4. Some abstract nouns are never used with the indefinite article:

weather, money, news, work, luck, fun, and some others: At first I found it difficult to understand English money. Thafs hard luck. We hid his watch for fun-

Still they can be used with the definite article in case of specifica­tion:

It was raw weather.

What wretched weather we are having!

Cf: What's the weather like today?

The weather will clear.

I've got bad news for you.

Bad news travels fast.

Cf: What's the news?

The news is very depressing today.

He started work at six.

It was weary, weary work.

Cf: I was trying not to think about the work I was set to do.

Note. The noun work can be used with the indefinite article in the meaning of 'thing made, book or piece of literary or musical composition, literary or other product of, specimen of:

Miss Tray says the portrait was the best thing she had ever done. That means it was a really great work.

The rule applies also to the following nouns of verbal character denoting action or process: advice, applause, assistance, adminis­tration, guidance, information, permission, progress, recognition, research and some others:

I'm not the man to give you advice.

If you want to leave early, you have to ask for permission.

Cf: With the permission of Madden, he took her little car and sped towards Eldorado. The information they received allowed them to pre­pare a new defence position.

5. Some syntactic structures affect the use of articles. Such nouns as pity, pleasure, comfort, relief, shame and some others generally tend to be non-count, but in certain constructions they are regu­larly used with the indefinite article:

• structures with formal it as subject

It's a shame to act like this. It's a pleasure to see you.

• structures with exclamatory what

wrap up a present in brown paper eat New Zealand lamb use tools made of iron

read an evening paper see two little lambs press clothes with an iron

1. When names of material have generic reference they are used without any article. This is the case with material nouns refer­ring to the whole class, i.e. when a certain material as such is meant, or an indefinite, unidentified amount:

This is lead, not silver.

On the travel he drank tea, but in the cabin it was thick coffee with sugar and tinned milk.

What a pity! What a relief!

THE USE OF ARTICLES WITH NON-COUNT CONCRETE NOUNS (NAMES OF MATERIAL)

Most material nouns do not have plural forms and are never used with the indefinite article. Yet the English language makes it possible to look upon some object from the point of view of both count and uncount, as in the case of cake:

a cake, two cakes, several cakes

I'd like

some cake, another piece of cake

There are many nouns with dual class membership which often have considerable difference in meaning in the two classes. Cf:

Cauliflower is notkincj hut cabbage with a college education.

Mlwain

Names of material take no article when they have descriptive modi­fiers:

He sat there for a long time, drinking cup after cup of strong black tea.

The men moved heavily as though they were walking in thick mud.

Names of material can change their meaning and become count nouns when they denote:

• various sorts of materials and food products:

They are now giving you bad teas at the club. 'And now,' announced Vernier, 'the king of wines. There never was a better wine than Chambertin, and there never was a better Chambertin than nineteen-eleven.'

• a portion of food or drink:

If you want to please the boy, buy him an ice.

'Prale over there talks a lot about the wine he drank, but if you

ask me, he'd rather have an ice-cream soda.'

There are different accepted units and containers for different drinks and substances: e.g. for whisky the usual container is a glass but the quantity varies. So if you hear someone say Give me a whisky, it means a small glass, not a bottle.

A beer can mean a glass, can, or bottle of beer. The nouns most fre­quently used in this way are:

«-

beer coke rum vodka

brandy gin sherry whisky

coffee lager tea yoghurt

What would you like? — A lager would be delicious.

This use is restricted to cafes and restaurants. For example, you might ask for two teas in a cafe, but people in their own home would probably say.' Would you like some tea?'or 'Would you like a cup of tea?' rather than 'Would you like a tea?'

• an object made of some sort of material:

He survived by eating a small tin of fruit every day.

Tin is a soft silvery-white metal, here it means a container made of this metal.

In the above cases the general rules of the use of articles with count nouns are applied.

2. With specific reference, i.e. when a definite part of the substance is meant, material nouns take the definite article. Identification is based on (1) the linguistic context or (2) situation of utterance.

(1) Like with abstract uncount nouns linguistic context involves either backward or forward reference.

• Reference backwards: identification is made by something already said (by prior mention):

Here's a glass, some water and three coins. Watch! I pour the water into the glass, then drop the coins one by one into the water.

• Reference forwards: identification is made by something about to be said when names of material have restrictive modifiers which usually limit the scope of reference by reason of location or quantity. The restrictive modifier is mainly pre­sented by:

/ a limiting prepositional phrase

The water in this glass has now turned pink. The wine on the table was served in pretty glasses.

/ a restrictive relative attributive clause

' This Mon trachet,' he said, as he poured the fragrant golden wine that accompanied the lobster, 'beats any other wine in the world'

(2) Identification can result from the whole situation of utterance: Pass me the salt, please. Let's start our breakfast. The coffee will be cold.

THE USE OF ARTICLES IN SOME SYNTACTIC RELATIONS

The use of articles depends on the syntactic function of a noun in the sentence.

1. A noun in the subject position is usually preceded by the definite article in its specifying function, or by either of the articles in their generic function. In these cases the noun denotes some notion forming the starting point of the utterance and therefore is pre­sented as known to both the speaker and the addressee.

The way was long. The wind was cold. The ministrel was infirm and old.

The indefinite article in its classifying function occurs to express the item of novelty or unexpectedness, no matter what the position of the subject is:

On the opposite side of the landing a girl was standing. A girl was standing on the opposite side of the landing.

A similar use of the indefinite article occurs in sentences with the exis­tential construction There is/comes/appears, as in: There is an exception to the rule.

2. With the noun functioning as an object any article can be used depending on how the speaker formulates his thought, the indef­inite article is preferable after verbs of possession and obligatory in verb-object phrases denoting a single action such as to have a smoke, to give a look, etc.

3. The use of the article with nouns in the function of an adverbial depends partly on the type of adverbial modifier.

In adverbials of place the definite article is used in its specifying func­tion to identify the exact place.

Jane is in the garden.

The indefinite article in its classifying function is preferable when the attention is focused on a description of the place rather than on its identification.

Crystal lives alone in a small shabby house.

In adverbials of comparison the indefinite article is preferably used in its classifying function with the generic tinge since comparison is drawn with a representation of the class: as strong as a lion, as weak as a mouse.

4. In noun modifiers the indefinite article is used to emphasize the importance and novelty of the noun mentioned. Therefore we find the indefinite article in such phrases as the son of a teacher, a doctor's daughter. While She is the daughter of the doctor suggests reference to a definite person.

5. Predicative and appositive nouns are used:

With the classifying indefinite article which shows that the speaker is characterizing a person, object or event as a speci­men of a certain class of thing. With plural nouns no article is used:

She is really an excellent creature — but a complete fool, as I said.

I had several companions and they have all been complete fools.

Note. The Apposition is a peculiar attribute expressed by a noun or nominal phrase which refers to another noun or nom­inal phrase. The apposition may give another designation to, or description of, the person or non-person.

I saw the clerk in charge, a very dubious-looking individual.

• If there is a limiting modifier, predicative and appositive nouns are used with the definite article:

He is the only person here with medical knowledge.

Across from him sat Delaney, the producer of the picture.

• If predicative and appositive nouns denote the position (rank, state, post or occupation) which is unique, i.e. can be occu­pied by one person at a time, either no article or the definite article is used:

Doris was secretary to a member of parliament.

His ideal was professor Edward Edwards, head of the Department

of Chemistry.

Haifa mile from the cottage there was a school — the Gables — where Harold Stackhurst, the headmaster, and several other teachers taught the students and prepared them for various pro­fessions.

The definite article tends to be left out in sentences like: It was nearly 40 years before she became Queen. When he was President he often longed for more privacy.

As some grammars point out, it would be unnatural to leave in the definite article and say 'She became the Queen' or⁴ When he was the President', though the article can be used when the noun is followed by of.

Note. When talking about a person rather than describing someone's role you need an article:

The Queen is strongly against the project.

• Variants are possible with predicative nouns after the verbs to appoint, to choose and some others. Cf:

They appointed him a member of the delegation. They appointed him secretary of the new committee. He was elected (the) President of the country.

Note. The absence of article in set expressions with the verb to turn: to turn traitor, to turn miser, to turn pirate.

• The nouns son and daughter used predicatively and apposi- tively generally take the definite article when modified by an of-phrase if they express mere relationship:

She is the daughter of a doctor.

If the speaker wants to emphasize the idea that there are sever­al sons and daughters in the family, the indefinite article is used. She is a daughter of a doctor.

When the stress is laid on the social position of the person in question, no article is used:

HHPHP

She is daughter of a doctor.

• No article is used in structures with enough where predicative nouns acquire an adjectival character, denoting a certain char­acteristic of the person in question:

Surely Bolla isn't fooLenough to believe that sort of stuff?

• The article is also omitted when predicative nouns are used in clauses of concession with inverted word order:

Child as he was, his judgment was sound.

• if the appositive noun denotes a well-known person or work of art the definite article is generally used .

John Galsworthy, the famous English writer, was of a Devonshire family.

But if the person or work of art is not widely known, the indef­inite article is used.

'Pericles', a comedy by Shakespeare, is hardly ever staged.

THE USE OF ARTICLES WITH SOME SEMANTIC GROUPS OF NOUNS

Articles with Names of Seasons and Parts of the Day

1. Names of seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and parts of the day (day, night, morning, evening, noon, afternoon, dawn, sun­rise, sunset and the likej take no article when used predicatively:

It was summer/autumn/morning/evening/night.

No article is used when such nouns are modified by the adjectives early, late, broad, high which do not describe any season or part of the day but indicate the time more precisely: It was early morning /spring. It was late evening / autumn. It was high noon. It was broad day.

2. When the names of seasons and parts of the day have a descrip­tive modifier, they are used with the indefinite article:

It was a fine clear morning. We had a short summer this year. He returned on a bright January morning.

3. The definite article is found with names of seasons and parts of the day in specific use, i.e. when some particular day, night, sum­mer or spring is meant. Identification is achieved by means of: