- •1. Morphological structure of a word
- •2.Various ways of word-building in me
- •3. Modern English Phraseology
- •4. Lexico-semantic grouping in mel
- •5. The Latin borrowings of different periods
- •6. French as the most important foreign influence on the English language.
- •7. The Noun
- •The category of case
- •8. The Verb
- •Category of voice
- •9. The Theory of Phrase(Ph)
- •The Phrase
- •Subordinate word-groups fall into two parts: the head (an independent component) and the adjunct (a dependent component)
- •Subordinate word-groups can be classified:
- •Predicative word-groups
- •10 The sentence(s)
- •11. Categorical structure of the word
- •12. The theory of phoneme
- •14. Lexico-syntactical stylistic devices
- •15. The theory of intonation
- •16. Phonetic and Graphical stylistic devices
- •17. Syntactical stylistic devices
- •18. Parts of Speech (Grammatical Classes of Words)
- •19. Types of meaning (m)
- •20. Adjective
- •Degrees of comparison as a grammatical category-
- •21. Category of Definiteness – Indefiniteness (The Noun)
- •1) The limiting function.
1) The limiting function.
The definite article singles the object named out of a class of similar objects. The noun with the definite article stands for an object, person or thing known from the circumstances, the situation, the context. The limitation expressed by the definite article is not necessarily based on the earlier introduction of the object named but on the situation. That's why the definite article is the situational article.
In its limiting function the definite article is often used with nouns modified by limiting attributes the purpose of which is to single out the object or the person named. E.g. This is the house that Jack built. She was the smartest girl in the room.
The definite article is also used with the names of particularization (the sun, the moon, the earth, the air, the world, the cosmos, etc). In this case the limiting function of the definite article is based on the exclusiveness of the object named.
2) Sometimes the definite article is used with a noun which stands for the whole of a class of similar objects. E.g. The telephone (as a means of communication) was invented by Bell in the 19th century.
This may be called the generic function of the definite article.
3) The definite article is usually used with a noun which expresses “the known” in a communication. E.g. The door opened and a man entered the room.
Instead of the definite article in English the possessive pronoun is sometimes used. The possessive pronouns are usually used with nouns naming parts of body, articles of clothing, etc. E.g. He laid his hand on his sword. Such possessive pronouns are not rendered into Russian and are not meant to express “possession”.
This substitution of the article by possessive pronouns is only possible, however, when the objects expressed by the nouns with possessive pronouns belong to the subject of the sentence, otherwise we must use the definite article.
cf. He took the matter into his hands.
He took the child by the hand.
The absence of the article before a material or abstract noun has a nominating function. E.g. Life goes on.