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Summer is the best season for travelling.

It is autumn now, but the days are as cold as in winter.

Note: In the American English the definite article is used in this case.

The indefinite article is used when names of seasons are modified by descriptive attributes:

It was a rainy summer and we didn't go out much.

Names of seasons take no article if they are modified by the adjectives late or early:

It was early winter. They arrived here in late summer.

The definite article is used, if names of seasons are modified by limiting attributes:

The summer of 1941 was extremely hot.

The definite article is used after the prepositions during, for, through:

They used to go to the country for the summer.

ARTICLES WITH THE NAMES OF TIME OF DAY AND NIGHT

Names of time of the day and night like day, night, evening, morning, noon, afternoon, twilight, midnight, daytime, sunrise, sunset, are used without article in the following cases:

- in the function of a predicative:

It was morning but the sky was covered with clouds.

- if they denote "light" or "darkness":

When night came we stopped to make a fire.

- when they are modified by the words yesterday or tomorrow:

We arrived yesterday evening at nine.

- after the prepositions at, after, before, by, till, until, towards, past:

There will be a lot of people here before evening. You cannot phone her at night.

Remember: all day long, all night long, day after day, day in day out, from morning till night, from sunrise to sunset, from day to day, night after night, day and night:

He worked day and night and knew he would be a success.

Names of time of the day and night are used with the indefinite article if modified by descriptive attributes:

It was a cold morning and the streets were still empty.

No article is used if they are modified by the adjectives early or late, e.g.

They started when it was still early morning.

Names of time of the day and night are used with the definite article in the following cases:

-when the noun is modified by a limiting attribute or the context makes the day or night mentioned specific:

The day of their arrival was hot and dull. The day came when they met at last.

-when the nouns are used in the generic sense;

They spent the day working, but the evening was the time he enjoyed.

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- after prepositions in, during and through:

It is already rather chilly in the morning. But it will get warmer during the day.

It was raining all through the day yesterday.

- when the nouns are preceded by the pronoun other:

I met her the other day on my way home.

ARTICLES WITH THE NAMES OF MEALS

- Names of meals take no article when used in general sense:

As a rule he has breakfast at home.

-The indefinite article is used when names of meals are modified by descriptive attributes:

He had a substantial dinner and after it he felt much better.

-The definite article is used if names of meals are modified by limiting attributes or the context limits their meaning, e.g.

They all enjoyed the lunch in the park on such a warm and pleasant day.

ARTICLES WITH THE NAMES OF DISEASES

Names of diseases usually take no article, though some of them may be preceded by the definite article: bronchitis, cholera, (the) flu, influenza, (the) measles, scarlet fever.

Remember: to have a headache /(a) toothache /(a) stomach ache/(a) backache/earache/heartache/a heart attack/heart failure/a pain in the back/ a high blood pressure / a cold / a cough / a sore throat.

ARTICLES WITH SOME OTHER NOUNS

1. The noun sea

-as a rule it is used with the definite article:

They were in the open sea and couldn't see the shore any longer.

-it is used with the indefinite article when modified by a descriptive attribute:

A calm blue sea was in front of us.

-no article is used in the phrases to be at sea, to go to sea:

At the age of seventeen he went to sea for the first time.

2. The nouns school, hospital, church, etc.

The nouns school, class, college, university, hospital, church, jail, prison, bed, table are used without article when they denote activities associated with these places.

Remember: to be in (to go to) hospital / class / church / prison / bed; to be at school / college / table; to come from school / college / university / church; to come out of hospital / prison; to leave school / college; to stay in bed.

Compare the use of articles in the examples below.

He is ill, he is in hospital. This man works at a hospital.

After school he went to college. He is somewhere in the college now.

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Every Sunday their family used to go to church. The tourists went into the church to see the ancient frescoes.

3. The noun town

The noun town takes no article when it is used in contrast with country or when the business centre is meant:

He went to town every morning and returned to his house in the suburbs only in the evening.

Remember: to be in town, to be out of town, to live in town, to stay in town, to go to town, to come back to town, to return to town, to leave town.

4. The nouns radio and television

-The nouns radio and television take no article if used in general sense:

Radio and television are important means of mass communication.

-The noun radio takes the definite article after the verbs to listen and to hear: You can hear the news on the radio. I usually listen to the radio on my way to college.

Remember: to watch television (TV), to see on television, to show on television, e.g.

Did you see the show on TV yesterday?

EXPRESSIONS TO REMEMBER

play the piano / the violin / the guitar, play the blues play football, tennis, hockey, cards

(go, come, leave, travel) by train, plane, bus, boat, by air, by land, by sea

by post, by mail, by phone, by telegraph, by hand, by accident, by sight, by chance, by mistake

on deck, on foot, on leave, on holiday, on vacation

at hand, at rest, at table

(go to, to be at, to be on at) the cinema, the pictures, the movies, the theatre

a bit of, in a hurry, in a low voice, as a result, at a glance

make a start, do a turn, have a mind to do sth., have a good time, be at a loss, get in a fury, fly into a passion, fly into a rage, take a fancy to, tell a lie

on the coast, on the one hand… on the other hand, on the whole, in the black, off the record, pay through the nose, out of the blue, out of the question,

to take the trouble, to tell the truth, to be on the safe side

at present, at first sight, at peace, in action, out of action, out of doors, for ages, to keep house, to be in bed, to go to bed, to come to power

USE OF ARTICLES WITH PROPER NOUNS

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ARTICLES WITH PERSONAL NAMES

Personal names are generally used without any articles:

Do you know Jane?

I've read a lot of books by Mark Twain.

Note: The common nouns mother, father, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, cousin, daughter, etc. can be treated as proper nouns and take no article when used by members of the family or close friends:

Father decided to take a holiday. Will you help me, Uncle?

As proper nouns they are spelled with a capital letter.

The definite article is used with personal names in the plural to indicate a whole family:

The Browns have a cottage in the suburbs of London.

The indefinite article is used with personal names to denote a representative of a family or one resembling somebody:

He is a Forsyte and this explains everything. Look! He looks a Byron!

No article is used before nouns denoting military ranks and titles such as academician, professor, doctor, colonel, etc., followed by names of persons:

Colonel Pickering, Mayor Brown, Doctor Smith, etc.

Note: Common nouns denoting professions followed by names of persons usually take the definite article: the painter Turner.

If the name of the person is always used with the noun denoting profession, it becomes a set expression and is used without any article:

Judge Brown, Agent Murphy.

If the name of a person is used to denote a work of art that belongs to that person, the article is used with it like with a common noun:

I think this picture is a Rembrandt.

Have you seen the Rembrandt exhibited in this museum?

THE USE OF ARTICLES WITH PERSONAL NAMES MODIFIED BY ATTRIBUTES

1. The definite article is used with personal names modified by descriptive adjectives:

At last we met the famous John Brown. I wasn't acquainted with the late Mr. Gray.

2. No article is used if the personal name is modified by the adjectives old, young, little, dear:

Little Mary is asleep in her room. Young John was a copy of his mother.

3. The indefinite article is used if the adjective modifying the personal name denotes the mood of the person:

We watched a silent Mary with interest.

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4. The definite article is used with personal names modified by limiting attributes:

He was not the Alex of our youth.

5.The indefinite article is used when the personal name is modified by the adjective certain:

Sherlock Holmes was told that a certain Mary Green was waiting for him.

6.Personal names can turn into common nouns to denote things associated with the names of certain persons. In these cases they take articles according to the general rule of the use of articles with common nouns:

Aunt, you are a real Miss Marple.

ARTICLES WITH GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

The following geographical names are used without any article:

1. Names of continents: Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe.

Note: The Arctic and the Antarctic are used with the definite article as they denote the regions round the north and south poles.

2. Names of countries, counties, provinces, states: France, Devonshire, Scotland,

Texas.

Note 1: Some names can be used with or without the article: (the) Congo, (the)

Lebanon, (the) Senegal, the Ruhr, the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Argentine (but: Argentina), (the) Ukraine.

Note 2: Names of countries consisting of word groups are used with the definite article: the United States of America (the USA), the Russian Federation, the CIS, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, etc.

3.Names of cities, towns, or villages: London, New York, Moscow. Note: the exception is the Hague.

4.Names of mountain peaks and single islands: Snowdon, Elbrus, Ben Nevis, Etna;

Cyprus, Man, Madagascar.

5.Names of lakes, waterfalls, and bays: Lake Michigan, Lake Baikal, Onega Lake;

Victoria Falls, Niagara Falls; Hudson Bay.

Note: If the word lake is not used, the name of the lake is preceded by the definite article.

6.Names of peninsulas and capes: Hindustan, Cape Horn.

Note: If the word 'peninsula' is added, the definite article is used: the Hindustan

Peninsula, the Balkan Peninsula.

The following geographic names are used with the definite article:

1.Names of the cardinal points: the North, the South, the East, the West

2.Names of seas, oceans, rivers, straits, canals: the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Thames, the Suez Canal, the English Channel.

3.Names of mountain chains and groups of islands: the Alps, the Urals, the Rocky

Mountains; the Hawaii.

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4.Names of deserts: the Sahara, the Gobi.

5.Geographic names having the plural form: the Midlands, the Netherlands.

Note: Geographic names that are used without article may take the definite and the indefinite article in the following cases:

-a geographic name used with a limiting attribute takes the definite article:

At last he saw the England of his youth.

-a geographic name used with a descriptive attribute takes the indefinite article:

He came to a different London and didn't recognize it.

-the definite article is used in phrases with the preposition of:

the City of New York, the Isle of Man, the Gulf of Mexico, the Strait of Dover.

ARTICLES WITH OTHER PROPER NOUNS

The following proper nouns are used without any article:

1.Names of streets, squares and parks: Fleet Street, Trafalgar Square, Red Square,

Hyde Park.

Note: There are some exceptions: The High Street, The Strand.

2.Names of airports and railway stations: Kennedy Airport, Victoria Station.

3.Names of universities and colleges: Oxford University, Harvard University,

Trinity College.

4.Names of buildings and bridges; Westminster Abbey, Windsor Palace, Tower

Bridge.

Note: the White House, the Kremlin, the Tower of London.

5.Names of magazines and journals: National Geographic, Punch, Cosmopolitan.

6.Names of months and days of the week: March, June, Monday, Saturday.

The following proper nouns are used with the definite article:

1.Names of hotels, clubs, museums, picture galleries, concert halls, theatres, cinemas, monuments: the Hilton, the British Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Albert Hall, the Grand Opera, the Lincoln Memorial.

2.Names of ships and boats: the Titanic, the Mayflower.

3.Names of parties and institutions: the Democratic Party, the Conservative Party, the British Parliament (Parliament - in Britain), the Congress (Congress - in the USA), the House of Lords.

4.Names of newspapers: the Morning star, the Times, the Economist.

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THE PRONOUN

The pronoun is a part of speech, which points out persons, things and qualities without naming them.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRONOUNS

Pronouns can be classified into the following groups: Personal pronouns: I, we, you, he, she, it, they;

Possessive pronouns: my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs; Reflexive pronouns: myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself,

themselves;

Demonstrative pronouns: this, these, that, those, same, such;

Indefinite pronouns: some, somebody, someone, something, any, anybody, anyone, anything, one;

Negative pronouns: no, none, nobody, no one, nothing, neither;

Defining pronouns: each, every, everybody, everyone, everything, all, either, both, another, other;

Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another; Interrogative pronouns: who whose, which, what; Relative pronouns: who, whose, which, that; Conjunctive pronouns: who, whose, which, what.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Personal pronouns denote persons and things. They are: I, we, you, he, she, it, they. Personal pronouns have the grammatical categories of person, number, case, and gender in the third person singular. The personal pronouns have three persons and two numbers (singular and plural). They have two cases: the nominative case and the objective case.

The personal pronouns of the 3d person singular distinguish gender: he refers to male beings, she refers to female beings, it refers to inanimate things as neuter. The pronoun she is also associated with such nouns as Great Britain, sea, ship, etc., e.g.

How old is your brother? - He is 14.

Our teacher came in. She was tall and rather slender. Can I take your book? Don't you need it?

A ship entered the harbour. She looked white against the blue sky.

Personal pronouns have various syntactic functions in the sentence. They can be used as subject, object, predicative and adverbial modifier (if preceded by a preposition:

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Subject - We are first year students.

Object - Can you tell me the news? Give it to me, will you? Predicative - Open, it's me. Who is there? - It's she. Adverbial Modifier - There is nothing interesting in it.

In colloquial speech the personal pronoun you may be used to denote a person in general sense, e.g.

It's a nice place. You can do what you like here.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Possessive pronouns denote belonging to things and persons. They are my, our, your, his, her, its, their. They have the grammatical categories of person (1st, 2nd, 3d), number (singular, plural) and gender (male, female, neuter) in the 3d person singular. Possessive pronouns have two forms: the dependent (conjoint) form and the independent (absolute) form.

The conjoint form is used as an attribute to modify a noun, e.g.

His hair was thin and grey.

She watched her daughter with love and tenderness.

Note: In some grammar books the conjoint forms of pronouns are called ‘pronominal adjectives’ or ‘noun determiners’ because they don’t replace nouns but modify them

The absolute form is used when the possessive pronoun doesn't modify a noun. It can be used as subject, object, predicative or attribute when preceded by the preposition 'of':

Object - I don't want your pen. Give me mine. Subject - It isn't my book. Mine is in the bag.

Predicative - Whose glasses are these? - They are yours. Attribute - A friend of mine is coming to see us at the weekend.

When possessive pronouns are used to modify nouns naming parts of the body, clothing, a person's belongings, they are not usually translated into Russian.

She took her hand out of her pocket and showed us the key.

Она вынула руку из кармана и показала нам ключ.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Reflexive pronouns indicate that the doer of the action expressed by the subject of the sentence is affected by the action:

She never does such things herself.

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I know it's true because I saw it myself. Thank you, but we'll call you a bit later ourselves.

Reflexive pronouns are myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves. They have the grammatical categories of person, number and gender in the third person singular.

Reflexive pronouns can be used as predicative, object, attribute and adverbial modifiers:

Predicative - Jack is alone, he is by himself. Object - Mary tried not to hurt herself.

Prepositional object - Don't do it to yourself.

Attribute - He put something of himself into this novel. Adverbial modifier - She didn't see anything attractive in herself.

Reflexive pronouns can be used emphatically, e.g.

He himself will never ask you for help.

They themselves didn't believe a word, but tried not to show it.

Remember: The following verbs take reflexive pronouns enjoy oneself, help oneself, acquaint oneself (with):

Help yourself to the cake.

The following verbs do not take reflexive pronouns: wash, dress, feel, behave:

I don’t feel well.

The verb behave takes a reflexive pronoun in the meaning “to do things in a way that people think is correct or polite” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary):

Behave yourself or you’ll be punished.

The phrase ‘by oneself’’ means ‘alone’ or ‘without help’:

We’ve decided to go on a hike by ourselves.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

The demonstrative pronouns are: this, these, that, those, such, same. They are used to point out a person or a thing. This and these are used to point at what is nearer in space or time, while that and those point at things and persons that are farther away in space or time:

This is Jane and that girl by the window is Ann.

I've looked through these books; can I have a look at some of those?

The pronouns this, these, that and those have the grammatical category of number: this and that are singular, while these and those are plural, e.g. this boy - these boys; that box - those boxes.

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The pronoun such is used to talk about a person or thing, which is of the same kind as that already mentioned:

Such behaviour is not allowed here.

The pronoun such can be used to emphasize a quality of a person or a thing:

Did you have to say such a silly thing?

The pronoun same is always used with the definite article. It is used to point at one particular person or thing:

I'll never make the same mistake again.

It is also used to say that two or more people or things are exactly like each other:

These pictures look the same to me.

The pronoun same can be preceded by the demonstrative pronouns this/these and that/those and have the meaning «этот самый», «тот самый»:

It is this same man who helped me who now tries to ruin me.

Тот самый человек, кто помогал мне, теперь пытается погубить меня.

The pronoun same is used in a number of phrases: at the same time (в одно и то же время), in the same way (так же, таким же образом), all the same (все равно), one and the same (один и тот же).

The pronoun that/those may also be used as a word-substitute:

I like your plan more than that we discussed before.

We tried to find some pictures like those we saw in the window of an old shop.

Demonstrative pronouns can be used as subject, object, predicative, and attribute: Subject – This is rather interesting.

Object – He told me the same. Predicative – She looks the same.

Attribute – I don’t know this person.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

Indefinite pronouns point out persons or things without saying who or what they are. The indefinite pronouns are some, somebody, someone, something, any, anybody, anyone, anything, and one.

The pronouns somebody, someone, anybody, and anyone have the grammatical category of case. They have two cases - the common case and the genitive case:

There is somebody in the house, knock again.

I remember someone's words about her said many years ago. Anyone can do this easy job.

She will follow anybody's advice without thinking it over.

Some, somebody, someone, and something are mostly used in affirmative sentences, while any, anybody, anyone, and anything are used in interrogative and negative sentences:

Look, somebody is coming. Is anybody going out tonight?

There isn't anybody at home now. I'm sure she knows something.

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