What the clever children you have! (мб без the)

5. We went out and bought some pictures. (mb correct я вже нічого know)

6. Tessa was still working at the midnight. (без зе міднайт це всім понятно)

7. I drive past the hospital every morning. (correct)

8. A one boy was much taller than all the others. (One boy was much taller than than all
the others)

9. It costs such a lot of money, you know. (It costs so much (a lot of) money, you know)

10. I’ll meet you outside the National Gallery. (correct)

11. Have you got any idea who invented the fridge? (correct)

Task 7. Translate into English.

1. Я торік відвідав Третяковську галерею.

2. Мед завжди солодкий.
3. Кажуть, погода може впливати на настрій людини.
4. На столі лежить книжка.
5. Він став багатий, як Монте Крісто.
6. Вона тепер не та Оля, яку я знав десять років тому.
7. Більшість студентів пішла додому.
8. Вона купила дюжину яєць.
9. Місяць з’явився на небі.
10 У зоопарку вони побачили лева та страуса (ostrich).
11. Це той будинок, що ми купили торік.
12. Кажуть, любов сліпа.
13. Ми плануємо зупинитись у Браунів.
14. Вони закінчили школу минулого року.
15. Вона любить зупинятись у готелі «Савой».
16. Бразилія виробляє найкращу каву.
17. Індійський океан омиває Африку та Австралію.
18. Вона була єдиною людиною, до кого я міг звернутися з проханням.
19. Ти граєш на скрипці? Ні, я граю на піаніно.
20. Протока Ла Манш знаходиться між Англією та Францією.

Task 8. Say whether the underlined nouns realize the semantic category of
definiteness or indefiniteness. What means creates it? Translate the text into
Ukrainian pertaining the exposed category of the noun.

Mr. Denys Stocks, a retired policeman, has just been given a B.Sc. for twelve years’
research into ancient Egyptian industrial methods. Egyptologists have often wondered how
Egyptians were able to cut such hard stone and how the produced such fine jewelry. Mr.
Stocks has shown that Egyptians used saws and drills. The saws and the drills were made
of copper, which is very soft. But Egyptian craftsmen turned them into powerful tools.
First a craftsman made a cut in a stone with a soft saw. Then the craftsman poured sand
into the cut. The hard sand got into the teeth of the saw and did a cutting.

Task 9. Correct the mistakes if there are any:

PICTURE OF THE MUSHROOM

One day Frenchman who was travelling in the Sweden came to res-taurant. Frenchman did
not know the Swedish and nobody could speak the French at a restaurant. He wanted to
have a mushrooms for his the breakfast; so he called waiter and asked him to bring him
some mush-rooms. But a waiter could not understand what a Frenchman wanted. Then
Frenchman took the piece of paper and the pencil and drew picture of mushroom. A waiter
looked at a picture and left room at once.
Five minutes later he returned with an umbrella.

10. Put in a, an, the or zero into each gap.

I knew (1) … man who had travelled very much in his life. He had visited many countries
in (2) … East and in (3) … West. He loved … children and often told them (4) …
interesting stories. I remember some of (5) … stories which he told me. One of them was
about (6) … adventure he had in (7) … London. He was (8) … young man at that time and
was interested in (9) … history of architecture. One day he visited one of (10) … towers of
(11) … Houses of (12) … Parlia-ment. He came out on to (13) … balcony of (14) …
tower and began to look at (15) … ornaments on (16) … walls Then he climbed up on (17)
… roof. Suddenly (18) … man came running to him and seized him by (19) … arm. He
began shouting something in (20) … English, but my friend knew only (21) … few words
of English and did not understand him. (22). .. Englishman called (23) … policeman. (24)
… fact was that he thought that (25) … Russian tourist wanted to kill himself by jumping
from (26) … top of (27) … tower. Later, when everything became clear, they laughed (28)
… lot over it.