The Journey from Childhood to Adulthood

I. Common expressions without articles

In some common fixed expressions to do with place, time and movement, normally countable nouns are treated as uncountables, without articles.

Examples are:

to school

at school

in school (US)

from school

to/at/from university/college (GB)

to/in/from college (US)

to/at/in/into/from church

to/in/into/out of bed/prison

to/in/into/out of hospital (GB)

to/at/from work

to/at sea to/in/from town

at/from home leave home

leave/start/enter school/university/college

by day

at night

by car/bus/bicycle/plane/train/tube/boat

on foot

by radio/phone/letter/mail

With place nouns, similar expressions with articles may have different meanings.

E.g. Compare:

- I met her at college (when we were students)

I'll meet you at the college. (The college is just a meeting place.)

- Jane's in hospital, (as a patient)

I left my coat in the hospital when I was visiting Jane.

- Who smokes in class? {=... in the classroom ?)

Who smokes in the class? (= Who is a smoker...?)

In American English, university and hospital are not used without articles.

E.g. She was unhappy at the university.

II. Double expressions

Articles are often dropped in double expressions, particularly with prepositions.

with knife and fork

on land and sea

day after day

with hat and coat

arm in arm

husband and wife

from top to bottom

inch by inch

But articles are not usually dropped when single nouns follow prepositions.

E.g. You can't get there without a car. (NOT ... without car.)

III. ‘s genitives

A noun that is used after an 's genitive (like John's, America's) has no article.

E.g. the coat that belongs to John = John's coat

(NOT John's the coat OR the John's coat)

the economic problems of America = America's economic problems

(NOT the America's economic problems)

But the genitive noun itself may have an article.

E.g. the wife of the boss = the boss's wife

VI. the... of a...

In classifying expressions of this kind, the first article is definite even if the meaning of the whole expression is indefinite.

E.g. Lying by the side of the road we saw the wheel of a car.

(NOT ... a wheel of a car.)

V. noun modifiers

When a noun modifies another noun, the first noun's article is dropped.

E.g. guitar lessons - lessons in how to play the guitar

(NOT the guitar lessons)

a sunspot - a spot on the sun

VI. both and all

We often leave out the after both.

E.g. Both (the) children are good at maths.

And we often leave out the between all and a number.

E.g. All (the) three brothers were arrested.

We usually leave out the after all in all day, all night, all week, all year, all winter and all summer.

E.g. We've been waiting to hear from you all week.

I haven't seen her all day.

VII kind of etc

We usually leave out a/an after kind of, sort of, type of and similar expressions.

E.g. What kind of (a) person is she?

Have you got a cheaper sort of radio?

They've developed a new variety of sheep.

VIII. amount and number

The is dropped after the amount/number of.

E.g. I was surprised at the amount of money collected.

The number of unemployed is rising steadily.

IX. man and woman

Unlike other singular countable nouns, man and woman can be used in a general sense without articles.

E.g. Man and woman were created equal.

But in modern English we more often use a woman and a man, or men and women.

E.g. A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle, (old feminist joke)

Men and women have similar abilities and needs.

Man is also commonly used to mean 'the human race', though many people regard this usage as sexist and prefer to avoid it.

How did Man first discover fire?

X. days, months and seasons

We use articles with the names of days of the week and months when we are talking about particular days or months.

E.g. We met on a wet Monday in June.

She died on the Tuesday after the accident.

But articles are not used when the meaning is 'the day/month before or after this one'.

E.g. See you on Thursday. See you in April.

Where were you last Saturday? We're moving next September.

To talk about the seasons in general, we can say spring or the spring, summer or the summer, etc. There is little difference. The is always used in in the fall (US).

E.g. Rome is lovely in (the) spring.

I like (the) winter best.

When we are talking about particular springs, summers etc, we are more likely to use the.

E.g. I worked very hard in the summer that year.

XI. musical instruments

We often use the + singular when we talk about musical instruments in general, or about playing musical instruments.

E.g. The violin is really difficult.

Who's that on the piano?

But the is often dropped when talking about jazz or pop, and sometimes when talking about classical music.

E.g. This recording was made with Miles Davis on trumpet.

She studied oboe and saxophone at the Royal Academy of Music.

XII. television, (the) radio, (the) cinema and (the) theatre

When we talk about television as a form of entertainment, we do not use articles.

E.g. It's not easy to write plays for television.

Would you rather go out or watch TV?

But articles are used when television means 'a television set'. Compare:

E.g. What's on TV?

Look out! The cat's on the TV!

Articles are generally used with radio, cinema and theatre.

E.g. I always listen to the radio while I'm driving.

It was a great treat to go to the cinema or the theatre when I was a child.

But the article can be dropped when we talk about these institutions as art forms or professions.

E.g. Cinema is different from theatre in several ways.

He's worked in radio all his life.

XIII. jobs and positions

We normally use a/an when we say what job somebody has.

E.g. She's an architect, (NOT She's architect.)

The is not used in titles like Queen Elizabeth, President Lincoln. Compare:

E.g. Queen Elizabeth had dinner with President Kennedy.

The Queen had dinner with the President.

And the is not usually used in the complement of a sentence, when we say that somebody has or gains a unique position (the only one in the organisation).

E.g. Compare:

- They appointed him Head Librarian.

He's a librarian.

- He was elected President in 1879.

I want to see the President.

XIV. exclamations

We use a/an with singular countable nouns in exclamations after What.

E.g. What a lovely dress! (NOT What lovely dress!)

Note that a/an cannot be used in exclamations with uncountable nouns.

E.g. What nonsense! (NOT What a nonsense!)

What luck! (NOT What a luck!)

XV. illnesses

The names of illnesses are usually uncountable in standard British English.

The can be used informally before the names of some common illnesses such as the measles, the flu; others have no article.

American usage is different in some cases.

E.g. I think I've got (the) measles.

Have you had appendicitis?

I'm getting toothache. (US ...a toothache.)

Exceptions: a cold, a headache (US also an earache, a backache).

I've got a horrible cold.

Have you got a headache?

XVI. parts of the body etc

When talking about parts of someone's body, or about their possessions, we usually use possessives, not the.

E.g. Katy broke her arm climbing, (NOT Katy broke the arm climbing.)

He stood in the doorway, his coat over his arm.

(NOT ... the coat over the arm.)

However, when talking about parts of the body we generally prefer the in prepositional phrases related to the object of a clause (or the subject of a passive clause).

E.g. She hit him in the stomach.

Can't you look me in the eye?

He was shot in the leg.

This can also happen in prepositional phrases after be + adjective.

E.g. He's broad across the shoulders.

XVII. measurements

Note the use of the in measuring expressions beginning with by.

E.g. Do you sell eggs by the kilo or by the dozen?

She drinks cough medicine by the litre.

He sits watching TV by the hour. Can I pay by the month?

A/an is used to relate one measuring unit to another.

E.g. sixty pence a kilo thirty miles an hour {OR ... miles per hour)

twice a week, on average a third of a pint

XVIII. place names

We use the with these kinds of place names:

seas (the Atlantic)

mountain groups (the Himalayas)

island groups {the West Indies)

rivers {the Rhine)

deserts {the Sahara)

most hotels (the Grand Hotel)

most cinemas and theatres (the Odeon; the Playhouse)

most museums and art galleries (the British Museum; the Frick)

We usually use no article with:

continents, countries, states, counties, departments etc (Africa, Brazil, Texas, Berkshire, Westphalia)

towns (Oxford)

streets (New Street, Willow Road)

lakes (Lake Michigan)

Exceptions: places whose name is (or contains) a common noun like republic, state, union (e.g. the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States). Note also the Netherlands, and its seat of government The Hague.

In British English, the is unusual in the titles of the principal public buildings and organisations of a town.

Oxford University (NOT the Oxford University)

Hull Station (NOT the Hull Station)

Salisbury Cathedral

Birmingham Airport

Bristol Zoo

Manchester City Council

Cheltenham Football Club

In American English, the is more often used in such cases.

The San Diego Zoo. The Detroit City Council

Names of single mountains vary. Most have no article.

Everest, Kilimanjaro

But definite articles are usually translated in the English versions of European mountain names, except those beginning LeMont.

The Meije (= La Meije), The Matterhorn (= Das Matterhorn)

XIX. newspapers and magazines

The names of newspapers usually have the.

The Times, The Washington Post

The names of magazines do not always have the.

New Scientist

XX. abbreviated styles

We usually leave out articles in abbreviated styles.

newspaper headlines MAN KILLED ON MOUNTAIN

headings

picture captions

notices, posters etc

instructions

numbering and

labelling

dictionary entries

lists

notes

Introduction

Chapter 2

Section В

Mother and child

SUPER CINEMA, RITZ HOTEL

Open packet at other end

Go through door A

Control to Car 27: can you hear me?

Turn to page 26. (NOT ... the page 26.)

The Journey from Childhood to Adulthood

By Bill Plotkin

The Importance and Limitations of Rites of Passage

Contemporary, Western society fails us during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Too many people reach their physical prime without ever attaining psychological maturity. Put plainly, in today’s world, growing up is hard to do.

One part of the problem, well documented and analyzed by now, is the loss of meaningful rites of passage at times such as puberty or high school graduation. But this neglect is not at all the biggest barrier to personal development.

A rite of passage, after all — even the most effective and brilliantly designed ceremony — rarely causes a shift from one distinct stage of life to the next. Much more often rites of passage only confirm or celebrate a life transition that has already (although recently) been achieved by the individual, accomplished through years of steady developmental progress.

What happens between life passages is considerably more important to the process of maturation than are the passages themselves (and their associated rites). The primary work of maturing takes place gradually every day as we apply ourselves to the developmental tasks of our current life stage. Children and adolescents need help with these tasks — help from mature adults. And that’s precisely where we are failing our youth.

In order to overcome our society’s impediments to maturation, we must first abandon the idea that the transition from childhood to adulthood takes place in one fell swoop. Between these two life stages lies the challenging adventure of adolescence. And although most all thirteen-year-olds have already turned the corner into adolescence, there’s no guarantee that a teenager will ever mature further, no matter how long he or she might live. The majority of Americans, for example, never do.

Getting older by itself does not cause us to mature psychologically. Adolescence is not at all confined to our teen years. And adulthood cannot be meaningfully defined as what happens in our twenties or when we fulfill certain responsibilities, such as holding down a job, financial independence, or raising a family. Rather, an adult is someone who understands why he is here on Earth, why he was born, and is offering his unique contribution to the more-than-human world.

Although it’s rare for Americans to reach true adulthood in their teen years, or even twenties, it’s entirely possible to do so in midlife.

A greatly complicating factor in the journey from childhood to adulthood is that there are two quite distinct stages of adolescence and a major life passage between them. The journey begins with the passage of puberty, continues through the years of early adolescence (which I call the stage of the Thespian at the Oasis), then transits through the passage I name Confirmation and into the very different stage of late adolescence (the Wanderer in the Cocoon). And finally, after several years of individuation in the Cocoon stage, we arrive at the passage of Soul Initiation, the commencement of early adulthood (the Soul Apprentice at the Wellspring).

What we call “growing up” is nothing like a single or sudden transition. Rather, it encompasses four separate life stages (starting with late childhood) and not just one major life passage, nor even two, but three. Given the complexity and temporal span of this sequence — and the lack of present-day understanding of it — it’s no wonder so many contemporary people never reach true adulthood.

In my new book, Nature and the Human Soul, I introduce a nature-based and soul-centered model of human development, portraying in detail the qualities of each of the eight healthy stages through which I believe we are designed to progress as humans. Here I want to focus on just two of these life stages — those of adolescence — and briefly describe only one dimension of each of these stages, namely the developmental task.

In the first half of adolescence, the task is to fashion a personality — a way of belonging to the human community — one that is both authentic and socially acceptable. This is much easier said than done, especially in our current egocentric, aggressively competitive, materialistic societies. But this accomplishment lays the foundation for all later maturation. Becoming authentic means to know who you really are — to know where you stand, what you value, what you desire, what you tolerate and what you don’t — and to be able and willing to act accordingly, most of the time, despite the social risks. Under the best circumstances, this takes several years to accomplish. In the contemporary world, many never succeed. But what makes early adolescence even more challenging is the second half of the task in this stage, namely, attaining social acceptability. To be a healthy adolescent, you need to belong to a real community. So the way in which you express your authenticity means everything. You must learn how to be true to yourself in a way that at least some of your peers embrace.

If and when you achieve a personality that is authentic enough and acceptable enough, then the enigma we call by such names as life, the world, spirit, or soul shifts your center of gravity from peer group to the mysteries of nature and psyche. This shift marks the passage I call Confirmation. A rite of passage at this time publicly confirms the fact that you’ve succeeded at fashioning a social presence that works well enough. It ushers you into late adolescence (the Cocoon), which is the stage when you begin to ask the big, existential and spiritual questions of life: Who am I beneath my social persona? What is life about, beyond learning a skill, getting a job, establishing a primary relationship, or raising a family? What unique, mystical gift do I bring to the more-than-human community? What, for me, is the difference between sex and romance, between survival and living, between a social network and true community, between school and real learning, between a job and soulwork?

After many years of living these questions, after many expeditions of wandering through the terrible and majestic mysteries of nature and psyche, you, at long last, receive a glimpse or overhear a whisper of the greater, truer story of your individual life or of “the truth at the center of the image you were born with,” as poet David Whyte says. In many traditional cultures and spiritual paths, such a glimpse is called a vision, a soul calling, or the intuition of destiny. Then, if and when you make the unequivocal commitment to embody that vision in your world for the benefit of all beings, then and only then do you traverse through the passage of Soul Initiation (with or without a rite) and into true adulthood (the Wellspring).

As much as anything, the world today needs mature mentors and initiators to support young people to grow into visionary artisans of cultural change, the new leaders who will guide humanity through the transformation that the greater Earth community wholly depends upon. Mentoring our youth to succeed at the developmental tasks of the two stages of adolescence is considerably more important than providing them with rites of passage that confirm their success.

But there’s no reason not to offer them both!

The language of Ayapaneco has been spoken in the land now known asMexico for centuries. It has survived the Spanish conquest, seen off wars, revolutions, famines and floods. But now, like so many other indigenous languages, it's at risk of extinction.

There are just two people left who can speak it fluently – but they refuse to talk to each other. Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, live 500 metres apart in the village of Ayapa in the tropical lowlands of the southern state of Tabasco. It is not clear whether there is a long-buried argument behind their mutual avoidance, but people who know them say they have never really enjoyed each other's company.

"They don't have a lot in common," says Daniel Suslak, a linguistic anthropologist from Indiana University, who is involved with a project to produce a dictionary of Ayapaneco. Segovia, he says, can be "a little prickly" and Velazquez, who is "more stoic," rarely likes to leave his home.

The dictionary is part of a race against time to revitalise the language before it is definitively too late. "When I was a boy everybody spoke it," Segovia told the Guardian by phone. "It's disappeared little by little, and now I suppose it might die with me."

Segovia, who denied any active animosity with Velazquez, retained the habit of speaking Ayapaneco by conversing with his brother until he died about a decade ago. Segovia still uses it with his son and wife who understand him, but cannot produce more than a few words themselves. Velazquez reputedly does not regularly talk to anybody in his native tongue anymore.

Suslak says Ayapaneco has always been a "linguistic island" surrounded by much stronger indigenous languages.

Its demise was sealed by the advent of education in Spanish in the mid 20th century, which for several decades included the explicit prohibition on indigenous children speaking anything else. Urbanisation and migration from the 1970s then ensured the break-up of the core group of speakers concentrated in the village. "It's a sad story," says Suslak, "but you have to be really impressed by how long it has hung around."

There are 68 different indigenous languages in Mexico, further subdivided into 364 variations. A handful of other Mexican indigenous languages are also in danger of extinction, though Ayapaneco is the most extreme case.

The name Ayapaneco is an imposition by outsiders, and Segovia and Velazquez call their language Nuumte Oote, which means the True Voice. They speak different versions of this truth and tend to disagree over details, which doesn't help their relationship. The dictionary, which is due out later this year, will contain both versions.

The National Indigenous Language Institute is also planning a last attempt to get classes going in which the last two surviving speakers can pass their knowledge on to other locals. Previous efforts have failed to take hold due to lack of funding and limited enthusiasm.

"I bought pencils and notebooks myself," Segovia complains. "The classes would start off full and then the pupils would stop coming."

Suslak says the language is particularly rich in what he calls sound symbolic expressions that often take their inspiration from nature, such as kolo-golo-nay, translated as "to gobble like a turkey".

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1216