The use of articles with some semantic groups of nouns
§3. Names of parts of the day
Day, evening, midnight, dusk, daytime, night, noon, dawn, sunrise, nightfall,
morning, afternoon, twilight, sunset
The limitation is clear from the situation (context) or the limiting attribute because when the speaker uses these nouns he means a particular day/ night:
THE: The night was warm and beautifully still.
He decided to spend the afternoon with his friends.
I could see a few faint stars in the clear night.
when nouns are used generically:
THE: He used to spend the morning lying about the beach.
A
Noun + descr. attribute and are the centre of communication (aspective function):
A: It had been a wet day.
It was a fine, warm night and Charles and I decide to walk home.
X:
When used predicatively:
X: It was __ evening when I decided to take a walk.
It was __ dusk but I could see Henry walking across the field.
X 2. attributes Early don’t describe any part of the day
Broad but indicate the time of the day
High
Late
It was __ early morning. It was __ broad day.
Traditional use (5):
A. prepositional phrases:
THE: in the afternoon, in the evening, in the morning, in the daytime, in the night
X: after the preps at, by, about, past, before, after, towards, till, until
I would take pills at __ night to make me sleep quickly.
After __ midnight I walked to the beach with him.
B: Subject + predicate
morning - to break, to be at hand
day, dawn
evening, night - to fall, to gather, to set in, to be at hand, to come
__ Day was breaking, when we set out.
__ Dawn was breaking among the olives.
C) tomorrow, yesterday
+ days of the week + N denoting parts of the day
I went to Aunt Milly’s house on __ Friday evening.
I shall see him __ tomorrow morning.
! We met on Saturday night. – в прошлую субботу
We met on a Saturday night. – однажды в субботу
D) in set phrases - X
all day long ( but all through the day )
all night through ( but all through the night )
day after day night after night day in day out
In the dead of night from morning till night
( to work ) day and night late at night (! early in the morning)
Attributive of-phrases - X
(but THE when a particular day/night is meant)
He always woke up with the first sounds of morning.
He couldn’t recognize the street that had been so familiar to him at the beginning of the day.
What are you doing at this time of night?
§4. Names of seasons
THE
1. Names of seasons as the subject when reference is made to a particular winter, spring, summer, autumn - present, past or future, or to a season of a particular year
- the limitation is clear from the context/situation or limiting attribute.
The nouns are used as subjects.
The summer was exceptionally trying in the town.
The winter was very fine that year and we were very happy.
The summer wore on. He was still working hard.
The autumn of 1914 was very warm.
2.* Names of seasons as an object in the sentence after the verbs: to hate, to love, to talk about, to like, to spend, to wait for
* reference is made to a particular season or to the kind of seasons in general
Dave loves the winter.
I liked the summer there, on account of bathing, I think.
He looks like somebody who spent the summer at the sea.
3. Names of seasons used as adverbial modifiers in prepositional phrases – after through, for, during.
Through the autumn, a busy time for me, I was often uneasy.
Are you going to stay here for the winter?
He stayed in Paris during the summer.
A
When the names of seasons have a descriptive attribute and are the center of communication (aspective function).
We had a short summer.
He had passed a sluggish winter and a lazy summer.
Names of seasons are used predicatively + descriptive attribute.
It has been a terrible summer.
It was a remarkably fine autumn.
X
1. When names of seasons are used predicatively
It was summer and the place broke up in red flowers.
2. Predicatively + early, late such attributes don’t describe the seasons but indicate the time of the year ( precisely ).
It was __ early summer/ __ late autumn
3. In attributive of-phrases
the warmth of __ spring the dust of summer
three months of winter the colours of autumn
+ Set phrases used adverbially: to work winter and summer
But! early/late in the autumn all the winter
4. as objects with other verbs
The summer faded into___ autumn
They’d better finish the work before winter.