X to play volleyball, hockey, golf, cards, tennis,
§15. The Use of Articles with Countable Nouns
In Syntactic Patterns
A
Nouns used predicatively / in apposition take the indefinite article (the nominating function)
P redicative: I am a socialist, of course.
All my friends were students.
Apposition: I'm sure you know Alfred Hard, a professor at London University.
Noun pred/ appos + descriptive attribute:
Predicative: He was an extremely boring fellow.
Apposition: Hart, an uneasy-nervous man, made a few remarks.
But! When the N pr/appos denotes a well-known person/ thing:
Pushkin, the great Russian poet, loved the autumn
The
2. When the speaker/ writer refers to a definite person, object (as a rule, there is a limiting attribute with the noun);
P redicative: Philip had been the hero of his childhood.
Apposition: Then Jack, the most impudent person here, interrupted me.
… or it is taken for granted that the hearer knows the person in question:
They were greeted by Elsie, the maid.
X
3. Noun pred/ appos + no article:
a
)
when
the noun used predicatively/ in apposition denotes a position
(rank, state, post, occupation) which is unique.
Predicative: Mike Slattery was __chairman of the Republican county committee.
Apposition: W. Carl Johnson, _Superintendant of the School, received me.
We realized that Mr. P. was the leader of our group (occasionally).
b ) when nouns (which express relationship) denote social position of the person expressed by the subject:
Predicative: He is __Heir to a rich manufacturer.
Apposition: Margaret, __daughter to a history professor, was working as secretary.
Usually: The
Predicative: She was the wife of a local tradesman.
Apposition: One of these young men was the son of a writer.
Son, daughter – the articles have different meanings:
She is the daughter of a doctor/ professor. (mere relationship);
She is a daughter of a doctor/ professor. (he has more than one daughters);
She is __daughter of a doctor/ professor. (social position).
c
)
X
noun
used predicatively denotes a certain characteristic of a person
indicated by the subject; noun+enough
He isn't fool enough to believe that sort of thing.
She's woman enough to understand it.
d) nouns used predicatively are used in clauses of concessionпридаточное уступительное with the inverted word order.
__Child though he was, he had suffered much.
__Boy as he was, he was chosen their leader.
* * * * *
t
o
turn traitor to turn pirate to turn
miser
Nouns used as subjective/objective predicatives
with the verbs→ the rules hold good as with Npr, Nap
To appoint to elect to make to call to fancy To name to choose to imagine to think |
They took him prisoner. He was taken prisoner.
They called him names. He was called names.
a) objective predicatives - A/The/X
They appointed him a member of the delegation.
He fancied her the most wonderful woman in the world.
They chose him __chairman of the society.
b) subjective predicatives - A/The/X
He was appointed a member of the delegation.
She was thought the most impudent little girl in London.
He was chosen __chairman of the society.
N
ouns
introduced by as
→
the rules hold good
as
with Npr/ Nap
A, THE, X
I regarded my uncle as a terrible tyrant.
He went to the conference as the lead of the delegation.
He acted as interpreter for Mr. March.
The i.a. (a) is not always used after as.
Rebecca was now engaged as (a) governess.
The man had agreed to serve as (a) witness.
In the structure AS….AS the article is used according to the general rule.
The city looked to him as brilliant as a precious stone.
Y
ou
were as white as the sheet in your hands.
Nouns denoting title, post in appositive of- phrase. - X
They nominated candidates to the post of __President and Vice-President.
He got the degree of __Master of Arts.
But! I’ve got the job of a secretary to our new MP
Adverbial pattern FROM TO (when the same noun is repeated after the preposition)
a) free combinations (the number of nouns is unlimited)
from tree to tree from town to town
from day to day from street to street
b) set phrases
from head to foot from South to North
from beginning to end from top to bottom from top to toe
c) + hand in hand shoulder to shoulder
arm in arm face to face day by day
Direct address - X
"How's my wife, __doctor?"
"Well, __young man , " said Eden with a smile , "what can I do for you?"
Exclamatory WHAT - A
" __What a car!" she exclaimed.
__What wonderful books you've got!
But if WHAT is interrogative the zero artic le is used
__What question do you want to ask?
O
ne,
some, any, each, most, many,
None, all, several, the first, the last, + of-phrase →
The rest, the majority
One of the letters is for Tom.
Most of the people had other jobs in the town.
There’s a fluctuation in the use of articles in the following combinations
A
(the/ what/ this/ that/ some) sort of
(a) man
A (the/ some/ what/ this/ that) kind of (a) man
A (the, same, what this, that) type of a man
(the zero article is more commonly found):
He showed us a new type of __bulb.
What sort of a day have you had?
It's not the sort of __situation one laughs at.
“What kind of car was it?” Ramsden asked.
Countable nouns connected by the conjunctions AND, BOTH, Neither..Nor, Either..Or usually have no article because the speaker wants to stress their close connection:
You shouldn’t interfere into a quarrel between __husband and __wife.
__Rider and __bicycle, __cart and __horse were all in a heap.
Neither __ tree nor __bush grew on that slope.
Both __King and __Queen will be present at the ceremony
But! The boy and the girl were both silent