- •Unit 1 The Article General Notion
- •Practice
- •Unit 2 The Use of the Indefinite Article with Class Nouns
- •Practice
- •Unit 3 The Use of the Definite Article with Class Nouns
- •Note 1 The definite article is used with ‘wrong’ even when it does not make sense to talk about only one wrong possibility.
- •Practice
- •Unit 4 The Use of Articles with Class Nouns Modified by Attributes
- •Modification by nouns in the genitive case
- •Modification by prepositional phrases
- •Practice
- •Unit 5 The Use of Articles with Nouns in Apposition and with Predicative Nouns
- •Practice
- •Practice
- •Traditional Methods of Food Preservation
- •Unit 7 The Use of Articles with Abstract Nouns
- •The use of articles with uncountable abstract nouns
- •Practice
- •Unit 8 The Use of Articles with Names of Persons
- •1. No article is used:
- •2. The definite article is used:
- •3. The indefinite article is used:
- •4. The use of articles with nouns modified by proper nouns.
- •Practice
- •Unit 9 The Use of Articles with Geographic Names
- •1. Geographical names and place names with the definite article.
- •2. Geographical names and place names without article.
- •Practice
- •Geography of ____ United States
- •Unit 10 The Use of Articles with Miscellaneous Proper Names
- •Names of buildings and institutions
- •The following names typically have no article
- •Names of universities, colleges and schools: London University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Trinity College, Manchester Grammar School
- •Names of streets, roads, squares and parks
- •Names of ships, trains, and spacecraft
- •The names of smaller boats usually have no article:
- •Names of newspapers and periodicals
- •Names of sporting events
- •Names of festivals
- •Names of organizations
- •Names of political institutions
- •Practice
- •Getting around London
- •Unit 11 The Use of Articles with Some Semantic Groups of Nouns (1) Names of Seasons
- •Names of Months and Days of the Week
- •Names of Parts of the Day
- •2. The definite article is used:
- •Names of Longer and Specific Periods
- •Names of Meals The group includes the nouns: breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and tea.
- •Practice
- •Unit 12 The Use of Articles with Some Semantic Groups of Nouns (2) Names of Diseases
- •Names of musical instruments
- •Media and communications
- •Names of means of transport
- •Forms of entertainment
- •Names of institutions in society
- •Parts of the body
- •Geographical oppositions
- •Names of shops and other businesses
- •Names of languages and religions
- •Names of grammatical categories
- •Practice
- •Newspaper papers phone post radio telephone television
- •The use of the definite article with nouns in set expressions.
- •Nouns in set expressions used without an article.
- •Practice
- •Unit 14 The Use of Articles with Nouns Modified by Certain Adjectives, Pronouns and Numerals
- •1. Most.
- •2. Few, a few, the few; little, a little, the little
- •3. Two, the two; the second, a second
- •4. Another, the other, other.
- •5. Last, the last; Next, the next.
- •6. A number, the number
- •Practice
Modification by prepositional phrases
The use of articles modified by prepositional phrases depends on the context or the situation. It consists of a preposition followed by a noun (at the window, for his children). A prepositional phrase may be used as a limiting or a descriptive attribute:
She seated herself so that I could see the man at the screen very well.
From one of the bookshelves Julia took a bundle of her latest photographs.
I made plans to put up two or three hotels and bungalows for occasional residents.
A prepositional phrase may contain various prepositions, but special consideration should be given to the so-called of-phrase. The main meanings of structures with descriptive of-phrases are as follows:
a container with its contents: a box of matches, a cup of tea; a pot of coffee
(Compare with a matchbox, a tea-cup, a coffee-pot, a soup bowl, etc., which are used for empty containers.)
a certain quantity: a lump of sugar, a slice of lemon, a pinch of salt
measure: a temperature of 20° C, a height of two hundred metres, a weight of two pounds, a distance of three miles, a pound of butter
origin: a native of Wales, a man of Kent, a descendant of a good family
characteristics of an object: a woman of great charm, a man of courage, a question of importance, a matter of urgency
age: a man of middle age, a boy of five
material a thing is made of: a box of cedar wood, a coat of mail, a heart of gold (metaphorical use)
Note In modern English the of-phrase is rarely used to denote material. As a rule we find an attributive noun in preposition to the head-noun in this meaning: older English, modern English; a ring of gold - a gold ring; a wall of glass - a glass wall.
composition: a herd of deer, a crowd of people, a flock of birds
two objects of the same kind or an object consisting of two parts of the same kind: a pair of gloves, a couple of apples, a pair of trousers
indication of implied analogy: a beast of a man (i.e. a man behaving like a beast), a peach of a girl (i.e. a girl as beautiful and fresh as a peach), a gem of a housekeeper, a fool of a woman
The of-phrase is a descriptive attribute in a construction called "the double genitive" as it contains the of-genitive and the s-genitive: a friend of my brother's, a daughter of Mr. Parker's, an opera of Verdi's, a sonata of Britten's
Nouns modified by a descriptive of-phrase usually take the indefinite article, but the definite article may be also used.
The of-phrase may have a limiting force as well. In this case the head-noun is used with the definite article. Mark the most typical kinds of structures with limiting of-phrases: the city of Chicago, the sound of the bell, the figure of a man, the position of a teacher, the foot of the hill, the bank of the river, the wife of the local doctor, the number (i.e. the total quantity) of people, the shadow of a tree, the shot of a gun, the face of a woman, the manager of a hotel, the edge of the table, the story of his life
But if there are many objects of the same description, the indefinite article is used: a member of the club, a student of the group, a leg of the table.