Грамматика английского языка Морфология. Синтаксис (стр. 34 из 71)
The generic article suggests a very high degree of abstraction in a count noun, the next stage of abstraction being achieved by the absence of the articles, as with the words man and woman when used in a generic meaning.
Woman is physically weaker than man.
This was more than man can be expected to bear.
Observe the difference between the generic use of the word man without an article (the class as a whole) and the generic use of the same word with the indefinite article (a representative of the class) in this quotation:
Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.
In many cases either the generic definite or the generic indefinite article may be used. The generic definite article expresses the idea of the whole class, whereas the indefinite article emphasises the idea of any individual’s belonging to the class, e.g. The horse is a domestic animal. A horse is a domestic animal. The generic indefinite article is often preferable when a detailed description follows: A person who prepares somebody else’s writings for a publisher is called the editor. A crane is a large bird with a long neck and beak.
There are certain contexts, however, where the use of the generic indefinite article is logically impossible, as in:
The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.
The lion is the king of the animals.
The atom was known to the ancient Greeks.
Singular nouns preceded by the generic definite or the generic indefinite article correspond to plural nouns with no article.
| The tiger lives in the jungle. | Tigers live in the jungle. |
The generic use of the definite article occurs with nouns denoting social classes (both singular and plural forms), for example: the proletariat, the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, the gentry, the workers, the public, the peasants, the intelligentsia. The same applies to people belonging to some school or movement in literature or art, for example: the romanticists, the impressionists.
The use of the definite article before substantivized adjectives in their collective or abstract meaning is also generic: the poor =- all who are poor, the strong = all who are strong, the obvious = all that is obvious, the beautiful = all who are beautiful or all that is beautiful, beauty:
Take Charley, for example. He has associated with the learned, the gentle, the literate and the reasonable
both in France and America. Three things will never be believed - the true, the probable and the logical.
§ 194. Set expressions with the definite article:
| the other day the day after tomorrow by the dozen (the score, the hundred) by the hour in the morning in (during) the night in the afternoon in the evening in (the) summer in (the) springtime in the singular in the plural in the past, in the present in the future (but: in future = from this time on) on the whole out of the question to pass the time | all the same just the same by the by by the way to take (seize) smb by the shoulder (by the arm) to pull smb by the hair to kiss smb on the cheek (on the forehead, etc.) to be wounded in the knee (in the arm, etc.) to keep the house (but: to keep house) to play the piano (the guitar, etc.) to tell the truth to tell the time |
§ 195. List of proper nouns regularly used with the definite article.
I. Astronomical names.
The Milky Way, the Great Bear, the Little (Lesser) Bear.
II. Geographical names.
1. The North Pole, the South Pole, the Arctic, etc.
2. Mountain ranges:
the Alps, the Pennines, the Urals. But single mounts take no article.
3. Rivers:
the Thames, the Hudson, the Amazon, the Rein, the Nile, the Neva, the Danube, etc.
4. Seas and oceans:
the North Sea, the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic (Sea), the Arctic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the
Pacific (Ocean), etc.
5. Canals:
the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, etc.; also the English Channel.
6. Some countries, areas, provinces:
the USA (the United States of America), the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Ukraine, the
Crimea, the Caucasus.
7. Deserts:
the Sahara (Desert), the Gobi (Desert), the Karakum (Desert).
8. Parts of towns:
the West End, the East End, the Soho, the City (of London), the Bronx (in New York).
9. The de facto capital of the Netherlands:
the Hague.
III. Names of public institutions (museums, theatres, hotels, restaurants), unique buildings and monuments:
the Tate (Gallery), the National Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum (Opera), the British Museum, the
Louvre, the Hermitage, the Prado, the Grand (Hotel), the Savoy,the Kremlin, the White House, the
Bronze Horseman, the Sphinx.
IV. Names of vessels:
the Discovery, the Titanic, the Queen Elisabeth, the Dolores, etc.
V. Names of most newspapers (in English-speaking countries):
the Times, the Washington Post, the Canadian Tribune, etc.
§ 196. The absence of any article, which is sometimes referred to as the zero article, is as meaningful as their actual use. It is regularly observed with count nouns in the plural, with non-counts used in a general sense, with proper nouns.
§ 197. The indefinite article has no plural form and thus it cannot be used with nouns in the plural in any of its functions.
The plural form without an article corresponds to the classifying and generic uses of the indefinite article and sometimes to the generic use of the definite article.
| Jane is a student. A dog barks. A man who has nothing to say has no words. The tiger lives in the jungle. | Jane and Mary are students. Dogs bark. Men who have nothing to say have no words. Tigers live in the jungle. |
If the idea of number is retained, an indefinite pronoun (some, any, no), adjectives (several, a lot of, many), or a cardinal numeral accompanies the plural noun.
| Have you a record teaching English pronunciation? There grew a cherry-tree once. | Have you any records teaching English pronunciation? They have some (several, many, ten) records of the kind. There grew three (some, a lot of) cherry-trees once. |
§ 198. Non-count nouns, abstract or material, when used in a general sense, are not preceded by any article, as in:
Time will show who is right.
He has such huge pride.
She said with astonishment, “Where are you, Maurice?”
We walked forward in silence.
They greeted him without enthusiasm.
Premodifiers of abstract non-count nouns do not influence the use of articles, they only restrict the meaning of the noun, as in: history - English history, medieval English history; music - folk music, pop music, classical music; art - modern art, abstract art; weather - nasty weather, fine weather; advice - valuable advice.
He doesn’t love abstract art.
The same refers to material non-counts beautiful silk, Venetian glass, stained glass.
However the indefinite article is used with both kinds of noun if the classifying idea predominates (An English grammar - a kind of it, a soil of it); with words denoting feeling the indefinite article suggests a manifestation of that feeling, with nouns of material a particular kind of the substance mentioned. In contexts of the kind non-counts are usually accompanied by descriptive attributes.
That, sir, was a profound knowledge of man.
He always had a love for the concrete.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t painting with my father standing beside me.
I was no good at football, but does it make an unhappy boyhood?
It is incredible to me that there should be an after life.
She put down the mirror with a feeling of hopelessness.
In nouns which may function as both counts and non-counts the absence of the article indicates a non-count with general meaning, whereas the indefinite article shows that it is a count noun, abstract or concrete.
Compare the meanings in such pairs of nouns as:
Language is a means of communication.
It is always interesting to study a foreign language.
Light is necessary for life.
They saw a light in the distance.
Absence of the article before an originally count noun may suggest a shift in its meaning. Thus in to teach piano (violin) the noun piano means a subject to be taught, just as history, literature, etc., whereas in to play the piano the noun piano denotes a musical instrument with the article in its generic function. In such expressions as to go to school, to be at school the adverbial meaning predominates and the noun loses its nominal quality.
If partition or indefinite amount is meant, it is expressed by an indefinite pronoun (some, any) or a partitive noun (a piece, an item, a bit). With material nouns partitive meaning is also expressed with the help of nouns denoting measure or amount (a cup of tea, a glass of milk, a pint of beer, a slice of bread, a loaf of bread, a spoonful of medicine, a sack of coal, etc.).
All non-counts can be preceded by the definite article in its specifying function. Thus we say the art of the nineteenth century, the music of the Renaissance, the history of England, (but: English history) the history of the Middle Ages, and also: What’s the weather like today? How did you like the music?
Note the difference between English (French, Spanish) literature and the English (French, Spanish) language. Here literature is a non-count, whereas the word language is used as a count noun. The adjectives operate as specifiers restricting the abstract notion of language to one particular language.
Compare also the use of in darkness, in the darkness. The first suggests the state of darkness as such, the second is situationally or contextually determined, as in these two examples: The yard and the lane outside it were in darkness. In the darkness he could discern the figure of the watchman.
§ 199. Proper names point out individual objects. Their individualizing meaning makes the use of an article unnecessary. All proper names of living beings are situationally specified (when we say Tom, Mary, Mrs Brown, Mr Wilson, etc.), for there are hundreds if not thousands of people bearing the same name.
When a proper name is preceded by a modifier no article is used in case the latter denotes a title, relationship, or rank, or if the proper name is accompanied by adjectives which sometimes form part of it: simple Simon, lucky Jim, old Jolyon, young Jolyon, poor Smith, Miss Dodson, Mister Brown, Colonel Pickering, Queen Elisabeth, Professor Jones, President Kennedy, Doctor Manson.
When modified by other adjectives, not commonly used, proper names may take the definite article.
Use of the definite article before proper names
§ 200. The definite article is necessary:
1. When additional specification is needed. This is realized with a restricting attribute, usually formed as an of-phrase or a clause, or with the definite article alone, or a premodifier operating as one:
Gloria at twenty-six was still the Gloria of twenty.
Did Bait understand the England of today?
That’s not the George Lamb I knew.
“You are the Mr Murdstone who married the widow of my late nephew?” said my aunt.
“Why, she’s Sue Courtenay,” Gladys informed her uncle impressively.
“The Sue Courtenay! Why, don’t you know her?”
“Cap’n Kit, that’s my name.” “What? The Captain Kit? O’course I’ve heard of him.”
2. When the specifying premodifier denotes a profession or points out some peculiar feature or temporary state (often expressed by a participle): the playwright Pinter, the painter Reynolds, the electrician Smith, the unsophisticated Kitty, the susceptible Mr Snodgrass, the puzzled Henry, the calculating Becky, the brilliant George Osborne, the offended Soames.
3. Before a group of objects or persons bearing the same name and forming one whole: The Pennines, the Alps, the Rockies, the Urals - a group of mountains, a mountain range; the British Isles, the Philippines, the Canaries, the Hebrides, the Shetlands - a group of islands, an archipelago; the Browns, theTullivers - a family, a clan, as in: the Dobsons were a very respectable family indeed.
The absence of the article before a plural proper name suggests a mere plurality, as in: There are a lot of Wilsons, Browns and Smiths in England.
4. Before proper nouns formed by means of substantivized adjectives: the Pacific (ocean), the Atlantic (ocean), the Mediterranean (Sea), the Argentine (Republic), but Argentina (because it is a proper name).
5. Before nicknames: the Gadfly, the Scout.
Use of the indefinite article before proper names
§ 201. The indefinite article is necessary:
1. When the person mentioned belongs to the family bearing the same name:
Mrs Tulliver had been a Miss Dodson...
No daughter of the house could be indifferent of having been born a Dodson, rather than a Gibson or a
Watson.
2. When nothing is known about the person mentioned but the name.
This usage corresponds to the Russian word «некий».
There’s a young American girl staying at the hotel. She’s a Miss Render.
3. When an originally proper name comes to be used as a common noun (usually as a result of metonymy or metaphor), as in:
This man doesn’t know a Rubens from a Rembrandt (pictures of these painters).
There is in Gary’s work the naturalness and zest of a Defoe, the generosity of a Fielding (like that of
Defoe, like that of Fielding).
Everybody isn’t a Mary Pickford (a film star like Mary Pickfbrd).
He was a Crusoe with no need to look for footprints in the sand (a man like Crusoe).
‘Have a cigar.’ ‘If it is a real Havana.’
4. When some phase, aspect, or state is meant, whether it refers to a living being or a geographical place:
John was inside, a very different John from the lad he had known seven years ago.
And now here was Gulliver’s girl Barbara, that mournful-eyed waif from an unhappy France.
So at night Castle dreamt of a South Africa reconstructed with hatred.
(Compare with the same use of the indefinite article before unique and non-count nouns.)
§ 202. Absence of the articles in set expressions
| at dinner (breakfast, etc.) at first notice at first sight at night at table at war | in search of in spite of | |||||
 by airmail by letter by telegram by air by car by land by plane by sea by ship (boat) by train by tram by tube by water | out of date out of order out of place out of sight | |||||
| arm in arm day after day day by day hand in hand night after night night by night | ||||||
| a kind of a sort of | place, book, task, etc. | |||||
 by accident by chance by mistake by name by sight | on account of on condition that | |||||
| to be in to go to | bed | |||||
  from beginning to end from day to day from east to west from head to foot from morning to (till) night from side to side in debt in demand in secret in sight in time | to be at to go to to come to to come from to leave | school, college, (the) university | ||||
| to be at to leave to take to | hospital | |||||
| to be at to go to | sea | |||||
 in addition to in (on) behalf of in care of in case of in charge of in reference to | to be in to go to | church | ||||
| to be at to put to | prison | |||||
| to be in to be out of to go to | town | |||||
| to ask (for) permission to catch (lose) sight of to give offence (permission) to give way to to keep house (to do housework) to keep time | to lose touch with to lose track of to make fun of to make use of to pay attention to to set fire to to shake hands with to take care of to take notice of | |||||
In these set expressions nouns combine with prepositions or verbs and acquire a new shade of meaning, expressing an adverbial relation, a state or a process. Concrete count nouns lose their nominal meaning. Thus He is in bed may mean He is ill, or He is asleep, or He is not up. But we say: There were no chairs enough and we sat on the bed.