§ 367. Some grammarians speak of the 'zero article' 1 or the 'zero form of the indefinite article' 2. We are definitely against these terms.

A grammatical zero morpheme is created in an opposeme owing to the relative nature of grammatical meanings. As shown above, the articles are not grammatical morphemes and their meanings are not relative. They are words, and the absence of a word cannot be regarded as a zero word. We do not speak of zero prepositions or zero particles. There is not more reason to speak of zero articles.

§ 368. The common features in the combinability of the articles are due to their belonging to the same part of speech, in other words, the lexico-grammatical combinability of the articles is the same. Both of them have right-hand connect ions with the same part of speech, nouns.

The difference in their combinability can be explained by the difference in their lexical meanings.

§ 369. In accordance with its meaning 'one of many' the indefinite article is used to denote one thing of a class and is therefore a classifying article.

Thus the sentence I bought a pencil is roughly equivalent to another (clumsier) sentence I bought one of those things called pencils. He is a student is equivalent to He is one of those (people) called students.

Naturally, the indefinite article with its meaning of 'oneness' is not used with a 'plural' noun, but it can be used with a noun in the singular denoting the whole class, as An eagle is a very strong bird.

The lexical meaning of a(n) explains why it is not normally used with 'uncountable' nouns like snow, meat, bravery or 'countable' nouns used in an 'uncountable' sense.

E. g. We have duck for dinner.

Conversely, abstract uncountables regularly occur with the indefinite article if used to denote kinds or varieties of some abstract concept, state, quality, etc.

E. g. It had been a long and frustrating courtship. (Greene)

The indefinite article is not used with proper nouns because its meaning 'one of many' does not go with the 'individual­izing' sense of a proper noun. A Paris would denote one of many Parises, which is absurd. But when a proper name is used as a common noun (e. g. a Byron = a poet) it may be associated with the indefinite article.

E. g. A new Shakespeare is yet to come. (The Tribune)

§ 370. In compliance with its 'demonstrative' meaning the definite article points out or individualizes one object or a class of objects denoted by the noun it is associated with, and is therefore an individualizing or limiting article.

When a man says to his friend I have bought the book, it is clear that both the speaker and the hearer bear in mind a definite particular book, not 'one of many'. In The hawk is a bird of prey, the hawk as a class of birds is singled out from other classes.

Now, since it is possible to 'point out' almost any object or substance, the definite article may be used with most nouns and different noun grammemes.

Abstract nouns: There were moments when I was bewildered by the terror John inspired. (Bronte).

Material nouns: I sat down in her boudoir, happy to breathe the a i r consecrated so lately by her presence. (Ib.).

'Singular' and 'Plural' nouns: At intervals, while turning over the l e a v e s of my book, I studied the a s p с с t of that winter afternoon. (Ib.).

Only proper names, which individualize without the help of the definite article, are mostly not associated with the. But there are cases when the is used. The said Eli­za, John and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama. (Ib.)

Note 1. In cases like the Hague, the Ukraine, the Volga, etc. the is an indispensable part of the name. It does not function as an article spec­ifying a noun, but as part of a composite noun¹.

Note 2. In a book of this kind it seems su­perfluous to give numerous rules pertaining to the use of articles in speech. They can be found in any practical grammar. Most of them are covered by the principles stated above.

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¹ See A. Adams, op. cit., p. 57: "There are two kinds of 'the' ... restrictive 'the' and lexical 'the'. I call lexical 'the' —the Alps, the Mississipi (river), the United Kingdom."

§ 371. Owing to its classifying force the indefinite article often draws the attention of the listener (or reader) to the word it is used with ². This is not the case when the definite article is employed.

Cf. The curtain rose and a girl stepped out. The curtain rose and the girl stepped out.

In the first example the attention of the listener is at­tracted to the fact that it was a girl (not a boy, an old man, etc.) who stepped out. In the second sentence the listener's attention is drawn to the action of stepping out. So the indefi­nite article is associated with some novelty of information, the definite article points out an object as something familiar.

THE PARTICLE

§ 372. The particle as a part of speech is characterized by the following features:

1. Its lexico-grammatical meaning of 'emphatic specifi­cation'.

2. Its unilateral combinability with words of different classes, groups of words, even clauses.

3. Its function of a specifier (see § 471).

§ 373. Particles have no grammatical categories, no typical stem-building elements.

As far as their structure is concerned, they may be s i m p 1 e (just, still, yet, even, else), derivative (merely, simply, alone), compound (also).

§ 374. Very few particles (else, merely, solely) are not homonymous with other words. Most of them are identical in form with adverbs (exactly, precisely, simply, never, still), adjectives (even, right, just, only), pronouns (all, either), conjunctions (but), articles (the).

§ 375. As we know, the definitions of the lexico-grammati­cal meanings of parts of speech are' not general enough (see § 39). With particles it is, probably, more so than elsewhere because they are less uniform.

In most of them the meaning of 'emphatic specification' is quite obvious.

Only sixteen hundred talents, Pothius. (Shaw).

Why, man, Ireland was peopled just as England was. (Ib.).

I never thought of that then. (Ib.).

I notice that there is but one chair in it. (Ib.).

But there are particles in whose meanings there is as much 'emphatic specification' as there is 'action' in the verb belong or 'substance' in the noun faith. There are, for instance, the connective particles also, too, else, either.

They seem to resemble the conjunction and lexically, but their properties are different. Compare, for instance, the particle too and the conjunctions and, if in the following sentence. If life is dull, you can be dull tоо, а п d no harm is done. (Shaw). Different lexically, the conjunctions if, and have the same lexico-grammatical meaning of 'relations between...' in accordance with which each of them shows the relation between two clauses without interfering lexically with their content. The particle too in fact 'specifies' the pronoun you (you too can be dull), but as a condition of that specification it requires, in accordance with its lexical mean­ing, that the content of the clause, of which the specified word is part, should be similar to the content of the previous clause. Thus it connects the two clauses lexically.

§ 376. As a rule, the combinability of particles is unilateral and variable. They can specify different classes of words of clauses. Most of them precede the unit they specify, but some particles follow it, as in the case of too. Here are a few illus­trations of the combinability of the particle only.

By George, if she only knew that two men were talk­ing about her like this! (Shaw).

A sestertius is о n l у w о r t h a loaf of bread. (Ib.).

You look only f i f t у in it. (Ib.).

Is it nothing to you what wicked thing you do if о n l y you do it like a gentleman? (Ib.).

§ 377. Like most particles not can be used with different classes of words or clauses (not he, not the student, not beauti­ful, not forty, not yesterday, not to see, not seeing, not when he comes).

The peculiarity of not (n't) as a predicate negation in don't, can't, won't, etc. will be described in 'Syntax', § 393.

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