Exercise 2. Insert articles where necessary. Comment on their functions.

1. The sun was setting over __ Santa Monica Bay, __ heavy orange ball against __ pale blue sky, red light reflecting back off the ocean’s glassy surface. (H. Fielding)

2. Julia spent __ happy morning in__ bed reading __ Sunday papers. She read first __ theatrical news, then __ gossip columns, after that __ women’s pages, and finally cast __ eye over __ headlines of __ world’s news. (W.S. Maugham)

3. I entered __ nobleman’s cadet school when I was a kid, my father was __ general under __ Czar and I was __ cavalry officer in __ last war. I couldn’t stand Pilsudski. We arranged to kill him, but someone gave us away. He shot those of us he caught. I managed to get across the frontier just in time. There was nothing for me but __ Foreign Legion or __ coal mine. I chose __ lesser of two evils. (W.S. Maugham)

4. The notion suited her and we fixed __ day. But when __ day came __ weather, which had been fine and warm, broke; __ sky was grey and __ drizzling rain was falling. I called up and asked her if she wouldn’t prefer to lunch in__ town. (W.S. Maugham)

5. Arabia is the land of __ nomad. The land of __ Bedouin: __ gracious, __ hospitable, __ simple and __ spiritual. __ Western man with his lust for progress sees nothing but __ future, destroying the world in his blind pursuit of __ novelty and __ wealth. (H. Fielding)

6. Deborah Marie Phillips, __ daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Reed Andrew Phillips of Lansing, was married last week to Michael Bourke, __ son of Dr. and Mrs. Reginald Bourke of Chappaqua, New York. __ Rev. James Smith performed __ ceremony at __ Roman Catholic Church of Saint Anthony in Lansing. (M. Gabot)

7. In __ summer, the tourists would arrive at __ Glace Bay. They came in their expensive cars, wearing beautiful clothes, and shopped along __ Castle Street and dined at __ Cedar House and at __ Jasper’s, and they visited __ Ingonish Beach and __Cape Smoky and __ Bird Islands. (S. Sheldon)

8. This turned out to be __ Honorable Thornton Hancock, of Boston, __ ex-minister to __ Hague, __ author of __ erudite history of __ Middle Ages and __ last of __ distinguished, patriotic, and brilliant family. (F. Sc. Fitzgerald)

9. __ pale sun was fighting its way through the clouds. She suddenly realized it was __ dawn. (S. Sheldon)

10. __ following afternoon, as __ young Ivo was returning from__ town, he saw half a dozen men ride up to his father’s farm. (S. Sheldon)

11. Ronald Reagan was elected __ President of the United States and __ Wall Street had the busiest day in its history. (S. Sheldon)

12. When Lara arrived at the lobby of __ Claridge’s, Ronald Jones, __ manager, was there to greet her. (S. Sheldon)

13. There was another loud round of applause from __ audience. __ man was taking his place at __ piano at centre stage. __ conductor gave a down-beat and __ music began. (S. Sheldon)

14. I got __ word that one of the hotels is going to lose its license. The place is a gold mine. When __ news gets out, everyone is going to be after it. (S. Sheldon)

15. “There is going to be __ charity dinner at __ Waldorf on __ Saturday evening.” (S. Sheldon)

16. They landed at __ Marco Polo Airport in Venice thirty-five minutes later, where __ limousine waited to drive them the short distance to the dock. From the dock they would take a motorboat to __ island of Giudecca, where __ Cipriani Hotel was located. (S. Sheldon)

17. They had __ leisurely dinner at a small bistro, and stopped at a wine tavern in Grinzing. Afterward, Philip said, “Would you like to go for __ cruise on __ Danube?” (S. Sheldon)

18. That was the moment when __ fictitious Rhys Williams was born. __ real Rhys Williams was __ uneducated, ignorant boy with no background, no breeding, no past, no future. But he had __ imagination, __ intelligence and __ fiery ambition. (S. Sheldon)

19. Every night, as soon as Walther was asleep, Anna would slip out of __ bed and creep into the nursery, ad sit and stare at the children until __ dawn started filtering into the room. Then she would turn and hurry back to __ bed before Walther awoke. (S. Sheldon)

20. He realized that Vivian was wrong for him, that it was out of the question for him to marry her. He was __ baronet, __ respected Member of Parliament, with __ brilliant future. He was part of __ Roffe dynasty, on the board of directors of the company. (S. Sheldon)

21. Outside, __ sky was gray and bleak, a foretaste of __ winter to come. (S. Sheldon)

22. __ iron shutters had been closed against __ late September sun, and __ draperies were drawn. (S. Sheldon)

23. Primrose lay in __ bed with __ curtains open, waiting for __ silver dawn to become __ broad day. __ quiet had woken her. (K. Saunders)

24. Hearing __ echo of Daphne’s lecture about __ true love, Lily stubbornly fixed her mind on __ present. (K. Saunders)

25. There was __ long silence, stretching into minutes, as __ past surged into __ present, and flavoured it poignantly with __ remembered happiness. (K. Saunders)

26. When I woke __ next morning, just after six o’clock, and got up and went to the window there was __ foggy dew upon __ grass like __ frost, and __ trees were shrouded in __ white mist. There was __ chill in __ air and __ little, fresh wind, and __ cold, quiet smell of__ autumn. (D. du Maurier)

27. But then I happened to make __ somewhat startling success as __ playwright, and presently I became aware that Elliot regarded me with __ warmer feeling. (W.S. Maugham)

28. Her high principles led her to believe that __ man’s duty was to go to work in __ business where by __ energy and __ initiative he had __ chance of earning enough money to keep his wife and family in accordance with the standards of his station, give his sons such __ education as would enable them on reaching __ man’s estate to make __ honest living, and on his death leave his widow adequately provided for. (W.S. Maugham)

29. She was a subscriber for all __ “Health” periodicals and phrenological frauds; and __ solemn ignorance they were inflated with was __ breath to her nostrils. (M. Twain)

30. It was __ misty afternoon, but __ February sun shone dimly, and we could just distinguish __ two fir-trees in __ yard, and __ sparely scattered grave-stones. __ spring advanced, yet my master gathered no real strength. (E. Bronte)

31. __ feelings of __ man hereditarily sensitive to property accused her of __trespassing impudence.

32. The capricious creature probably wanted __ whipping to bring her to __ understanding of __ principle called mastery, which is in __ man.

33. She even loved arithmetic and geography, __ English history and __ French grammar, which Judith had arranged that she should imbibe along with __ little Carters, from __ little Carters’ formidable governess. (A. Huxley)

34. James was now become __ young man, having had the benefits of __ university education, and acquired __ inestimable polish which is gained by living in __ fast set at __ small college, and contracting debts, and being rusticated and being plucked.

35. Possibly the lot of __ millionaire is more genuinely pitiable, since he is deluded by the solace of false and fleering pleasures, while there may be __ compulsory wisdom contained in the destitution of __ peasant.

36. When __ Countess Dowager of Southdown fell foul of __ Corsican upstart … and showed that he was a coward and a tyrant not fit to live, one whose fall was predicted, etc., Pitt Crawley suddenly took up the cudgels in favor of __ Man of __ Destiny. He described __ First Consul as he saw him at Paris at the piece of Amiens, when he, Pitt Crawley, had __ gratification of making __ acquaintance of __ great and good Mr. Fox, __ statesman … who had always had __ highest opinion of __ Emperor Napoleon. (W.M. Thackeray)

37. What is there in a pair of pink cheeks and blue eyes forsooth? These dear moralists ask and hint wisely that __ gifts of genius, __ accomplishments of __ mind, __ mastery of Mangnall’s Questions, and __ lady-like knowledge of botany and geology … are far more valuable endowments for __ female than those fugitive charms which __ few years will inevitably tarnish. (W.M. Thackeray)

38. __ full moon … hang high in the sky, among __ silver dust of stars and was bosom in __ mysterious depths of __ dark water beneath.

39. They had turned aside from the high-road to sleep at a quiet village near __ falls of __ Diosaz, and, __ sun being already low in __ cloudless sky, had mounted a point of pine-clad rock to wait for __ Alpine glow over the dome and needles of __ Mont Blanc chain.

40. … now the three sat like over-oiled machines, … heavily enamelled little figures secure beyond enjoyment in __ world where __ death and __ war, __ dull emotion and __ noble savagery were covering __ continent with __ smoke of __ terror.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 897