4) With names of languages

1) Names of languages when they are not followed by the noun language are used without articles.

She knows English.

Note the peculiar use of the definite article in:

– It is a translation from the English (the French etc.)

– What is the English (the French) for "сосна"?

2) The definite article is used if the noun is modified by a particularizing attribute.

The English of America differs from the English of England.

3) When the noun language is mentioned the definite article is used: the English language, the German language.

5) With the nouns school, college, bed, prison, jail, court, university, church

The nouns school, college, bed, prison, jail, court, hospital, university, church are used without an article when they lose their concrete meaning and express the purpose for which the objects denoted by these nouns serve.

When these nouns denote concrete objects the articles are used according to the general principle.

1) School, college.

to be at school, to go to school = to be a schoolboy (schoolgirl)

to be at college = to be a student of a college

to leave school = to finish or drop one's studies

School begins at five.

He decided to leave school when he was

to go to the school = not as a pupil (the building is meant)

to leave the school = to leave the building

She left the school at 7 o'clock.

2) Bed.

to go to bed – ложиться спать

to be in bed – лежать в постели

You had better go to bed.

to be in the bed, to be on the bed = an article of furniture is meant.

Her portrait was on the wall beside the bed.

3) Prison, jail.

to be in prison (in jail) = to be a prisoner

to be sent to prison, to be put in prison = as a prisoner

He was sent to prison for debt.

to be in the prison, to go to the prison = not as a prisoner (the building is meant)

The prison proper dated from 1822.

6) With the noun town

1) The noun town when used with prepositions does not take an article:

• when we mean the nearest town (if we live in the country) or the town we live in.

You cannot go to town tomorrow.

What can you have to do in town?

• when the noun town is opposed to the noun country.

He was not used to country life, having spent 20 years in town.

2) Otherwise the noun town is used with the definite or indefinite article.

I want to go to the town where I was born.

Exercise 1. Insert articles where necessary.

1. It was eleven o’clock. Annette was still in … bed. (Murdoch) 2. Stefan, who had been sitting on the edge of … bed, came near to her and smiled for … first time. (Murdoch) 3. Maycomb was … old town. (Lee) 4. Dolores said nothing all … way to … town. (I. Shaw) 5. Yes, he and my brother had been to … school together. (Snow) 6. … school was not … particularly good one. (Conan Doyle)

7. I never knew … lawyer yet who didn’t threaten to put me in … prison sooner or later. (Shaw) 8. Steger next visited … county jail, close on to five o’clock, when it was already dark. (Dreiser) 9. After leaving … school, I became clerk to her father. (Lindsay) 10. She graduated from … Pedagogical Institute … year ago and now she is working at … school in … village near Leningrad.

Exercise 2. Translate into English.

1. Она легла спать и встала с головной болью. 2. Почему вы так поздно вернулись из города? 3. Женщина подошла к кровати и накрыла ребенка одеялом. 4. Она плохо себя чувствовала и провела весь день в постели. 5. Сегодня мне нужно пойти в школу на собрание. 6. Я провела всё лето в городе. 7. Когда сестра окончила школу, она поступила в консерваторию. 8. О. Генри был обвинен в краже, и хотя он был не виновен, его посадили в тюрьму. Он сидел в тюрьме три года.