PART

IV ARTICLES
ARTICLELESS PROPER NAMES

101. Since articles are part of English nouns, without independent

existence (they are mark-words of nouns), we shall start with the division of
nouns into articleless Proper names (P) and articled common nouns subdivided

into singular/plural Countables (C) (He is a boy/They are boys), and

Uncountables (U) taking singular verbs only (This is water/beauty).

The key to article usage is provided by Proper names; personal (specific

people), like John, Smith, and composite John Smith. Non-personal (specific

places, festivals, months, days, and so forth):

London, America, Japan, Snowdown, Etna, Christmas, Lent, July, Friday, Good

Friday, (Great) Britain, (Mount (Mt)) Everest, Vogue (magazine)

But what is a Proper name? According to traditional descriptive

definitions, we often single out entities by giving them separate (proper) names,

or proper names are names of specific people, places, and so forth, having

unique reference and thus not sharing the characteristics of common nouns (lack
of articles, initial capital letter). Such descriptions are not satisfactory. To arrive

at a precise definition, we must, first of all, realize that Countables (Cs) contrast
Proper names (Ps) by forming classes. For example, a boy is a singular/plural

common class-noun naming the whole class of youth who share the same
features, whereas John is a P given to a specific boy, separately. This difference

can be illustrated like this:


(the class of) people

` youth (= people +

age)
boys (= people + age = sex)
John (= people + age + sex +
unique, individual features
distinguishing him from any
other boy or John)


The diagram shows that the range of each class depends on the number

of its distinguishing features: the greater the number, the smaller the range.

Hence the Proper name is a singular-form, countable, non-class substantive

with the maximum number of distinctive features and the minimum range of

application confined to one specific person or entity. This makes the P so unique

that it rejects articles as unnecessary, in contrast with Cs needing articles for

further specification, viz. a to indicate one of the class (124), and the to specify

which one of the class (115).

Uncountables like water (concrete) or beauty (abstract) differ from

countables by the absence of classes. Water as H2O substance is as unique and

well-known as John and, although it can take the (115), by being uncountable, it
is used without a. In other words, Us are singular-form non-class nouns.

In this way, by means of the P, we have also defined C and U. That is

why the Proper name provides the key to article usage in English.

101.1. But how to account for the fact that many boys can carry the

same P "John"? The definition of the P is relevant only if both speaker and
hearer know exactly which John is meant, i.e. if both of them know his unique,

individual features. Otherwise, a P immediately "degenerates” into a class name

C, though still written with a capital letter. For instance, a secretary will say to

her boss: A Mr. Smith called while you were out when she informs about an

unknown caller (to her he is then one of the class of Smiths), against Mr. Smith

called while.... to mean his (and her) well-known (unique) visitor. Both

statements concern different persons; in the former case the boss’s ignorance
compels her to treat a Mr. Smith as a class-name (a certain person (cf. 124)

giving his name as Smith, i.e. out of more than one Smith, cf. 103) in exactly the

same way as A man called while you were out or as in I remember a/one John
Smith at school which indicates that there were more than one boy with the same

name and surname and I recall one of them without saying which one.
Consequently, we will say:

I remember four John Smiths at school

There are several Cambridges in the world.

Further identification is provided by the:

I have a Farquharson in my class. The Farquharson is a recent immigrant.

102. Titles

Titles form composite Ps:

Mr./Dr/Captain, etc Smith

John Smith, Esq.

Queen Elizabeth, Lord Nelson, Uncle Tom, Widower Adams, Brother

Robert, Private Walker

and:

Prime Minster Blaire

Chief Justice Gordon

Messrs Smith and Baker,

Princes Charles and Edward

In American English professional titles extend to:

Author/Poet/(Art) Critic Paul Jones

Lawyer/Farmer/Singer/Senator Robertson

and even:
 Democratic Leader Robinson

whereas in British English they are interpreted as non-titles:

the author/the poet, etc Paul Jones (compare: the Czar Nicholas, below)
Foreign titles usually follow the British usage:

M./Herr/Madam/Frau, etc. Beck

With such unusual combinations as Czar + Nicholas, the English may

waver which component should be regarded as head: if it is Nicholas, we get

Czar Nicholas. In the reverse case, we have the Czar Nicholas with Nicholas
used restrictively to the Czar (which Czar; the Czar named Nicholas, cf. 117). In

this head function the Czar becomes a non-title preceded by the definite article.

Similarly:

the Lord God

the Archduke Ferdinand

the Emperor Napoleon

the Pharaoh Rameses

And:

The boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem

102.1. Emotive non-restrictive (i.e. additional, non-qualifying)

adjectives giving emotional colouring to Ps are interpreted as a sort of title or

forename:
 dear/little/tiny/poor/good/old, etc. John
great/noble/honest, etc. Shakespeare

devilish/cruel/proud, etc. Napoleon

and:
dear old Emily

poor little Lizzie

Good humoured, witty Mrs. Smith wanted it

non-personal:

beautiful Spain

dear Poland

Merry Old England

Similarly, with adjectives denoting a more or less permanent characteristic:

poor (= having little money)/greedy John

mountainous Norway

torrid Egypt

historic York
sunny July, etc.

Sometimes the same adjective may function as both non/restrictive modifier,

depending on context. Compare:

I talked to Old John/to poor little Lizzie

I talked to the old John not to the young one
(There are two Johns: young and old - I distinguish which one)
I spoke to the younger Mr. Smith, not to Mr. Smith, the manager
The old Shakespeare, not the young Shakespeare was his problem
(There are two different "aspects" of Shakespeare - when he was young or old)

Similarly:

Pitt the younger (the younger Pitt as distinct from the older one)
Henry the eighth (the eighth Henry usually written Henry VIII)

With some famous Ps tradition itself settles the sense of their modifiers;
lack of article then means a sort of title, the stands for superlative degree (cf.

118.1):

Immortal Shakespeare

the Venerable Bede/Bede the Venerable

moral Gower

Rare Ben Jonson

the Great Napoleon

William the Conqueror

John the Babtist

Ivan the Terrible

Peter the Great, etc.

103 The maximum number of distinctive features with the P, ipso facto
eliminates not only articles which then lose their sense of existence, but also
restrictive modifiers, such as restrictive clauses, which add further distinctive
features; hence the unacceptable:
*John that is standing in the corner wants to meet you

This does not apply to non-restrictive modifiers (cf. the emotive adjectives in
102.1) which add only additional information without restricting the original P,
as in:
John, who is standing in the corner, wants to meet you (note the use of commas1)

Countables like "a/the John(s)" always accept further specification because, by
definition, they lack the maximum number of distinctive features. In:
A/the John that is standing in the corner wants to meet you
"A/the John" means ‘A certain John, out of more than one Johns that are
standing in the corner’ and "the John" may contrast with say, another John who
is sitting. Also:
My mother showed me a Field (that) she had been engaged to (= She had been
engaged to more than one man of the Field family)
My mother showed me the Field... (= She had been engaged to one man of that
family)

That’s not the John I knew (cf. 120.1)

Non-personal Ps behave in the same way. Compare:
He returned to London, not indeed a London he would remember (= one of his
impressions of London), and certainly not the London of his youth (= that
particular impression, cf. 119)

The London of 1665 was far smaller than the London of today in the England of
Queen Elizabeth II

104 Appositions with Ps are derivable from relative clause and take a or the:
Plato, a man of taste, had fine carpets in his home (= Plato, who was a man of
taste, had…)
A millionaire Pontefract, showered money everywhere (= Being a millionaire,
Pontefract..., but not: *a certain millionaire...)
A neighbour, Fred Nick, is on the telephone (= A neighbour is on the telephone;
Fred Nick is on the telephone)
A philosopher, Kant, has intrigued Godel, a mathematician
Dr Paul Jones, the distinguished art critic (cf. 120.1) died last night
Many great men studied at Cambridge, amongst them Milton the poet, Cromwell
the soldier, and Newton the scientist (= Milton, the famous poet, etc.)

Compare;
John, a butcher, lives on our street (= John, who is a butcher, lives on our street)
John, the butcher, lives on our street (= John, who is the butcher we all know,
lives...)
John the butcher lives on our street (= The John who is the well-known butcher
lives…; John the butcher as opposed to any other John; cf. The, butcher John
(the Czar Nicholas) but not *the John the Butcher)

A company commander, (namely) Captain Madison, assembled his men and…
(the apposition identifies Captain Madison)
Captain Madison, (that is to say) the company commander, assembled his men
and… (head and apposition are equally specific)

104 The titles listed in 102 are not absolute; when they denote occupation, rank,
dignity, etc., in contexts connected with more than one individual, they become
non-titles preceded by a and the. Compare:
Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain (title)
Elizabeth, the Queen (queen) of Great Britain (The well-known queen ruling
Great Britain now)
Elizabeth, a queen of Great Britain (= one of the queens of GB)
Mr. Paul Jones, (the) author of "Escape".
(The) author of "Escape " (,) Mr. Paul Jones (,) arrived in Great Britain last night

Family relationships:
Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew II, king of Hungary, and wife of Duke Louis IV

Compare:
Octavius, son of Caesar (but not *son Octavius), was there (dignity or official
relationship) Octavius, the son of Caesar, was there (the only one, the well-
known one)
Octavius, a son of Caesar was there (one of his sons)

104.1 A title without a P head keeps original status:
As captain/minister/chairman, etc., I must insist that my orders are carried out
Mr. John Smith was (the) Director of the National Bank
Also:
He held the post of captain/president, etc.
He works in the capacity of musician
He rose from office boy to director of the company in ten years
Soon he rose to the rank of director/professor/major, etc.
Compare:
He is Captain (supreme position, often indicated by a capital letter)
He is a captain (cf. 129.2)
He is the captain (incomplete without the context -"which one?", such as: He is
the captain who spoke at the meeting; cf. He is a captain who spoke at the
meeting (= one of the captains who speke)

She is daughter of a doctor (indication of social position)
She is a/the daughter of a doctor (cf. Octavius a/the sea of...)

104.2 Prominent posts that can be held only by one individual at a time are often
interpreted as titles;
He became President/Chairman/Captain (but not *he became doctor)
He decided to run for President/Mayor
St. Silverius was pope for a very short time
He is advisor to the Club
He is minister of this church

She is secretary of this office (only one)
She is a secretary of this office (more than one of the secretaries of this office)

In He was author of many theological works, "was author" is almost equal to "he
wrote".

Compare:
He is president of this club
a member of this club

Compare also the designation of a more prominent position as a title contrasted
with the designation of a lower one as a non-title:
My uncle is a captain in the Gwards, he’ll be major next
He is a lecturer in London University; he’ll be professor before long

Appoint, elect, name, pronounce, make, etc., are the usual predicates introducing
a title2:
They appointed/elected/made him king/speaker/captain
I have appointed Abraham to be father of many nations (The Bible)
Puis XI declared her patroness of France (but; She became a famous patroness of
France) Compare:
They elected Mr. Jones director of the Company
They elected Mr. Jones a director of the Company (= one of the directors of the
Company)

105 P → C conversions
The typical conversions of Ps into Cs are the names of products after their
manufacturers, For instance, a very popular waterproof overcoat produced by
Charles Mackintosh underwent the following evolution:
a M/mac(k)intosh - a mack - a mac: He wore a mac
Also:
They bought a Ford/ a Mercedes/ a Rolls Royce
Among his books she saw a Shakespeare (= a book by Shakespeare)
The painting on my wall is a Rembrandt
My mother was married to a Field. She was a Smith before her marriage (= one
of the Field/Smith family, cf. 123 a)
Compare:
Have another Martini (a C: Have one more drink)
She’s been drinking Martini (U) ever since the party started
Likewise;
a H/hoover a pullman a browning a watt a
boycott a sandwich, etc.

106 Restrictive modifiers entailing the in 118 have the same effect with Ps.
Compare:
He met John
He met the right/the wrong/the same, etc. John (implication: There were more
than one John)
The best/the first/the only John was John Smith
Grimm wrote the book
The famous Grimm wrote the book (other Grimms were not famous)
Primary STRESS alone may have the same effect. Compare;
You say Shakespeare lived here. Bo you mean THE Shakespeare or somebody
else (… with the same (famous) name)?
A: That’s Einstein over there!
B: What, not THE Einstein? (cf. ... So you’re the famous Einstein?)

107 Restrictive modifiers denoting temporary, states of Ps take the or a (cf.
permanent characteristics in 102.1):
the/an angry/sleepy John,
a rainy Norway/Egypt
Participles and forms in -able are more common here than plain adjectives:
the dying Arthur,
the disgusted Charles,
an/the unrecognizable Stanley
A in John appeared in evening dress, a clean and radiant John implies ‘a kind/an
aspect of'’ (l27), i.e. a distinction between John in a clean/radiant/sleepy state
and John in other states at other times, while the in the dying Arthur refers to the
person already identified as Arthur with the qualifying information that he was
dying.
In An almost unrecognizable Stanley grabbed it Stan​ley is viewed as an
unrecognizable person who turned out (perhaps later) to be Stanley, If he were
known from the outset to be Stanley The almost unrecognizable… would be
more appropriate. In other words, a states what a person is, while the - who he is
at that moment.
The rather literary The disgusted Charles walked out could more colloquially be
paraphrased as Charles, disgusted, walked out or, better, Charles walked out
disgusted.
The goes beyond a temporary state (cf. 108) in the late Captain Smith, the pagan
Plutarch, the well-known Churchill, the celebrated Bismarck, the hated Hitler,
the incomparable Mozart, and in The learned Lady Blanche proposes to lecture
on… . This use of the definite article should be distinguished from 106 with
Grimm and the famous Grimm, Einstein and the Einstein.
In I’m feeling better with so charming a Florence Nightingale to attend me the
class of best nurses is collectively called "Florence Nightingale", and this
particular nurse is said to be one of them. This typifying use includes:
John thinks he’s a Napoleon (cf. 129.2)
John is a George Washington for truth
John has the genius of a Shakespeare, the courage of a Napoleon, and the
tenacity of a Churchill
Here the reference to actual Ps without typifying would equally be plausible:
John thinks, he's a Napoleon
John has the genius of Napoleon...
107.1 Very close to typifying names are fancy arbitrary Ps standing for generic
types (cf. 122) of human beings:
Muggins has got to stay here doing the humdrum work while he is having a nice
time in Paris (= a simpleton)
He would have to make himself agreeable to Tom, Dick, and Harry (= to
anybody, used derogatorily)
Also:
Mr. Pilgarlic ( a poor person)
Mrs. Grundy (a pruderish person)

108 C → P conversions
Such conversions occur when a class C acquires unique individual features, as
in:
a baker → Baker a smith → Smith
This smith is Mr. Smith
or the non-personal:
a new(ly) found land → the New-found-land → Newfoundland
(Similarly Greenland, Iceland, Newcastle, etc., and Parliament (in the U.K.),
Congress (in U.S.A), Government)
Also:
a devil (= an evil spirit) → the Devil (= the most powerful evil spirit) → Satan
(an arbitrary designation for the Devil)
a/the god → God → Jehowath (proper name)
and:
the Father, the Lord, the Creator, the Almighty, the Maker, etc. standing for 'the
Father of fathers', ‘the Lord of lords’, etc. We also say:
the Lord God (cf. The Czar Nicholas)
but
Lord Nelson (title)
With qualifying modifiers even expressing permanent (eternal) attributes (cf.
102.1), we use the definite article, as in the living/invisible God, The God who
created all things, (cf. God. who created, all things with footnote 1), thus
distinguishing the true God from false or hypothetical other gods. ln the Son of
the living God, God is taken as known and unique; a living God would imply
that there might be other “living gods”.
But the indefinite article is permissible as a complement or object:
I believe in a living/an omnipotent God
the Lord is a loving Father/a just Judge/a jealous God/a God of knowledge, etc.
where it describes what (kind of Being, cf. 107) He is, rather than who He is.

108.1 C → P conversions are very common with such "unique" (especially for
children) persons of the same family as;
F/father, Daddy, dad, Mother, mummy, granny, auntie, etc.
I’ll ask father
Grannie will come but auntie says she can’t
Likewise:
Squire, Parsen, rector, master (= teacher), vicar, etc. in the same, e.g., village.
The most unstable Ps are vocatives with and without modifiers:
How is my wife, doctor?
Look here, man!
Porter, take this luggage.
Lord bless you!
Devil take you!
Father, all powerful and everliving God, bring us forgiveness (prayer)
God of power and mercy...

Compare the vocative (Little) boy, how are you walking? Head up, chest out!
with the quiet address: My (little) boy, you are walking very badly. Keep your
head higher, and your chest out.
It is noteworthy that, contrary to the definition of P, vocatives can also take
plural form:
Ladies and gentlemen!
Come here, children!

108.2 In poetry, etc. abstract Us can be personified and treated as Ps:
He introduced Love and Death who dispute
Time comes in followed by Dame Fortune and Father Christmas
and non-personal:
Fate, Fortune, Heaven, Hell, Nature, Paradise, Earth, etc.
Yesterday fate was kind to him/Fortune smiled on him
The good (123.2) go to Heaven, the wicked end in Hell
Nature is beautiful on spring

"Earth" as the name of our planet, side by side with Mars, Venus, etc., is treated
as P, otherwise it takes the (cf. 121)

108.3 A special kind of Ps are M/man and W/woman standing for collective
generic images of all men and women, or for the whole classes of them (cf. 122):
Man is weaker than (the) animals
This book is an attempt to trace the history of man/mankind
Mary was trying to be Woman, not just a woman
God created man and woman (l32 f.) for each other
Compare:
A man and a woman walked into a restaurant and noticed a man and a woman at
a nearby table (cf. 125)
Man/A man (l29) is a social animal
Men and women have similar abilities and needs (130)

109 Non-personal composite Ps
From the viewpoint of article usage, non-personal composites can broadly be
divided into articleless Ps (Oxford Street), and the-names:
a. singular (The Albert Hall), and
b. plural (The British Isles)
Street names are typical articleless composites. For instance, in
Oxford/Lincoln/Poland, etc. Street with stress on "Oxford", etc., "Oxford", etc.
specifies "Street" in the same way as "John" does instead of "a boy". This
arbitrary designation ipso facto eliminates articles in contrast with, say, "an/the
Oxford road", with stress on "road" where "Oxford" functions as a restrictive
modifier and means ‘one of the roads/the main/the well-known road (118.1)
leading to Oxford’. The Oxford Road with "R" capitalized - where the whole
makes a composite name, and in Oxford Road - the loss of the article has taken
the conventionalization further.

In "the Albert Hall", "Albert" corresponds to "Oxford" in "the Oxford Road" and
the definite article again denotes ‘the well-known (and only) hall in London’.
"An Albert Hall" would imply the existence of more than one such halls.
“Cornegie Hall" in New York testifies to the American interpretations of such
entities (cf. Kennedy Airport, California Institute, Bernard College) on the
model of "Oxford Street".
The in the plural form, like "The British Isles", is generic (123) and denotes ‘all
the isles that are British’.
110 In the model of "Oxford Street" we have:
squares:
Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Sunset Boulevard, etc.
parks:
Hyde Park, Hyde Park Corner, Regent’s Park (113.6), Central Park
bridges:
London Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge
Foreign streets, squares, parks, bridges, etc. are usually the-names:
The Red Square (in Moscow), the Rue de Rivoli (in Paris), the Tiergarten (in
Berlin), the Via Monzoni (in Milan), etc.
stations:
Victoria Station (or elliptic "Victoria"), Baker Street Station
premises:
Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Canterbury Cathedral, Windsor Castle,
London/Oxford/Brown etc. University, Trinity College (cf. a/the University
College)

Similarly to "Oxford Road" in 109, we have:

In 1995-1998 she attended London/York, etc. University
(the) Hatfield Polytechnic
the Paris Conservatoire

(but in U.S.A.: The White House, The Empire State Building, the Capitol, the
Senate (but: Congress))

Individual islands, lakes (with "lake"), gulfs, and bays:
Baffin Island, Eagle Lake, Lake Baikal, Moro Gulf, Baffin Bay, etc.

cities, states:
New York (City), Cape Town, Little Rock, Washington State, Quebec Province,
etc.

festivals:
Christmas Eve/Day, Easter Week/Sunday, Independence Day, New Year’s Day,
etc.
111 On the model of “The Albert Hall” we have:
the Eiffel Tower, The Soviet Union, The French Republic or The Republic of
France, The United Kingdom (112), etc.
public institutions:
the British Museum, the National Gallery, the London Zoo, the Huntington
Library, the J.C. Penny Company, etc.

Many of this type of names are used elliptically:
The Globe (Theatre), The Tate (Gallery), The Louvre, The Grand (Hotel), The
Hilton, the BBC (The British Broadcasting Corporation), The Titanic (ship, The
Guardian/the Times/The New York Times (newspapers), The Listener
(magazine)
(But: Life, Time, Punch, Language, Do-it-yourself, International Affairs, Vogue
(101))

With reference to London we have:
The City, The River (= the Thames), The Tower, The Abbey (= Westminster
Abbey), the Yard (= Scotland Yard), the Monument (= the column
commemorating the Great Fire of 1666)
Here “the Thames" represents the gradient:
a river called "Thames" → the River Thames → The Thames

Similarly other rivers, oceans, canals, channels:
the Nile, the Danube, the Pacific (ocean) the Baltic (sea) (but: the Black/the Red
Sea, the Indian Ocean - without abbreviation) the Suez (canal), the Channel (=
the English Channel), etc.
Also:
the Sahara/the Gobi, etc. (deserts), the Crimea ( peninsula), The Vatican (state),
The Ukraine (province), The Hague, the Antarctic, the Arctic (but: Antarctica),
The Orient
The Argentine (but: Argentina), etc.
are foreign entities keeping their original forms. Compare:
den Haag (Dutch), der Haag (German) la Haye (French)
Likewise, the plural terms without an article:
Athens, Brussels, Naples

112 On the medal of "The British Isles” we have:
The Falkland Islands, the Middle Ages, etc.
Somewhat irregular are "the United States" and "the United Nations" which take
a singular verb to underline their unity:
The United States is a member of the United Nations
There is also a difference between "the British Isles", "(Great) Britain", and "the
United Kingdom" (or the UK); "the British Isles" is a geographical name for
Britain, Ireland, and all the islands round about. "(Great) Britain" is supposed to
be the P of the land mass which includes England, Scotland, and Wales. "The
UK" (Which kingdom? The kingdom that is united under one monarch, now
Elisabeth II) is the name of the political unit which is made up of England,
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Irland.
Simple plural names similarly take generic the. For example, "The Alps" denote
all individual peaks (cf. 101) constituting the Alps without a singular equivalent:
*An Alp. However the would be omitted from those names on maps, name
plates, etc., because of lack of space.
Other examples:
islands:
the Philippines, the Azores, the Netherlands (= the Low Countries) the Bahamas
(officially: The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and short: Bahama)
institutions:
the Commons (= the House of Commons), the Lords (= the House of Lords),
but: Parliament (108)

113 Modifiers with non-personal Ps
(a) Some elliptical names do not accept any modifiers. E.g. "the Big City" or
"the beautiful Tower" would not be the same entities as "the City" and "the
Tower" in 111 (cf. *the beautiful Hague)
(b) P modifiers in the genitive (or possessive) case function in the same way as
Ps in 109. Thus, "Shakespeare's theatre" contrasts the non-restrictive and non-
genitive "a/the/Ø Shakespeare theatre(s)" analogously to the adjectival "a/the/Ø
Shakespearian theatre(s) ". Compare also:
God’s love (= His love)
the/Ø love of God (of others towards God)
Similarly:
Regent’s Park, St. John’s College, Dalton’s Weekly, Socrates’ ideas, Euripides’
tragedies, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, James the First's foreign policy
A notable feature of such composites is the deletion of the head, especially when
it denotes premises:
I saw St. Paul's (cathedral)
Woolworth’s (or Woolworths) are opening a new branch in High St.
Barlay’s (Barclays) is the friendly bank
I’m just going round to St. John’s College
John was down at the Watsons’ (house) last night (cf. 123(a))
We had a lovely evening at Peter and Helen’s
Escalation is neither in Russia's interests nor the West's (121)

Shops are often referred to in this way: Mary was at the hairdresser's; Is there a
butcher’s near here? However it is also possible to use the singular without ‘s:
She’s at the hairdresser.
(c) Names with an of-phrase, as a rule, take the (119). We say London University
(110), but the University of London. Also:
The City of New York, The Island of Crete, The Isle of Man, The Gulf of
Mexico, The Bay of Baffin, The Cape of Good Hope, The Rock/the Straits of
Gibraltar (or: the Rock), The Falls of Niagara (or Niagara Falls)

(d) West, East, etc., Central, French, Latin, etc. with non-personal Ps denote
permanent or integral
part (cf. 126. 132*1) of a state (cf. Germany - West Germany), continent, etc. (or
just a separate entity; cf. York in the UK and New York in U.S.A). This meaning
excludes a (and, consequently, referential the) which stands for 'one of a class'
(124):
West/East Germany (before 1989)
French Canada
Eastern Europe
Latin America
East Africa
Central Australia
Soviet Russia, etc.
Similarly, with reference to permanent time or status (cf. 127.1):
modern/medieval/catholic/industrial, etc. Europe/England, etc.
ancient Greece and Rome, etc.

Compare with 127.2:
He likes Rome
He likes early Christian Rome
He likes early Christian Rome in the third century

(e) Restrictive modifiers can change all the articleless and articled composites
above into a/the countables in the same way as "John" is changed into "a/the
John(s)" in 103:
He returned to Oxford Street/to the Albert Hall/to the British Isles/ to West
Germany, not indeed an Oxford Street/an Albert Hall/to British Isles/to a West
Germany he would remember and certainly not to the Oxford Street/the Albert
Hall, etc. of his youth
Similarly, compare:
in England - in the England of Queen Elizabeth (cf. 119)
Chicago - the Chicago I like (= the "aspect" of Chicago)
London - the London I grew up in
during Christmas - during the Christmas of that year

(f) It is noteworthy that Friday, July, Christmas, etc. (cf. 101) function as Ps only
as present, next or last Friday, etc. (Today is Friday; We met/we’ll meet on
Friday). Also with modifications of
part-of-the-day nouns, and by tomorrow/yesterday (We met on Friday
morning/afternoon/evening). Otherwise, they become Cs:
We met/will meet on a Friday (= one Friday except last and next)
There was a Friday/a July/ a Christmas in my childhood I will remember for ever
I hate Fridays/Julies

The Definite Article
114 As already stated in 101, there are two kinds of common nouns in English:
class, singular/plural C, and non-class, singular U.
Apart from the articles the and a, a consistent presentation requires the
introduction of a third article, the zero article (Ø) with Cs (Ø boys), and with U
(Ø water/beauty) to distinguish them formally from the articleless P (John). With
Ø Cs, zero means ‘an indefinite number of countables’ or simply 'more than
one’, and with ØU, zero stands for an uncountable mass or abstraction.
In this way we exhaust all possible article plus noun combinations,
which are;
theC/Cs/U aC ØCs ØU

They are used either specifically with reference to individual entities or
generically in a supraindividual sense.

115 theC/Cs/U
The definite article the comes from the demonstrative pronoun "that" but, unlike,
say, She loves that boy or any other definite determiner which eliminates the
(She loves this/her/my/each, etc. boy; (N)either day is O.K; Whose car is that
outside?) and which are semantically complete, She loves the boy is incomplete
because the with boy has nothing to refer to. It needs a preceding or/and
succeeding context
or consituation to indicate which boy is meant, and then refer to him by means of
the definite article, as in:

Some time ago she met a nice boy; now she loves the boy

r e f e r e n c e

a boy the boy

In other words, the definite article functions only as a signal of a specific (and
generic) reference existing outside it and answering the question "which one(s)?”
(cf. 125). In actual usage, the-reference takes the form of:

a. explicit context
b. partly explicit context
c. implicit consituation

116 Explicit context
The commonest explicit context introduces a noun with a or zero and then
repeats it with the ("anaphoric" the or reference backwards):
I lent John a valuable book, but when he returned it the cover was filthy and the
pages were torn
Similarly:
a car: the engine, the wheel, the gears, the brakes, etc.
a house: the roof, the walls, the basement, etc.
an elephant: the trunk, the ears, the weight, etc.
a war: the cause, the outbreak, the end, etc.
In contexts involving more than one such entity, the stands for the nearest, or the
most popular one(s) assumed to be familiar to the speaker and hearer:
a town: the church, the post office, the butcher’s, etc. (despite the existence of
more than one church, etc.)

116.1 There is also the opposite technique: the is used at the outset, and it is left
to the reader to find out in a following context which entity was really meant
("cataphoric" the or reference forwards):
The house on the corner is for sale. There is, as you know, a house on the corner

- I was on the telephone (l22(b)) to my mother last night
- I didn’t know you had a telephone

Compare:
Some words were accompanied by the following context (the context follows)
Some words were accompanied by a following context (no context follows)

Reference forwards is common in book titles:
The Hind and the Panther
The Thistle and the Rose

117 Partly explicit context
Here a noun is mentioned only once with the and a restrictive modifier
specifying its head so completely that the whole answers the question "which
one(s)?". There are three basic types of such modifiers, viz:
a. single words
b. prepositional phrases
c, restrictive relative clauses

118 Single words
They carry or imply the meaning ‘the only one(s)’:
same, right/wrong, only, sole, main, supreme, prime, identical, former/latter, etc.
I saw the same boy (which boy? The boy that was the same; cf. I saw a similar
boy)
He gave the right/wrong answer (assumption: there exists only one right/wrong
answer)
The only student to be admitted was John
It’s the identical coat which was stolen from me
The central shops are conveniently reached from here
The soldiers guarded the main gates
Compare:
He is just the man (= He is the right man)
He is just a man (= …only a man)
Also:
the exact answer
the precise reason
the principle objection
the very man
the specific point
the P/prime M/minister
Similarly, with restrictive appositions:
the author P. Jones (cf. 102)
the same "George Eliot"
the noun "pen" (which, noun? The noun that is called "pen")
the words “some day”
How do you spell “pen”?
Other restrictives:
The road back was dense with traffic (which road? The read that led back; ...not
any other road)
The way out is over there (= The only one, or the one you’re looking for)
The weather tomorrow will be cloudy (cf. 131)
The people outside started to shout

118.1 Superlatives
They regularly take the to indicate the ‘only one(s)’ of its class in opposition to a
and zero implying ‘more’ than one’. Compare:
She is the most beautiful girl (superlative degree)
They are the most beautiful girls (all of them are the same superlative standard)
She is a most beautiful girl (There are more than one like her)
They are most beautiful girls (They are very beautiful)
I'd do it with pleasure, with the greatest pleasure
The eldest daughter does all the housework
Who can find the most mushrooms?
I’ve got the least money of all of us
Another way of indicating superlatives is the emphatic form of the [бi:], in print
often marked in italics (cf. 106)
He would be the man for the job (... no one can do it better)
The demonstration will be the event of the week
A diamond, sir? A precious stone? It's more than a precious stone; it is the
precious stone!
This is the life for me! (= The best, the real life, of. 127.1)
I am the way, and the truth, and the life (The Bible)
To be or not to be: that is the question (Shakespeare)

Superlatives (in reality or by exaggeration) can also be implied without
emphasis:
John is getting into debt, the idiot/the fool/the silly boy
The wise man said: "We must all die"

118.2 Ordinal numbers can denote ‘the only one’ by pointing to only one
possible definite position in a known set of entities:
We played three games of chess: the first one and the second one were drown,
but the third time I was beaten.
Compare:
He won the first prize
He won a first prize (There were more than one first prize)
He never won a first prize (There were many first prizes to be won in his life)

He fought in the Second World War
English as a second language (many languages can be taught as a second foreign
language)
It was a first step in the right (118) direction (We know nothing about the rest)
A second/a third boy entered the room (= another one, one more)
After the meal Jesus said to Peter... do you love me… a second time he said to
him, do... Then he said to him a third time…
Restrictive ordinals should be distinguished from idiomatic and elliptical uses of
numbers (cf. 132, 133);
from the first (= from the start)
He always went to a first night/to first nights. He was a first nighter
It is of first importance
first things first
love at first sight
to engage first gear/to change into second gear, etc.

Cardinal numbers are restrictive in:
the Twelve Apostles (the Twelve)
the Ten Commandments
the five senses
the four elements
the four seasons
the four freedoms, etc.
Smell/sight/hearing/taste/touch is one of the five senses

118.3 Body parts often take the instead of a possessive pronoun, irrespective of
whether the body has one or more than one part mentioned, especially in
prepositional phrases (cf. 119):
I shook him by the hand
He has broken the/his leg, the/his ankle, etc. (but: Have you broken your leg?;
not: *...the leg)
He hurt himself in the leg
Shall I take a little off the beard, sir? (at the barber’s)
I must have been hit on the head with a hammer (passive voice)
We can alternatively say:
He’s broken a leg/an ankle, etc.
but a/an cannot be used unless the body has more than one part mentioned:
*John has broken a nose.

118.4 The may function as a weaker demonstrative that/this in tempo​ral
indications:
I was not there at the time (= at that time)
I’m occupied for the moment [= for this moment)
The moment/the minute I saw her, I loved her
Lord Brook will be staying for the night

118,5 A particular consituation can play the same referential role as explicit or
partly explicit context. Then the speaker referring to an entity with the assumes
that the hearer can identify it in the environment which they share:
Tell the truth! (= Tell the true details of the present case)
Please, close the window(s) (...which is/are open)
Turn the water/the light/the gas, etc. off

- There's someone at the door. Didn’t you hear the bell?
- Perhaps it’s the milkman. No, it’s the mailman

His daughter was in the garden watering the flowers
The car (= my car) broke when on the way to work again, today
Your teeth need attention, you must go to the dentist (= your one)
How did you like the film? (The hearer knows which film is meant)

119 Prepositional phrases
Among the great number of prepositional phrases (135 f.) the of-phrase plays a
special role as a restrictive modifier causing the use of the. By indicating
"source", "origin" or "cause" (see 151) the of-phrase specifies its head more
exactly than any other preposition. Compare:

The water of Venice
*Water of Venice is bad
The/Ø water from Venice
The/Ø in Venice


He respects the life of the 18th century
Ha respects life in the 18th century (cf. 127.1)
Mozart is the Raphael of music (cf. 102.1)
If, however, an of-phrase means ‘more than one’, we use a. Compare:
the boy of mine (= the only one or the one I like best)
a boy of mine (= I have more than one boy)
the professor of English (In the institution there is only one)
a student of English (In the institution there are more than. one)
the Bishop of London (cf. the Queen of England)
a bishop from London
The number of students is increasing (which number? The number of students)
A number of students are absent today (= several students)
the Venus of Mile, and: a Venus from another place

In What was the population of London iti 1900? we ask for a definite population
at a definite time, whereas London has a population of eight million denotes one
of many possible populations in towns. Likewise:
He died at the age of ninety
He died at a great age
Compare also the measurement phrases:
The height of the room is eight feet
The room has a height of eight feet

The aircraft flew at a speed of 1000 miles (one of many possible speeds)
He made a profit of 1000 dollars on the sale (cf. 146.2)
Freedom of speech, loss of money, peace of mind, poverty of spirit, etc. may be
treated either as uncountable phrasal units (132 (e)) with zero (Poverty of spirit
means a correct standard of values) or take the without phrasal sense (The
poverty of spirit is a special kind of poverty).
They demand Ø/the freedom of speech and the/Ø liberty of thought
He enjoyed peace of mind
He signed the Peace of Versailles

The restrictiveness of of-phrases may lead to oversimplifications. So, apart from
obvious uses as:
I saw the roof/the back of a house
the top of a mountain
the left side of a road
the title of a book
The sum of 6 and 4 is 10
in which “a house” has only one “roof” and “back”, etc., we come across the
meanings of ‘more than one’ still taking the. Also:
We came to the bank of a river (the right/left bank?)
the leg of a table/of the trousers
a/the state of vapour
the finger of God (cf. 118.3)
the hand of a man
the ear of a dog
These should be interpreted as ‘that particular part of a whole/a body’ ignoring
the fact that there may be more than one such part

119.1 Other prepositional phrases function as both restrictive and non-restrictive:
The fruit in this country is delicious (restrictive: the specific fragment of fruit)
Fruit in this country is delicious (non-restrictive: additional information on fruit)
I have no time for the visit (lack of time in general)
I have not the tine to visit you (the specific amount of time)
The time has come to say good-bye (= That moment has come…; cf. 118.4)
The winter of 1963 was an exciting time (calendar time)
Winter in 1963 was not like last winter (seasonal climate)

My office is the room on your right (There is only one room there)
a room on your right (one of the rooms en your right)

Florence Nightingale (cf. 107) was often called "the lady with the lamp (= the
famous lady with her famous lamp; cf. 118.1)

120 Restrictive relative clauses (cf. 103)
The most explicit restrictive modifiers are relative clauses such as that-clauses.
Note the decreasing restrictiveness in:
The boy that is standing in the corner wants to meet you
The boy standing in the corner wants... (is/was standing?)
The boy standing in the corner wants... (is standing/was sitting?)
The boy over there wants… (is standing in the corner/was sitting in the middle?)
A boy that is standing in the corner wants,,. (There is more than one boy
standing there)

Relative clauses containing wh-pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, what)
function as both restrictive (without commas) and non-restrictive (with commas,
cf. footnote 1):
A/the boy who is standing in the corner wants to meet you (= A certain/that boy
that is standing...)
A/the boy, who is standing in the corner, wants to meet you (= A/the boy is
standing in the corner, and he wants to meet you)
That's the/a John who lives next door (= That John/a certain John - out of more
than one - that lives next door)
That’s John, who lives next door (= John, and he lives...)
Borrow any book that interests you
a man who writes novels - the man who wrote this novel
a writer of novels - the author of this novel
a good novelist - the present novelist (118)
Also:
The son, who is a boy of 17, is the image of his father
The son, a boy of 17, is the image of his father (cf. 104)
The house, an imposing building, dominated the street
Soldiers, the cream of the battalion, died in the attack

120.1 Factive nouns such as
the fact, the news, the view, the belief, the idea, the old saying the proposition,
the reply, the remark, the theory, etc.,
referring to (one definite) certainty take the when modified by appositive
restrictive clauses:
The fact that he wrote a letter to her suggests that he knew her
We heard the news that his team had won
I don’t agree with the view that there is no advantage in...
The belief that no one is infallible is well-founded
The good news is that they can do it
Also:
The fact/the trouble IS that he wrote a letter to her (with stress​ed "is"; cf. 133)
but:
This story is not an accepted fact
This is fact not fiction (cf. 132f)
The news WAS that his team had won
The belief IS that no one is infallible
Other restrictive clauses (of place, time, cause):
That is the place where he was born (cf. John withdrew to a lonely place where
he could be by himself)
That is the period when he lived here
That is the reason why he spoke

121 Implicit consituation
There are unique entities so familiar to both speaker and hearer that they take the
without an a - introduction or restrictive modifiers;
the U/universe the ground the stars
the world the moon the E/east/W/west, etc. (cf. 132 f)
the sun the sky the contrary/the reverse/the
opposite
the earth the equator the present/the past/ the future, etc.

The sky above and the earth below
Sit on the ground
We will fly round the world (which world? The world we all know)
The moon goes round the earth and the earth goes round the sun
But the phrasal:
come (down) to earth
What on earth are you doing?
and the P "Earth" (108.2).
Compare:
The stars are bright tonight (= the stars around us)
Stars shine by night (cf. 130)
The future of English is assured
Does science have a future?
She is a woman with a past
Past, present and future are alike unknown (cf. 132 f)
Somewhat special are the town/the country, the land/the sea, the mountains, the
left/the right. They take the to distinguish one - familiar to us all - part of
environment from another, equally familiar. So we speak of living in ‘the town’
as distinct from ‘the country’ or of ‘the land’ as distinct from ‘the sea’, or of ‘the
left’ as distinct from ‘the right’:
She prefers the country to the town/country life to town life
He works on the land (is a land worker) and spends summers at the sea
I love the mountains but hate the sea
Everything that lives in the air and on the ground and under the ground and in
the sea praises God
Keep to the right! Turn to the left!
But:
He is losing money right and left (cf. 132 f)
Military events on land, at sea, and in the air
Such nouns tolerate non-restrictive modifiers:
I love the beautiful mountains and the blue rough sea
The sun, which is millions miles away, is the source of all energy
but restrictive modifiers change them into ordinary class nouns with a, the, and
zero according to the context. For example, a,/the/0 sun(s) that is/are millions of
miles away do not refer to "our" sun. Also:
The children were drawing pink suns and green moons
The moon hung in the sky, a young moon in the pale summer night (different
"aspect" of the moon)
Poland is a nice country
I want to see a better world (a different kind of the world)
121.1 A similar universality is present with:
the P/pope, the Koran, The Bible, the Scriptures (bat: Scripture), the reformation,
etc.
ln England we have:
the Q/queen/the M/monarch
the nation the army
the country (= state) the press/the paper(s)/the news
the Government the radio
the Union Jack (the) television
The Government has given the/0 people good government
What is in the paper(s)?
Compare:
I heard it on/over the radio (cf. 157.3)
I b»ught a new radio
I saw it on (the) TV
Everyone should read The Bible
Hotel rooms without a Bible (a copy of The Bible)

Generic uses
122 Generic theC
A derivation from the specific uses of the definite article is generic theC, as in
The whale/the tiger is in danger of becoming extinct where "the whale", etc.
embodies the whole class of whales as a familiar composite image of it ("genus",
the species in toto, and not a typical representative of it with generic aC in 129).
Generic theC concerns a supraindividual entity and, therefore, does not answer
the question "which one?". It is found in general contexts beyond a particular
place or time, so its functions are rather limited and often formal or literary in
tone. E.g.:
personal:
You can see the woman in this little girl
There shouldn’t be one law for the woman and another for the man (cf. 108.3)
The housewife has a harder life than the office worker
For the Christian the liberty means being free from sin
The English farmer is fond of grumbling
It is not interesting for the man in the street (the average citizen)
non-personal:
She olive grows only in warm countries
The emerald is nearly akin to the beryl
God invented the giraffe, the elephant, the cat which means that He has no single
style (Picasso)
The beaver and the otter build dams
In The beaver is building dams at this time of the year generic "the beaver" is
compatible with the progressive because of the generalized and recursive
location in time (…every spring/summer; cf. 10.3).
a. technical inventions:
The motor car is said to be replacing the railway
No one knows when the wheel was invented
I prefer the cinema to the theatre (but: We found that film at a cinema across the
river)
My sister goes to the theatre every month (= 1. a particular theatre; 2. (more
likely:) to the theatre as an institution)
b. transport and communication:
John took the bus/the train to Boston (also: ...took a bus/a train)
Put a letter in the post/in the mail
He is on the telephone
But compare phrasal:
by post/mail, by bus/train, by telephone (cf. 132 b)
c. musical instruments (when their playing is expressed or implied):
She plays the oboe/the piano/the violin, etc. very well/with Mr. Lee at the piano
But:
She owns an oboe/a piano, etc.
She teaches oboe/piano, etc.
Also compare "play" with the zero article in:
He plays football/tennis/cards/billiards, etc.

d. monetary and other units of measurement:
The dollar/the pound is to be devalued
The meter is the standard French unit of length
Cloth is sold by (cf. 170.2) the yard or the meter
Our car does 30 miles to the gallon
In denoting proportions the is interchangeable with a (= each):
once in a/the year/month, etc.
sell at $10 the/a bottle
These apples are/cost 20 cents a/the pound
and per + 0 (zero) article:
six per cent, per post, a shilling per man, $100 per annum

e. grammatical terminology, definitions:
the in/definite article, the subject, the noun, etc.
the indicative mood, the genitive, the present tense, etc.
"Leg" - the part of the body from the hip down to the ancle (cf. 119)
"Palm" - the inner surface of the hand between the wrist and the fingers

Restrictive modifiers turn generic into limited generic theC:
The blue whale is in danger of becoming extinct
The whale he is speaking of became extinct long ago
Missionaries bring the word of God to the heathen (123.2)
The same cause produces the same effect
She beginning student should be gives every encouragement
The word of God is addressed to everyone

122.1 Adjectives used as head have generic and abstract reference:
The beautiful is not always the same as the good (= All which is good/beautiful)
We shall go from the known to the unknown
One must bow to the inevitable

123 Generic theCs
Except for geographical names in 112, generic theCs are confined to personal
entities. (The beavers build dams; The tigers can be dangerous will not have
generic interpretation as Beavers build dams in 130).
In general contexts beyond a particular place or time, generic theCs signify a
whole (i.e. all of them), well-known class as distinct from other classes.
Compare:
John likes the girls (all (l32.1) girls, the opposite sex)
girls (more than one, an unspecified number of them; cf. 130)
the girls over there (specific: these particular girls)

a, Family names are typical here:
I like the Smiths (= all the members of this family)
Similarly:
the Stuarts, the Plantagenets, etc.

b. The people of the same race, religion, political party:
Struggles between the B/blacks and the W/whites/the Protestants and the
Catholics/the communists and the conservatives, etc.

c. collective names:
the aristocracy, the clergy, the police, the public, the elite, the fair/gentle/stern
sex, etc.
The police were after him
The public are not admitted
The clergy are not giving up the faith
He is a member of the aristocracy/elite

123.1 Generic names of nations (a.); as distinct from a specific reference to an
individual (b.); the name of their language (c.); and a corres​ponding adjectives
(d.). We can distinguish three categories of forms here:
1. Forms in -ss and -ese which are always the same:
a. The Swiss live in Switzerland
b. I know a/one/two Swiss
c, You cannot speak Swiss
d. I have a Swiss book
Similarly:
the Chinese, the Japanese, the Portuguese, etc.

2. Two different forms with two subtypes:
English
a. the English b. an Englishman/two Englishmen c. English d. English
Similarly:
the French, the Dutch, the Irish, etc.

American
a. the Americans b. an American/two Americans c. American d. American
Similarly:
the Europeans, the Africans, the Germans, the Russians, the Italian

But compare;
a. the Scots b. a Scotsman (also I'm Sottish) c. Scotch, d. Scottish (also A Sots
lawer; Scotch whisky')

3. Three different forms:
a. the Poles b. a Pole/two Poles c. Polish d. Polish
Similarly:
the Turks, the Danes, the Swedes, the Spaniards, the Finnes, etc.
The Arabs do not like the Jews
The Romans defeated the Carthaginians
Compare:
The Germans work hard (= a nation)
Germans work hard (more than one)
The Germans I know work hard (the specific Germans)

In Crossing the desert, we were attacked by the/0 Australians which, de facto
refers to a limited number of “Australians”, the associates these individual
“Australians” with the whole nation, while zero does not go beyond observing
that the attackers were of Australian nationality, and were ‘more than one’.

In;
a Swiss/an Englishman/an American/a Pole (1.)
He is
Swiss/English/American/Polish (2.)

1. implies having attributes of a given nationality, while 2. denotes pertaining to
a nation (especially in contrasts), as in:
He is English not Polish (cf. 129.2)
She is Indian but her husband is European.

123.2 Adjectives used as plural heads have generic reference (cf. 122.1)
The poor envy the rich
The good go to Heaven and the wicked end in Hell (cf. 108.1)
The innocent are often deceived by the unscrupulous
the dead, the dying, the wounded (after a battle)
Compare:
The wounded are being evacuated (generic)
The wounded man is being evacuated (specific)
And limited - generic:
The very poor envy the exceptionally rich
He likes the women of France
and even:
He likes the wines of this shop
which does not refer to any individual “wines” at any one time.

It is noteworthy that not all adjectives are used generically. For instance, we can
say "the mentally-ill", "the ill-behaved", but not "*the happy", "*the foreign" or
"*the disgusting". The reason for such limitations is not clear.

123.3 Modifiers with theCs heads, not specially marked by intonation or
pronunciation (cf. footnote 1) remain ambiguous. E.g., "patriotic" in The
patriotic Americans share great respect for their constitution is either non-
restrictive (‘All Americans are patriotic) or restrictive (‘Those who are patriotic
as opposed to those who are not’) in a limited generic sense (cf. 122 (d)).

The indefinite article
124 The indefinite article derives from the numeral one. Its use is confined to
singular-form class nouns to indicate ‘one of a class'. The "one" sense is still
obvious in:
for a day or two (= for one day or two days)
A stitch in time saves nine
Wait a minute!
a hundred (= one hundred), a quarter, a score, etc.
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (The Bible)
I didn't have more than a dollar •a me (unstressed a dollar equals '•ae
dollar)
In most cases, however, the "one" etymology has became so obscure that we can
now say What a one is he?. Compare also:
- Can a boy carry that plank? - No, but a man can.

- Can one boy carry that plank? - No, but two boys can.

The indefinite article commonly occurs when it is paraphrasable by "a certain",
"a particular" as in: A boy gave a boy a nickel which, in a more emphatic form,
equals A certain boy gave a certain boy one nickel. Similarly: Once a whale
attacked a ship.
The plural equivalents of specific aC arc someCs and anyC(s) (130.1).
There is a boy there - There are some boys there - Are there any boys there?

According to some American informants we can also say There are boys there
and Are there boys there ?, but this is regarded as a confusing oversimplification.

125 A introduces aC noun (i.e. the noun has not been mentioned before) which is
then referred to by the (for examples, see 116), hence the always denotes the
receiver »f an action. Compare;
A child was given the mother (= to the mother)
The child was given a mother (= to the child)
A/the child was given a/the mother (ambiguous with respect to who was given
whom)
- Have you seen my coat anywhere?
- Here’s one. Is this yours?
- No, mine is a gray coat.

- There are two coats here. Which is yours?
- Mine is the gray coat. (... and points to his gray coat)

There is is a very common introductory phrase3 for specific aC (contrasting it
used only when a noun has already been mentioned):
ls there a boy in the office or is it empty?
but:
Look, there is the lamb of God who takes away the sin (l22) of the world

126 The non/use of a primarily depends on the C/U interpretation of nouns. This
poses difficulties for non-native speakers of English because, among others,
many substantives function as both C/U or U/C. Compare:
He used bricks (C) to build the house
The house is built of brick (U)
She had many difficulties/much difficulty
I’ve bought a melon (C)/some melon (U)/some melons (C)/? melons

Fishing in Icelandic waters
- We cannot live without
water
Fishing in the waters of the Pacific
She was a beauty in her youth - She had beauty in her youth
The lambs were eating quietly - There is lamb for menu today
The boy had an egg - The boy had egg ever
his face

There were bright lights and harsh sounds - Light travels faster
than sound
He’ll give a talk on Chinese art - That’s
foolish talk
Only a part of his story is true (a number of things) - Only part of his
story is true (less than the whole)

Would y0u like a cake? - No, I don’t like cake
(and the ambiguous: a little cake/egg = a. 'a small one’ or b. 'a bit of’)

127 U →C conversions
Practically every U can be converted into aC with one of the following
meanings:
a unit of:
(- Do you want tea or ccffee?) - Can I have a coffee?
He ordered two coffees and three beers (= two cups of... and three bottles of..,)

a kind/a sort of (cf. 107):
This is a nice coffee (= a nice kind of...)
I like Brazilian coffees best
They drink three or four different wines at every meal

a certain amount of:
I heard a crashing and a weeping in the kitchen

an instance of:
Compare: She showed me much kindness/many kindness
Society must be changed by revolution (cf. 170.1)/ by a revolution

The language of experts abounds in U →C conversions with reference to what in
the eyes of a layman is just an uncountable mass:
a gas/gases (for a chemist)
a grass/grasses (for a botanist)
an ash/ashes (for a detective; cf. I who am dust and ashes)
Compare:
Wheat is usually made into flour
Several wheats (= kind of wheat) have been developed

A kind/sort/brand of can actually be expressed to form compound deter​miner:
What a kind of boy is he?
a delicious sort of bread
Compare:
What kind of car is it? (is it a Ford, Volkswagen?)
What kind of a car is it? (is it any good)
Compare also the exclamatory and the interrogative what in:
What a book!
What book do you want?
Some Us take individual determiners to indicate a unit of:
a slice of cake/bread
a lump of sugar
a loaf of bread
a heap of earth
a sheet of paper/metal
a pinch of salt
a piece of advice/information/furniture, etc.

Also:
a word of abuse
a fit of passion
an item of news
a lot of trouble, etc.
And measures;
a yard of cloth,
an area of land,
a gallon of gas, etc.

Instead of saying He looked/drank/smoked, etc., there is a colloqual phrase have
+ aC where aC is a verb used nominally to express a single act or instance:
Have a look/another drink/a smoke
Take a rest, etc.

127.1 The meaning of a kind of can also be indicated by a restrictive modifier
laying particular stress on a special aspect of an U and thus change it into a C.
Without this special stress and ‘a kind of’ meaning, modifiers permanently
narrow down the range of their U in a variety of ways, but without a. Compare:

Germany - West Germany
York - New York (cf. 113 c, 130)
For:
life (1)
He respects national life
(2)
English national life (3)
 English national life in the 18th century (4)
it can be presented graphically like this:

RYSUNEK “LIFE” (UWAGA: 1-2-3-4)

Also:
Life is hard (= life in general, all possible life)
Joan of Arc had a difficult life (as individual kind of life)
He lived a new/a happy/an active/a useful, etc. life
The new life he began was not a new/a happy, etc. life at all
Compare also:
Your battery needs water (= all possible water)
Your battery needs distilled/spring/drinking water (all possible distilled, etc.,
water)
Hard water is water containing mineral salts that prevent soap from lathering

Jerseys give much milk/a very rich milk

Justice will prevail
A barbaric justice prevailed (= one of different kinds of justice)
Barbaric justice prevailed (= justice always is/was barbaric)
It was painted yellow
If was painted a bright/a deep/a reddish yellow

The non/restrictiveness of some modifiers may be subject to individual
interpretation depending on the desire of the speaker to lay particular stress on
them or not:
He treated her with a/0 calculated indifference
They were covered with 0/a thick, white dust
but;
He spoke with a peculiar intimacy/with a certain (124) impatience in his
voice/with an abruptness that revealed his emotion/ with an originality that
pleased.
He walked in a solemn silence

Emphasis alone has the same effect in:
After a time a loneliness fell upon the two men (= a certain loneliness)
There was a bitterness in her voice
This use is characteristic of literary style as a device of achieving more
expressiveness a with original Us, especially with abstract ones:
There was a warmth between them
She was aware that there was an emptiness in her life

128 The opposite C →U conversions are less frequent but always possible, for
example, with the modifier all:
She was all boy but proved to be girl enough to like dolls (= There was more
"boy-ness" than "girl-ness" in her)
The sky was all moon
The child’s world is all story and all heart
Compare:
He came into an office (= into a room, i.e. He was in an office)
He came into office (= took an official position, i.e. He was in office)

129 Generic aC
A derivation from specific aC if generic aC which picks out any member of its
class as its representation. It widens its original specific sense of "one" into
"any" and "every" and thus becomes the typical representative of its class
beyond a particular place or time:
The best way to learn a language is to live among its speakers
One should give a child (or children) plenty of encouragement

Generic aC as subject:
A physicist is a scientist (= any physicist)
A hill is the opposite of a valley
A violet is a lovely flower
A tiger can be dangerous
A bicycle has two wheels
A friend can betray you (a theoretical observation about friends in general, cf.
47.1)

A whale suckles its young
A whale, which is a mammal, suckles its young
but not:
*A beaver and an otter build dams (cf. 122)

Limited generic:
A white horse is a noble animal
A horse with a broken leg cannot run (= any horse with...)
A certain gorilla became extinct long ago

129.1 The alternative generic aC, theC (122), and 0Cs (l30) tend to lose their
individual significance because they concern the class or species generally.
Consequently, the distinction of any member or group of members of the class
are neutralized, being largely irrele​vant to the generic supraindividual concept.
Thus:
A tiger/the tiger/tigers can be dangerous
The/a housewife has a harder life than the/an office worker
Housewives have a harder life than office workers
express essentially the same meaning. Similarly, with He looks quite a/the
gentleman there is hardly any change of meaning, though “the gentleman” is
more emphatic and makes the individual of a class more prominent.

Yet we can only say The whale/the tiger is becoming almost extinct to the
exclusion of *A whale/a tiger is becoming..., because generic the refers to the
species as a whole, is a composite image of it, while "a whale" means any of the
species, which does not make sense in this context.

Also "the king" as predicate component in The lion is the king of beasts cannot
be replaced by "a king", since it is impossible to think of more than, one (“lion”)
king, although we know that the statement is meant to apply to “lions” in general
(129.2). Also very similar in meaning are:
A German is a good musician
Germans are good musicians
The Germans are good musicians (cf. 123)
and even:
The German is a good musician (cf. 122)

Compare also:
A pen is something to write with
Peas are things to write with.
or less commonly;
The pen is mighter than a sword (cf. specific: I have a pen; The pea I have is
good)
Generic aC also occurs in general sentences with verbs in the past:
In Roman times a soldier fought with a (= one) sword/a student studied
rhetoric/a senator was a patrician

Generic articles require generic context beyond a particular place or time.
Compare:
A hyena haunts African planes (generic)/my backyard (specific)
A horse eats oats (generic)/is eating oats (specific)
A horse at this circus performs twice a day (specific)
Generic and specific aC may occur in the same sentence:
A soldier fought with a sword
A horse (= any) has a name (one)
A rabbit lives in a hole
A restrictive modifier changes generic aC into limited generic:
A boy who tells lies should be punished (= Every boy who tells...)
Compare the non-restrictive:
A whale, which is a mammal, suckles its young
but not:
*A whale, which is a mammal, has been attacking one ship (generic "a whale"
contradicts specific context)
Generic aC can serve as a deliberate device for veiling a non-generic sense. For
instance, in:
What a man/a fellow is to do in such a case?
"a man", etc. is almost equal to ‘one man’ or ‘I’.
129.2 The most generic (abstract) of all is aC as verb complement of the copula
to be or to become as in
John is a scientist/a boy, etc.
Here "a scientist" does not function as a specific noun, hence the ungrammatical
*John is a certain (124) scientist, but has a descrip​tive role similar to that of a
predicative adjective. (That is why we can say alternatively John is a
Pole/Polish; He is English not Polish; cf. 123.1 (c)). It means that John has the
attributes that constitute the concept of a scientist, i.e. he falls under the concept
of "scientistness".
The attributive character of "a scientist" is also demonstrable from the fact that
it cannot exchange position with the subject (*A scientist John), that - like any
adjective - "a scientist" can take an adverbial like "quite" John is quite a
scientist/quite tall) and, finally, that we cannot relativize it (*A scientist that John
is) or say *John was studying to be the scientist.
Further examples;
John thinks he’s a Napoleon (cf. 107)
John is a George Washington for truth
This is an apple not a pear
A hill is the opposite of a valley
The earth is like a ball
Limited generic:
John is a boy of seventeen
John is/became a famous scientist
A white horse is a noble animal
Paganini was a great violinist
What a miserable day (it is)!
We found New York (to be) a delightful city
Compare:
The whale is a mammal
The whale is the mammal
A whale is the mammal
But:
Our first ancestor was a man (= specific: I could give his name (Adam) if I
chose)
Our first ancestor was the man (= specific: whose history we have been reading)
Our ancestor was man (= generic: …was human (108.3), not a beast)
There is vacillation in:
her duties as (a) hostess
my appointment as (a) lecturer
Jung as (a) thinker
but:
We looked upon him as a fool (= we considered him a fool)

The zero article
130 Generic 0Cs
She use of zero (cf. 114) with Cs is supraindividual because it con​cerns an
indefinite number of entities or simply ‘more than one’. Un​like theCs in 123,
0Cs do not consciously imply a class as a whole (‘all of them’):
John and Mary are scientists (it corresponds to the singular in129.2)
Hills are the opposite of valleys
I don’t like grapes/apples, etc.
Tigers can be dangerous (cf. 129,1)
Stars shine by night
Beavers and otters build dams (cf. 122)
Beavers are building dams at this time of the year
Cigarettes are bad for your health
Grapes are a kind of fruit (definition)
Prices are always rising (cf. 10.3)
White horses are noble animals (limited generic)
Compare generic subject position in free variation:
Bull-terriers make excellent watch-dogs
A bull-terrier makes an excellent watch-dog
The bull-terrier makes an excellent watch-dog
and in non-subject positions:

girls (123)
John likes beautiful girls (limited generic)
a girl (= one girl (124)/*girl (128)
the girl (= this girl)

Nora has been studying medieval mystery plays (= a subset of them)
Nora has been studying a medieval mystery play (= only one play)
Nora has been studying the medieval mystery play (= mystery plays as a genre)

Unlike the specific The possibilities that she now offered seemed very attractive
answering the question "which possibilities?" (cf. 120), sentences like
Possibilities that she was lazy and that she disliked school worried her mother
keep them indefinite, general sense despite the restrictive that-clause, although
now the range of "possibilities" has been narrowed down to limited possibilities
concerning her “laziness”.
Similarly;
Stories that the house was haunted angered the owner
Men who smoke pipes look distinguished
The minister brushed aside suggestions that the country might collapse

130.1 The specific plural equivalents of 0Cs are some, any, several, a few, etc.
(cf. 124):
There are some/several/a few boys over there
- Can you see any boys over there?
- Yes, I can see some
Some/several horses eat oats over there
*Horses eat oats over there (specific over there contradicts generic horses)
Compare:
I’ve bought you some flowers (= the flowers I have in my hand)
flowers (= flowers in general)

We say I’ve bought two/some melons but hardly ? I’ve bought melons (cf. 126),
except in contrasts, such as:
I’ve just bought melons but not grapes
I haven’t bought books but I’ve bought magazines
Yet there is no much difference felt between:
I’ve been writing some/0 letters this morning
We’ve just received some/0 news from Moscow
Did you buy any/0 screws?
Would you like some/0 cheese?
(Some) coffee or (some) tea?

131 Generic 0U
Here the zero noun expresses a mass without boundaries, like concrete "water"
(We can’t live without water) or an abstract concept "beauty" (She had beauty in
her youth). Also:
God is spirit
Necessity is the mother of invention (…a mother of… would imply any of the
mothers of)
Hunger and violence will continue...
In Freedom is happiness the maximum abstractness of both nouns can be proved
by comparing them to similar in meaning (cf. be + adjective complement in
129.2) To be free is to be happy or To be happy is to be free.
In the restrictive Wine which had to be drunk at once was…, I must attend to
work that has accumulated, "0 wine" and "0 work" are still conceived as vague
limited generic U notions (cf. 130) against I must attend to the work that has
accumulated when some specific tasks are meant. Compare also the non-
restrictive ^Work, which is the lot of every man, takes up most of our time, and
the countables:
The works of Shakespeare (= products of the intellect, cf. 105)
a fine piece of work/music/poetry (cf. 127)
to be at work (132 (c))
Also:
These letters are proof that the cure for depression does not lie in pills
Love that desires to limit its own exercise is not love
Compare generic 0U with specific theU in:
Water is an article of trade in Venice
The water of Venice is bad (119)/The water is bad in Venice
Oil floats on water
The oil is floating on the water (l can see it now)
Beauty is to be admired
Everyone must admire the beauty of a mother’s love
We cannot live without air
We can see birds up in the air (= the space above the ground around us)
Cattle is fond of grass
I like to lie in the grass
Rain comes from clouds
The rain fell and the wind blew so we had to stay indoors
Hydrogen is lighter than oxygen (*The hydrogen... *the oxygen)
We all feel honest admiration for people who succeeded (cf. 131.1(d))
The honest admiration that we felt for them was great
Compare also:
We don’t like to walk in hot/bad/cold/fine, etc. weather
The weather in this country is generally fine
What’s the weather like today?
We are having fine weather
What cold weather we are having!
A spell of cold/bad weather set in (cf. 127)

131.1 There are few groups of restrictive modifiers which do not mean ‘a kind
of’ (cf. 127.1). Then their Us keep uncountability, but narrow down their range
of application to ‘part of’, ‘less than the whole’ (cf. 126) by increasing the
number of distinctive features (cf. 101, and diagram in 127.1) These modifiers
include:
a. degree
great, perfect, sufficient, huge, immense, complete, major, etc.
He respects perfect/infinite, etc. life
I have great/sufficient confidence in him
I’m sure your work will give you complete satisfaction
It caused heavy loss of life
b. time
modern, contemporary, impending, present-day, eternal, endless, ancient,
prehistoric, medieval, farther, final. Baroque, classical, etc.
He is interested in modern life/is medieval
art/poetry/civilization/architecture/etc.
He was conscious of impending disaster
Compare:
Modern poetry, which deals with inner life, is interesting (= Modern poetry, and
it deals with inner life, is... , cf. 120)
The modern poetry that deals with inner life is interesting (specific, restrictive)
Also:
He received 0/the news that gave him 0/the courage to survive (cf. 127.1; 131)
He played 0/the music that I like (but not: *… a music that I like)

c. nationality (cf. 113 (c))
English/French, etc. oriental/Franciscan life/art/poetry, etc.
but: the art of the Middle Ages, the philosophy of the Orient
Compare:
She is studying European history/the history of Europe/*history of Europe (cf.
119)
Also:
Venetian glass
Italian painting
Roman law
American society
Chinese philosophy
English literature, etc.
He respects English national life in the 18th c. (cf. 127.1)
It’s three o’clock by Moscow time

d. social characteristics
social, racial, religious, honest, human, bourgeois, etc.
Also:
real, genuine, authentic, original, symbolic, etc.
He believes in social/human, etc. evolution
It had real importance
The reward had only symbolic value
Her silence was tacit approval
We all feel honest admiration for people who succeeded (cf.131)

131.2 As a rule, U nouns in with(out) – and sometimes, in in - pre​positional
phrases keep the zero article;
She looked at the boy with (great) curiosity (but ...with the greatest curiosity, cf.
118.1)
He moved slowly with(out) deliberation
She turned round in annoyance and then walked away
He began to speak with sudden heat.., and asked with intense interest
She kissed him with warm affection
to lie in bed/on the bed (= outside the covers)
Compare:
She played the oboe (122(b)) with sensitivity
*She played the oboe with a sensitivity
She played the oboe with (a) charming sensitivity (127.1)
She played the oboe with a sensitivity which delighted her critics (cf. 107)

He entered into the work with (a) zest
He entered into the work with the zest that surprised us all (120)

Compare:
At/in the beginning (C) was the Word (of God)
God without beginning (U)
The tendency to use zero with Us in such prepositional phrases is so strong that
even Cs sometimes lose their C sense, as in:
God’s love without end
We had trouble without end
He spoke with(out) effect and she listened without remark
The demonstration passed off without incident
The beggar came up to him with outstretched hand
He refused to help without apparent reason
She was received in amiable fashion

131.3 "Money" is a rather special king of U. Originally, it was uncountable gold,
silver, and other metals later made into coins, and then - by extension - into
paper notes instead of gold and silver. E.g.:
Money doesn’t always bring happiness
He doesn’t actually carry much money on him
He paid good money for it
He is in the money (colloquial: 'rich’ )
He made his money buying and selling land
Similarly "change" (= coins of low value):
Can you give me change for one dollar note?
How much have you got in change?
The cashier gave him his change
If you buy something that costs threepence and pay for it with a shilling you’ll
get ninepence change
Compare:
I want no small change (= small coins)
I want only a small change (= …not a break through)

Special uses
132 So far we have been dealing with separate nouns preceded by the, a, and
zero in accordance with their semantic values and context. Another major use
are nouns forming part of set (idiomatic) phrases keeping the same article
irrespective of the context they are in.
Compare:
She cried wolf (a gave a false warning of danger)
She saw a wolf

in future (= from now onwards)
in the future (at a time or times still to come; cf. 121)

to start from scratch (= from zero)
without a scratch (= without the smallest damage)

to keep a good house (= provide good food)
to keep to the house (= to keep indoors)
to keep house (= to provide for a household)

Such expressions constitute the contents of phraseological dictionaries, so here
we shall only touch on some phrasal nouns with zero.
(a) nouns such as:
school, college, university, class, hospital, church, prison, home, etc.
with prepositions like to, at. in (cf. 131.2) do not refer to actual buildings or
places, but to institutions associated with them, as in:
to be in prison (= to be a prisoner)
to go to sea (= to follow the occupation of a sailor)
Compare:
John went to school/to university/to college (= received education)
John left school (= stopped being a student)
John went to a school (e.g. …to see it and then he left the school)
John went to a very good school (= a kind of school)

He went to prison (= as a prisoner)/to a/the prison (= as a visitor)
He went to church every Sunday/was in/at church, (…the church was very
small)
He went into the Church when he retired (= join this denomination)

a student studied at university
a professor taught at the/a university

(b) means of transport with by:
to travel/go/leave, etc. by bus/by train/by car/by bicycle, etc. (cf.: to go on foot)
but:
be on the bus/on the train/on a plane/on a ship
look at a/the bus, etc.
Compare:
I go to work by bus
I met John on the bus/*by bus
Also:
to communicate by radio/telephone/telex/post/satellite
but:
to talk on the radio/en the telephone, put a letter in the post

(c) meals:
stay for/have/be at/before/after breakfast/tea/lunch, etc.
We had coffee for breakfast
Breakfast tomorrow will be at 10
but:
We had a good breakfast
The breakfast she gave us was good

(d) times of the day and night, particularly with at (146.3), by (170.3), after,
before:
at dawn/noon/midnight/sunrise/sunset etc.
by day and night
before morning came/ when day breaks
but:
I like to rise early in the morning/in the day time

With the four calendar seasons we can say both:
(The) winter is very long tine
(The) summer is a rainy season on the island
Birds fly north in (the) summer and south in (the) winter
But:
Churchill died in the winter of 1965 -

(e) Fixed zero expressions may undergo a process of verbalization:
to be at table (= to eat; cf. to be at a table) and the non-existent: *to be at big
table. Also:
to go to bed (= to retire)
to go to a/the bed (= to go towards it)
Compare:
What I have in mind is… (= intend)
What I have on my mind is (= I’m worried)
He'd never have done it in his right mind (= if he were not mad)
Compare also:
by way of (= passing through)
by the way (= incidentally), etc.
and adjectivization:
to make/be friends with

The woman with child is Joan (= pregnant)
He gathered women with child
He gathered women with a child

There was a large hole in front of the building (directly before)
There was a large hole in the front of the building (= in the front part)

I killed him in view of your decision
The garden is in the view of your house

To this group also belong such condensed forms as:
He stood there, hat in hand, pipe in mouth
She stood with fists clenched and eyes blazing
to put pen to paper (= start to write)
(f) parallel structures;
God has established his lordship over dead and living (cf. 123.2)
Mother and child were both well
Man or boy I don’t like him
East (or) West, home best (cf. 121)
dance cheek to cheek
day by day/day after day
arm in arm
from right to left
between husband and wife
from top to bottom, etc.
Coordinated nouns can also share an article; especially if they naturally go
together and are thought of as a unit:
a knife and fork
the King and Queen
a cup and saucer
a/the bride and bridegroom
I can sec a man and woman (= a couple)
but such structures are optional.

Some conjoined noun phrases can be interpreted as either with or without
ellipsis. Hence such ambiguities as The old men and women which means:
1. the. old men and the old women
2. the old men and the women
3. some women and the old men

(g) Some conjoints may acquire a proverbial tone:
Let dog cat dog
Diamond cuts diamond
But prison is prison
to fight like cat and dog
He swallowed the story hook, line, and sinker (= completely)
Compare:
The secretary and treasurer has disappeared (= one person)
The secretary and the treasurer have disappeared (= two persons)
a black and white kitchen (one)
a black and a white kitchen (two)
A horse and cart/a motorcycle and sidecar was coming down the road
Is it a colour (film) or (a) black and white film?

(h) constructions in reverse word order:
Fool that he was, he hadn’t even enough sense to see that he was beaten (= He
was such a fool that…)
This fault - if fault it is - is an amiable one
Sketch as it is, the book is full of interest
Also:
Vain fool that he was...
Honest faithful man that he was...
They may also occur with the but not with a:
The/*a coward that I am, I ran away

(i) The zero article may be dictated by stylistic consideration. Compare:
We came to a house; garage, boiler room, cellar, and workshop on the ground
floor

with a slower and a more elaborate style in:
Backy took an interest in everything appertaining to the estate, to the farm, the
park, the garden, and the stables (Thackeray)
Soldier, actor, broadcaster, soldier again and broadcaster again, that was
Opienski’s progress through life

Rich and poor, rulers and ruled, Irish and Scotch as well as English took part in
the evening

132.1 The articles come next to their heads, and not before such modifiers as all,
both, half, once (twice, double, etc.), quite. rather, and such. This position does
not affect the meanings of the, a, and 0.
all:
All men are created equal (generic reference)
All the men in the mine wore helmets (specific reference)
All the angles of a square equal 90o
I’ve read all (of) the books you lent me
All children can be naughty sometimes
All whisky is expensive
Ail London knew it
The doctor came with all speech..., but we lost all hope

both:
The use of the and of are optional. Compare:
Both brothers/both (of) the brothers are dead
The brothers are both dead
But both cannot be used without of before personal pronouns:
Both of us (not: *both us) were born on March 17th
The letters were addressed to us both/to both of us

half:
Like all and both, half can be used with or without of:
Half (of) the boys are here
Half (of) the car was damaged
I want half the butter
half a minute/a dozen


Compare:
half a crown (= an amount of money)
a half crown (= a coin: half crown’s)
They stayed (for) half an hour
They stayed a half hour
Also:
a half-moon
half pay
the/a half breed

once, (etc.):
He comes to see us once/twice, etc. a week/a year
He eats twice the amount that you eat
She did it just the once (= that one time) and never again
Since his holiday he’s been twice the man he was

quite;
You’re quite the most exciting man I’ve ever known
You’re going quite the wrong way
There’s quite a good film on down the road
He made quite an effort, but it wasn’t good enough
It*ll take quite a/some time
That’s quite a story (= unusual)

rather;
The position of a becomes optional when an adjective modifiers its noun:
He is a rather lazy boy/rather a lazy boy/*rather a boy
He is rather a fool/*They are rather fools
Compare:
… rather cold weather
The rather cold weather we’ve been having

such:
Such a man is dangerous…


He is such a fool/such a nice man
They haven’t had such a (good) time for years
Don’t be in such a hurry (= in so great a hurry)
Such men as these are dangerous
All such books are interesting (= All books like that are…)
He has read many such books
It gave such fun!
Such money as he earned was spent on spirits and tobacco
He bought such hard wood
He ran with such effortless speed that the others left him far behind

132.2 The indefinite article comes next to its head if an attribute is preceded by
so, too, how, however:
I’ve never met so nice a girl (= such a nice girl)
It’s too difficult a task to be done in so short a time
It’s too hot a day (= The day is too hot)
How happy a time we had on our holiday!
However clever a man is, he can make mistakes

132.3 With the + genitive case noun + noun combinations, it may not be clear
which noun the article belongs to. Compare:
the firm’s costs (cf. 113 (b))
the men’s experiences
the country’s business
a man’s room
a poet’s eye
against:
a firm’s costs (a firm)
a thieves’ den (a den)
an old wives' tale (a tale)
and: the widow's penny (= the widow offering a penny; The Bible)

Ellipses
133 Another reason for article omissions are ellipses. In rapid or careless
colloquial English and the literature that imitates it, or because of lack of space,
articles as well as other parts of utteran​ces may be dropped, especially when they
are expected to be contextually guessed.

(a) "telegraphic style":
Wife ill. Bring doctor (telegram)
Shorthand typist required in large office, ideal working condi​tions (ad)
Poor standard. Rewrite whole passage (teacher’s corrections)
(A) happy birthday to you!
(The) trouble is that he wrote a letter (cf. 120.1)
(The) weather ghastly, sir! (cf. 131)
(As a) matter of fact...
(It’s a) pity, he’s dead
Pity, it can’t be done

(b) newspaper headlines:
Train Saved by Boy
Moon Can Be Relay Station
Headlines like Death Drug Research Center Spy Drama can be understood by
reading them backwards:
It is a drama concerning a spy in a centre for research into a drug that causes
death

(c) notices, signs, labels:
Footpath to beach (notice at holiday resort)
Eat at the Steak House - best food in town
Private Road
Arrow-head, 5th c (in a museum)
J.C. Manson, Bookseller (signboard)
House to let (= The house to be let)

(d) instructions (especially of technical kind, file entries, lists, etc):
Stick hem round sleeves
Place tin in cupboard
Martin, widower, age 55, 2 children
Compare the articleless definitions of "palm" and "leg" in the Concise Oxford
Dictionary intended for native speakers of English, with the full articled
definitions in l22(d)
"leg" - Organ of support... esp. human body, part of this from hip to ankle
"palm" - Inner surface of hand between wrist and fingers

(e) Post-head numbers and letters like "number 1", "letter A" are interpreted as
elliptical forms of "the number is 1 ", "the letter is A". Similarly:
paragraph 22
part one
in Chapter three
paragraph number 22
room 10A
page 19
position 3 and 5
equation 4, etc.
Further forms like "the number 1", "the letter A" are also used, and
It happened in the year 1974
In the year 2020 I’ll be 76
are the only correct forms. We also find pre-head numbers and letters:
No 2 Platform
G Block, etc.

133.1 Words other than nouns when preceded by an article are regard​ed as a kind
of ellipsis standing for a noun or phrase:

a book translated from the German (= the German original)
What is the English for "das Eis"? (= ...the English word for...)
The Shakespeare of the 1990’s (= the period between 1990 – 1999; cf. 102.1)
Judas was one of the Twelve (cf. 118.2)
He came up on the 10 a.m. from King’s Cross (= the 10 a.m. train)

Adjectives in the superlative with the indicate uniqueness (cf. 118.1). For
instance, His work is the best singles out “his work” amongst that of others,
while in His work is best we are merely thinking of “his work” along with
others. Similarly, He likes you the best (= above all others). He is poor; that
makes it all the worst (= so much the worst for him).
With adverbs in the superlative the introduces a certain adjecti​val notion. E.g.,
He writes the best of all is almost equivalent to saying He is the best writer of
all. There is a tendency with adverbs ending in -ly to use "most" for the
superlative to substitute the corresponding adjectival superlative with the.
Compare:
Which person described it most clearly/the clearest? (= ... gave the clearest
description?)

Nonce forms:
buying on the never-never (colloquial: the well-known hire purchase system)
the ups and downs
the ins and outs
The above is my address (but not: *The below illustrates what I mean)
Never before have we seen the like
She splashed in the water like a two-year-old
(- You are nothing but a raving lunatic!)
- I’m a whaaat!? (It expresses extreme surprise, consternation, etc.)
Don’t miss seeing that film, it's a must (= one of the necessities)
Clinton is a political has-been
The noes have it (= Those voting "no" are the majority)
The learned Lady Blanche (cf. 105) proposes to lecture on these points; the Is,
the Might, and the Must (= the well-known word "is", etc.)

133.2 Entirely different are the adverbials "the ... the" used before each of a pair
of comparative adjectives or adverbs to show that things increase or decrease
together:
The more he has the more he wants
The older I get the happier I am
The least said, the soonest mended (a saying)
the more the merrier
the sooner the better
The more you argue with him, the less notice he takes
Also:
He’s had a holiday and looks the better for it (= on that account)
Conclusions
1. From the article-usage point of view, there are two kinds of nouns in English:
articleless P and articled C, U, and three articles: a, the, and 0 needed to
distinguish articleless P from C and U without a or the.

2. The articleless P, defined as a countable, singular-form noun with the
minimum range of application and the maximum number of distinctive features
eliminating all articles as meaningless, provi​des the key to article usage in
English (cf. 101).

3. She articles a and the are either specific or generic. The typical pattern for the
specific use is introduction forwards by a or 0, and reference backwards by the:
a, 0 the

Generic a and the are derivations from the specific uses; aC then stands for "any"
of a given class, and theC embodies the whole class as its single composite
image, and generic theCs mean 'the whole class of certain people', 'all of them’
as distinct from other classes of people.
Generic 0Cs denote an indefinite number of entities or ‘more than one’ and 0U
contrasts all the above by rejecting the notion of "class" itself in favour of
unlimited mass or abstraction

4. In detail, the a/the/0 + C/U combinations have the following specific and
generic meanings:

specific generic
aC (= ‘one’, ‘a certain’) aC (= ‘any’)
theC/Cs (= ‘that’, ‘those’) theC (= composite image of the
class)
theCs (= the whole (personal) class,
‘all of them’)
0Cs (= indefinite number of ‘more
than one’)
0U (= indefinite mass, abstraction)

5. Restrictive modifiers change 0U into a C (with a) when they imply ‘a kind/a
unit of’ (cf. 127), otherwise they restrict the original U by narrowing its range of
application to 'part of’, ‘less than the whole’ by increasing the number of its
distinctive features (cf. 131) though without changing it into a C (without a).
Restrictive modifiers added to Ps, which already include the maximum number
of distinctive features, change them into a/the/0 class nouns (cf. 103, 105)
6. A foreign article-learner should consult a dictionary to find out whether his
noun in its particular context is
1. phrasal or non-phrasal (cf. 132)
2. C or U or P
3. specific or generic
In short, mastering article-usage boils down to the proper understanding of
English nouns for which articles are marked words.

Footnotes

1. The situation is analogous to The soldiers, who were brave, ran forward with
the non-restrictive who were brave giving only additio​nal information, not
essential for the identification of its head; it means that ‘all the soldiers were
brave and all of them ran forward’, against the restrictive The soldiers that were
brave (without commas) ran forward standing for ‘only the brave soldiers ran
forward and the rest stayed behind’; (subordination with that-clause in contrast
with coordination – ‘all the soldiers were brave, and all of them ran forward - in
the non-restrictive with who-clause sentence).
But even the same who-clause can function as- both non/restrictive. Compare:
Our relatives, who live in New York, are Republicans (‘All our relatives are New
Yorkers, all are Republicans’)
Our relatives who live in New York are Republicans (‘Only those living in N.Y.
are Republicans, others not')

2. Similarly with titles in reverse (i.e. degradations) with turn and go:
He turned traitor/coward/devil’s advocate and fought against the King
He went cabin boy on board a liner
Also:
He turned plumber/Democrat (= betrayed his previous party)
He has gone Socialist
and with complementary nouns;
They made him prisoner

Compare:
He turned linguist
He became a linguist
Compare also the uses with a modifier:
He turned a dangerous traitor
You bid me to turn a traitor

3. The typical mistakes here are:
*I think there is the letter for you
*I’ve got the headache
*John was studying to be the scientist