The use of articles with place names.

ARTICLES WITH THE NOUNS SCHOOL, COLLEGE, PRISON, JAIL, CHURCH, HOSPITAL

These nouns are used without any article when the general idea of these places is meant, i.e. the purpose they are used for. Thus we say A child goes to school, A student goes to university / college, A criminal goes to prison, etc.:

Ken's brother is in prison for robbing, [he is a prisoner] Two people were injured in the accident and were taken to hospital, [as patients]

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

1. Names of continents, countries, states, cities, and towns

are normally used without articles. No article is used either

when they have premodifying adjectives describing them from

a geographical or historical point of view:

(North) America (modern) France

(South) Africa (old) England

(Central) Australia (ancient) Rome

(Medieval) Europe (industrial) Staffordshire

2. Some names of countries, provinces and cities are

traditionally used with the definite article:

the Antarctic the Crimea

the Arctic the Hague

the Argentine (but Argentina) the Netherlands

the Caucasus the Riviera

(the) Congo the Ruhr

3. Geographical names modified by particularizing attributes

(a limiting o/-phrase or a restrictive attributive clause) are

used with the definite article:

Did he quite understand the England of today?

The Philadelphia into which Frank Cowperwood was born

was a city of two hundred and fifty thousand and more.

This is the booming, rapidly expanding London of the 1860's.

4. The indefinite article is found when a geographical name is

modified by a descriptive attribute bringing out a certain aspect:

You haven't come to a very cheerful England.

5. Names of oceans, seas, rivers and lakes usually take the

definite article:

the Atlantic (Ocean) the Mediterranean Sea

the Pacific (Ocean) the Black Sea

the Indian Ocean the Red Sea

No article is used when names of lakes are preceded by the noun lake.

Lake Baikal, Lake Ontario, Lake Ladoga

6. Names of deserts are generally used with the definite

article: the Sahara, the Gobi, the Kara-Kum.

7. Names of mountain chains and group of islands are used

with the definite article: the Alps, the Andes, the Urals, The

Bermudas, the Canaries, the West Indies, etc.

8. Names of mountain peaks and separate islands are used

without articles: Elbrus, Everest, Mont Blanc, Madagascar, Sicily.

9. Note the pattern the + common noun + of + proper

noun in: the Cape of Good Hope, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf

of Finland, the City of New York, the Bay of Biscay, the Lake

of Geneva, etc.

10. Names of universities where the first part is a place-

name usually have two forms: the University of London (which

is the official name) and London University. Universities named

after a person have only the latter form: Yale University, Brown

University.

MISCELLANEOUS PROPER NAMES

1. Names of streets and parks are generally used without

articles:

Oxford Street, Regent Street, Fifth Avenue, 42nd Street, Pall

Mall, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, Russel Square, Piccadilly Circus, Hyde Park, Central Park. Names of some streets are traditionally used with the definite article:

the Strand, the High Street, the Mall Names of locations and buildings that are used to refer metaphorically to political institutions stay as they are: Whitehall, Downing Street, Westminster 2. Names of theatres, museums, picture galleries, concert

halls, cinemas, clubs and hotels tend to be used with the definite

article:

the Bolshoi Theatre, the Opera House, the Coliseum Theatre; the British Museum.

the Festival Hall, the Albert Hall, the National Liberal Club, the Rotary Club; the Ambassador Hotel, the Continental Hotel, the Savoy, the Ritz.

3. Some grammarians point out a growing tendency not to

use articles with names of airports and railway stations:

London Airport, Moscow Airport, Victoria Station

4. Names of ships and boats are used with the definite

article:

the Titanic, the Sedov

5. Names of newspapers in English are generally used with

the definite article: The Times, The Guardian. But: Today.

Names of magazines and periodicals are used with no article:

Newsweek But: The Spectator

6. Names of territories consisting of a word combination in

which the last word is a common noun are generally used with

the definite article:

the Lake District, the Yorkshire Forests, etc.

7. Names of well-known organizations are typically used

with the definite article, which they keep when they are

abbreviated:

the United Nations (the UN), the BBC, the Labour Party,

the FBI, theEU

If the abbreviation is pronounced as a word, there is no article:

NATO, ['neitou], UNICEF ['ju:nisef] Businesses and chains of shops are referred to with no article:

General Motors, Sony, Woolworths, Shell, Nissan, Singapore

Airlines

If a word like company is used, then the definite article often occurs:

the Bell Telephone Company

8. Names of most political or government bodies and

institutions have the definite article: the House of Commons,

11. Syntactic application of the article.

The use of articles depends on the syntactic function of a noun in the sentence.

1. A noun in the subject position is usually preceded by the definite article in its specifying function, or by either of the articles in their generic function. In these cases the noun denotes some notion forming the starting point of the utterance and therefore is presented as known to both the speaker and the addressee.

The way was long. The wind was cold.

The indefinite article in its classifying function occurs to express the item of novelty or unexpectedness, no matter what the position of the subject is:

On the opposite side of the landing a girl was standing. A girl was standing on the opposite side of the landing.

A similar use of the indefinite article occurs in sentences with the existential construction

There is /comes / appears, as in:

There is an exception to the rule.

2. With the noun functioning as an object any article can

be used depending on how the speaker formulates his thought,

the indefinite article is preferable after verbs of possession

and obligatory in verb-object phrases denoting a single action

such as to have a smoke, to give a look, etc.

3. The use of the article with nouns in the function of an

adverbial modifier depends partly on the type of adverbial

modifier.

In adverbial modifiers of place the definite article is used in its specifying function to identify the exact place.

Jane is in the garden.

The indefinite article in its classifying function is preferable when the attention is focused on a description of the place rather than on its identification.

Crystal lives alone in a small shabby house. In adverbial modifiers of comparison the indefinite article is preferably used in its classifying function with the generic tinge since comparison is drawn with a representation of the class: as strong as a lion, as weak as a mouse.

4. In attributes the indefinite article is used to emphasize

the importance and novelty of the noun mentioned. Therefore

we find the indefinite article in such phrases as the son of a

teacher, a doctor's daughter. While She is the daughter of the

doctor suggests reference to a definite person.

5. Predicative and appositive nouns are used:

• With the classifying indefinite article which shows that the speaker is characterizing a person, object or event as a specimen of a certain class of thing. With plural nouns no article is used:

She is really an excellent creature — but a complete fool, as

I said.

• If there is a limiting modifier, predicative and appositive

nouns are used with the definite article:

He is the only person here with medical knowledge. Across from him sat Delaney, the producer of the picture.

• If predicative and appositive nouns denote the position

(rank, state, post or occupation) which is unique, i.e. can be

occupied by one person at a time, either no article or the definite

article is used:

Doris was secretary to a Member of Parliament. His ideal was professor Edward Edwards, head of the

• Variants are possible with predicative nouns after the

verbs to appoint, to choose and some others. Cf:

They appointed him a member of the delegation.

They appointed him secretary of the new committee.

Note the absence of article in set expressions with the verb to turn: to turn traitor, to turn miser, to turn pirate.

• The nouns son and daughter used predicatively and

appositively generally take the definite article when modified

by an of-phrase if they express mere relationship:

She is the daughter of a doctor.

If the speaker wants to emphasize the idea that there are several sons and daughters in the family, the indefinite article is used.

She is a daughter of a doctor.

When the stress is laid on the social position of the person in question, no article is used:

She is daughter of a doctor.

• No article is used in structures with enough where

predicative nouns acquire an adjectival character, denoting a

certain characteristic of the person in question:

Surely Bolla isn't fool enough to believe that sort of stuff?

• The article is also omitted when predicative nouns are

used in clauses of concession with inverted word order:

Child as he was, his judgment was sound.

• If the appositive noun denotes a well-known person or

work of art the definite article is generally used .

John Galsworthy, the famous English writer, was of a Devonshire family.

But if the person or work of art is not widely known, the indefinite article is used.

'Pericles', a comedy by Shakespeare, is hardly ever staged.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2960