The use of the indefinite article with class nouns.
The Genitive (Possessive) Case
The possessive case represents in Modern English the Old English genitive case but it is much narrower in its meaning and function. In Modern English the use of the possessive case is restricted chiefly to nouns denoting living beings and its syntactical function is exclusively that of an attribute:
The Blind Girl, greatly agitated, rose, and led the Carrier’s little wife
aside. (Dickens)
With nouns denoting inanimate things and abstract notions the possessive case relation is rendered in English by of-phrase (which then is an equivalent of the possessive case):
…the first light of the winter dawn crept round the edges of the blinds. (Shaw) The door of his room was open… (Galsworthy)
1. The possessive case is formed by adding -'s (the apostrophe s) to the noun in the singular and only ' (the apostrophe)-to plural forms ending in -s.
singular: a girl's book
plural: a girls' school
Note 1. Nouns forming the plural by changing the root vowel take the apostrophe both in the singular and in the plural:
singular: a man's hat
plural: men's hats
Note 2. Nouns ending in -s form the genitive case in two ways:
Dickens' novels,
Dickens's novels.
Note 3. Sometimes the apostrophe s may refer to a whole group of words (the group-genitive):
This is Jane and Mary's room.
The last word of the group need not even be a noun:
I shall be back in an h our or two's time.
As to its use the genitive case falls under:
(A) The Dependent Genitive (Possessive)
(B) The Absolute Genitive (Possessive)
The Dependent Genitive (Possessive) is used with the noun it modifies and comes before it.
The Absolute Genitive (Possessive) may be used without any noun or be separated from the noun it modifies.
A. The Dependent Genitive.
1. The chief meaning of the genitive (possessive) case is that of possession:
… a young man and a girl came out of the solicitor's office.
(Braine)
He stayed at Fanny's flat. ( Aldington )
2. Very close to the meaning of possession is that of a part to a whole:
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A faint smile had come on Victorine's face - she was adding up
the money she might earn. (Galsworthy)
3. The Dependent Genitive (Possessive) may express the doer of an action (the so-called subjective genitive) or show that some person is the object of the action (the so-called objective genitive):
It was Tom's step, then, that Maggie heard on the steps. (Eliot)
4. The noun in the genitive (possessive) case may denote qualitative relations:
He looked ever so much smarter in his new officer's clothes with
the little blue chevron... (Aldington)
The genitive (possessive) case of nouns expressing time, distance and weight is widely used.
From the depot he was sent to the officers' training camp with two days' leave. (Aldington)
The genitive (possessive) case is used in some set expressions: for heaven's (God's) sake; to one's heart's delight; at one's wit's end; a stone's throw); a hair's breadth etc.
When Saturday came round I was at my wit’s end. (Cronin)
The genitive (possessive) case is often used with the nouns town, city, country, river, water, ocean, wind, world etc.
And the wind’s rustle was so gentle…(Galsworthy)
B. The Absolute Genitive.
1. The Absolute Genitive may be used anaphorically. If the noun, which is modified by the possessive case, has already been mentioned and is clear from the context, it may be omitted.
Mrs. Moss's face bore a faded resemblance to her brother's. (Eliot).
The face Michael drew began by being Victorine's and ended by being
Fleur's. (Galsworthy.)
2. The Absolute Genitive may have local meaning: the stationer's, the baker's, the tobacconist's, my uncle's etc.
On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at the baker's. (Mansfield)
The Absolute Genitive may be introduced by the preposition of.
She is a relation of the Colonel's. (Austen)
5. According to their morphological composition we distinguish simple, derivative and compound nouns.
1. Simple nouns are nouns, which have neither prefixes nor suffixes. They are indecomposable: chair, table, room, map, fish, work etc.
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2. Derivative nouns are nouns, which have derivative elements (prefixes or suffixes or both): reader, sailor, blackness, childhood, misconduct, inexperience etc.
3. Compound nouns are nouns built from two or more stems. Compound nouns often have one stress. The meaning of a compound often differs from the meanings of its elements. The main types of compound nouns are as follows:
(a) noun-stem + noun-stem: a pple-tree, snowball;
(b) adjective-stem + noun-stem: blackbird, bluebell;
(c) verb-stem + noun-stem: pickpocket; the stem of a gerund or of a participle may be the first component of a compound noun: dining room, reading-hall, dancing-girl.
The Classification of nouns.
Nouns fall under two classes:
(A) Proper nouns; (B) Common nouns.
A. Proper nouns are individual names given to separate persons or things. As regards their meaning proper nouns may be personal names, (Mary, Peter, Shakespeare), geographical names (Moscow, London, the Caucasus), the names of the months and of the days of the week (February, Monday), names of ships, hotels, clubs etc.
A large number of nouns now proper were originally common nouns (Brown, Smith, Mason).
B. Common nouns are names that can be applied to any individual of a class of persons or things (e.g. man, dog, book), collections of similar individuals or things regarded as a single unit (e. g. peasantry, family), materials (e. g. snow, iron, cotton) or abstract notions (e.g. kindness, development).
Thus there are different groups of common nouns:
1) class nouns,
2) collective nouns,
3) nouns of material
4) abstract nouns.
2. Class nouns denote persons or things belonging to a class. They are countable and have two numbers: singular and plural. They are generally used with an article.
He goes to the part of the town where the shops are. (Lessing)
2. Collective nouns denote a number or collection of similar individuals or things regarded as a single unit. Collective nouns fall under the following groups:
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(a) Nouns used only in the singular and denoting a number of things collected together and regarded as a single object: foliage, machinery.
It was not restful, that green foliage. (London)
(b) Nouns, which are singular in form though plural in meaning: police, poultry, cattle, people, gentry etc. They are usually called nouns of multitude. When the subject of the sentence is a noun of multitude the verb used as predicate is in the plural:
I had no idea the police were so devilishly prudent … (Shaw)
(c) Nouns that may be both singular and plural: family, crowd, fleet, nation etc. We can think of a number of crowds, fleets or different nations as well as of a single crowd, fleet, etc.
A small crowd is lined up to see the guests arrive. (Shaw)
3. Nouns of material denote material: iron, gold, paper, tea, water. They are uncountable and are generally used without any article.
There was coffee still in the urn. (Wells)
4. Abstract nouns denote some quality, state, action or idea: kindness, sadness, fight etc. They are usually uncountable, though some of them may be countable (e. g. idea, hour).
It's these people with fixed ideas. (Galsworthy)
Abstract nouns may change their meaning and become class nouns. This change is marked by the use of the article and of the plural number:
beauty - a beauty - beauties
sight - a sight - sights
He was responsive to beauty and here was cause to respond. (London)
6. Thearticlesbelongtoasyntacticclassofwordscalled determiners, whichmodifyanoun.
The use of the indefinite article with class nouns.
Class nouns are used with the indefinite article:
1. When the speaker presents the object expressed by the noun as belonging to a certain class. In this case the indefinite article has the meaning of “какой-нибудь, какой-то, один” (in the meaning of «некий»).
She has a watch of her own.
In the plural no article is used in this case. If the idea of number is implied the noun is preceded by the pronoun some.
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Iliked the room because there were flowers in it.
"I have brought you some flowers..." "I hate to wear flowers." (Voynich)
2. With a predicative noun, when the speaker states that the object denoted by the noun belongs to a certain class.
Miss Sharp's father was an artist. (Thackeray)
3. When the noun is used in a general sense. What is said of one representative of a class can be applied to all the representatives of the class. The article has the meaning of “every”.
A drowning man catches at a straw.
In the plural neither the article nor the pronoun some isused.
Real friends should have everything in common. (Wilde)
4. There are cases when the indefinite article preserves its old original meaning of “one”.
A stitch in time saves nine.
He had hardly spoken a word since they left Richard’s door ... (Voynich)
This meaning is generally found with:
(a) Nouns denoting time, measure and weight.
A week or two passed. (Ch. Bronte)
(b) The numerals hundred, thousand, million and the nouns dozen, score.
He seems to have half a dozen languages at his fingertips. (Voynich)
Class nouns are used with the definite article:
1. When the noun denotes an object or objects which the speaker singles out from all the objects of a given class. An object is singled out in the following cases:
(a) When the speaker and the hearer know what particular object is meant. No special indication is necessary.
How did you like the play?
Nо t е. It should be borne in mind that there is a difference between knowing what object is spoken about and knowing the object itself.
I. A. I do not care to speak to the girl. I have never seen her.
Won't you speak to her?
B. But I do not know the girl either.
2. When the noun denotes a thing unique (the sun, the moon, the universe) or a class.
The sun was getting warmer. (Abrahams)
The bourgeoisie is cowardly. (London)
1. With nouns used in a generic sense.
A noun used in a generic sense denotes a genus taken as a whole, a thing taken as a type, a genre.
The tiger has always had the reputation of being a man-eater.
The telephone was invented in the 19th century.
The definite article is used when a noun is modified by an attribute, which shows that a particular object is meant i. e. by an attribute, which might be called a particularizing attribute.
The definite article is used when a noun is modified by an attribute, which shows that a particular object is meant i. e. by an attribute, which might be called a particularizing attribute.
The definite article is used:
(1) With nouns modified by adjectives in the superlative degree.
Miss Tox had the softest voice that ever was heard. (Dickens)
(2) With nouns in word-groups the first component of which is some, many, none, most and the second a noun with the preposition of.
Most of the gentlemen looked both angry and uncomfortable. ( Voynich )
(3) With nouns modified by the pronoun the same and the adjectives wrong (не тот), right (тот), very (именно тот, тот самый).
At all invitations he replied with the same courteous and positive refusal. (Voynich )
(4) With substantivized adjectives and participles.
Only the simple and the humble were abroad at that early hour (Bennett)
7. 1. Collective nouns used in general sentence without any article.
2. the situation make them definite.
3. social and political groups with the definite article ( the public, the police).
8. With nouns of material used in a general sense, when a certain material as such is meant, no article is used.
Honey is wholesome.
On hearing what had happened, she (Katie) ran for warm water ... (Voynich)
When a definite part of the substance is meant (when the noun is modified by a particularizing attribute or is made definite by the situation), the definite article is used.
Pettinger gulped down a glass of t he sherry, which Cornelius had finally brought. ( Heym )
When an indefinite part of the substance is meant, some is used.
We took some bread and cheese with us, and got some goat's milk up there on the pasture. (Voynich)
When abstract nouns are used in a general sense, no article is used.
While there is life there is hope.
When abstract nouns are modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes the idea definite modifies abstract nouns, they are used with the definite article.
Last night I heard Carmen and enjoyed the music.
Note 1. It should be borne in mind that abstract nouns modified by an attribute in pre-position are used without articles unless particularizing attributes modifies them: English literature, Russian art, Italian music etc.
Note 2. The abstract noun weather is never used with the indefinite article.
What fine weather!
It is burning weather. (Ch. Bronte)
Abstract nouns can be used with the indefinite article; in this case the abstract now denotes a certain kind (оттенок) of a quality, feeling, state, etc. The noun nearly always has a descriptive attribute.
How clever you are, Mr. Hopper. You have a cleverness quite of your own. (Wilde)
The indefinite article is used with the nouns period, population, distance, height, salary etc. followed by of +numeral + noun.
Simpson was out of the city for a period of ten days. (Dreiser)
9. 1. Names of persons are used without articles.
Sarie looked at Lanny and Celia. (Abrahams)
2. Names denoting the whole family are used with the definite article.
The Dashwoods were now settled at Berton. (Austen)
3. When names of persons are used to denote a representative of a family, the indefinite article is used.
“Florence will never, never, never be a Dombey,” said Mrs. Chick. (Dickens)
4. Names of persons modified by a particularizing attribute are used with the definite article.
You're not the Andrew Manson I married. (Cronin)
5. Names of persons used as common nouns take the article according to the general rule on the use of articles.
Swithin smiled and nodding at Bosinney said, "Why, you are quite a Monte Cristo." (Galsworthy)
6. Nouns denoting military ranks and titles such as academician, professor, doctor (both a profession and a title), count, lord, etc. followed by names of persons do not take the article.
In such cases only the proper noun is stressed: Colonel' Brown, Doctor' Strong.
7. Nouns expressing relationship followed by names of persons do not take the article: Aunt Polly, Uncle James.
She turned to Cousin Clixam. (Bennett)
8. The use of articles with names of persons modified by adjectives is varied.
In most cases no article is used with names of persons modified by the adjectives old, young, poor, dear, little, honest, lazy.
... she is the widow of poor Giovanni Bolla ... ( Voynich )
He saw that old Chapin wanted to moralize a little. (Dreiser)
9. Names of persons modified by the adjective certain are used with the indefinite article.
I heard it from a certain Mr. Brown.
10. The following geographical names are used without articles:
1. Names of continents:
Africa, Antarctica, America, Asia, Australia, Europe
But: the Arctic, the Antarctic, as they denote the regions round the north and south poles.
2. Names of countries, counties, provinces, states:
France, Italy, Texas, Wisconsin, Devonshire, Scotland
Note 1. Some names of countries, counties, etc. require the definite article; some other names can be used with or without the definite article: (the) Congo, (the) Lebanon, (the) Senegal, the Ruhr, the Saar, the Ukraine, the Crimea etc.
Note 2. Names of states consisting of word groups are used with the definite article:
the United States of America (the USA), the UK.
3. Names of cities, towns, villages:
London, New York, Stradford-on-Avon
Note: The only exception is the Hague
4. Names of mountain peaks, islands:
Elbrus, Mount Everest, Cyprus, Man, Java
5. Names of lakes:
Lake Michigan, Lake Baikal BUT: the Michigan, the Baikal
6. Names of waterfalls:
Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls
7. Names of bays:
Hudson Bay
8. Names of peninsulas and capes:
Hindustan, Labrador, Cape Horn
Other geographical names take the definite article.
These are:
1. Names of seas, oceans, rivers, straits, canals:
The Atlantic (ocean), the Mediterranean (Sea), the Thames, the Mississippi, the Bering Strait, the Suez Canal, the English Channel
2. Names of mountain chains and groups of islands:
the Alps, the Rocky Mountains, the Hawaii, the Bermudas
3. Names of deserts:
the Sahara, the Gobi
4. Names of mountain passes:
the Saint Gotthard Pass
5. Geographical names having the plural form:
the Midlands, the Netherlands, the Yorkshire Forests , the Netherlands
Names of streets and squares are used without articles: Oxford Street , Wall Street, Trafalgar Square, Russell Square. There are a few exceptions: the High Street, the Strand, the Red Square.
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