II. The use of articles with common nouns

 

Class nouns

The indefinite article

Class nouns are used with the indefinite article:

1) When the speaker presents the object expressed by the noun as belonging to a certain class. In this case the indefinite article has the meaning of "какой-нибудь, какой-то, один" (in the meaning of "некий").

She has a watch of her own.

Close beside them grew a rose-bush…

In the plural no article is used in this case. If the idea of number is implied the noun is preceded by the pronoun some.

I liked the room because there were flowers in it.

I have brought you some flowers…

2) With a predicative noun, when the speaker states that the object denoted by the noun belongs to a certain class.

Miss Sharp's father was an artist.

In the plural neither the article nor the pronoun some is used.

They are good children, no doubt.

After the conjunction as a predicative noun is often used without an article.

She was engaged as governess.

3) When the noun is used in a general sense. What is said of one representative of a class can be applied to all the representatives of the class. The article has the meaning of "every".

A drowning man catches at a straw.

In the plural neither the article nor the pronoun some is used.

Real friends should have everything in common.

4) There are cases when the indefinite article preserves its old original meaning of "one".

He had hardly spoken a word since they left Riccardo's door… (Voynich)

This meaning is generally found with:

a) nouns denoting time, measure and weight

A week or two passed.

b) the numerals hundred, thousand, million and the nouns dozen, score.

He seems to have half a dozen languages at his finger-tips. (Voynich)

With nouns in the plural some is used.

Oliver's sobs checked his utterance for some minutes. (Dickens)

 

The definite article

Class nouns are used with the definite article:

 

1) When the noun denotes an object or objects which the speaker singles out from all the objects of a given class.

An object is singled out in the following cases:

a) when the speaker and the hearer know what particular object is meant.

How did you like the play?

b) when the speaker uses an attribute pointing out a particular object.

This is the house that Jack built.

c) when the situation itself makes the object definite.

The wedding looked dismal. The bride was too old and the bridegroom was too young. (Dickens)

As a rule the definite article is not translated into Russian. However, there are cases when it must be rendered by этот.

I don't like the idea. – Мне не нравится эта мысль.

2) When the noun denotes a thing unique (the sun, the moon, the universe) or a class.

The sun was getting warmer.

The bourgeoisie is cowardly. (London)

The indefinite article can be used when we mean a certain state of the sun, the moon, the sky. In this case an attribute is used.

A pearl-white moon smiles through the green trees. (Ch. Brontё)

3) With nouns used in a generic sense. A noun used in a generic sense denotes a genus taken as a whole, a thing taken as a type, a genre.

The tiger has always had the reputation of being a man-eater.

The telephone was invented in the 19th century.

The tragedy and the comedy first appeared in Greece.

When the noun man is used in a generic sense no article is used.

He felt that his trust in man had been cruelly destroyed. (Eliot)

When the noun woman is used in a generic sense it is used with the definite article or without an article.

He had always been interested in that mysterious being – the woman. (Bennett)

Woman is man's helpmate.

A noun used in a generic sense should not be confused with a noun used in a general sense. A noun used in a general sense denotes an object regarded as an individual representative of a class.

A detective story helps to while away the time. (Every or any detective story is meant here.)

A noun in a generic sense denotes the whole class.

Conan Doyle is a master of the detective story. (the detective story is regarded here as a certain genre.)