2019-04-08 Grammar: articles, general/particular

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all classes
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Determiners - the first word of a noun phrase, determiners include:
- demonstratives: this/that/these/those, which/what
- possessives: my/your/the student’s/their, whose
- quantifiers: few/little/many/much/several, how many/how much
- articles: a/an/the

There is only one determiner per noun phrase.
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The choice of determiner depends on count or noncount, which depends on the situation, not just the word.

count: containers, types, animals
noncount: material, “filling”, meat
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Articles:
a/an - singular, countable, nonspecific
	a - before consonant sounds: a teacher, a student, a USB stick, a university, a one-way street
	an - before vowel sounds: an hour, an honest person, an honor, an mp3 player, an apple
some - plural countable OR uncountable, nonspecific, particular
∅ - plural countable OR uncountable, nonspecific, generic or particular
the - any kind of noun, specific
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generic nouns: general categories of things, concepts, ideas
particular nouns: individual members or examples within a category

I like music. = I like it in general. (Of course I prefer some kinds over others, but this sentence isn’t about any particular music.)
Do you hear music? = I’m wondering about particular music (for example because I can hear it).

The whale shark can grow up to 50 feet in length. = generic
The whale shark at the Atlanta aquarium is 50 feet in length. = particular
- We can use “the” + singular for generic statements about species, technology, parts of the body

If a noun is particular, you can ask follow-up questions like “how much?” or “how many?” or “what color was it?”. If it’s generic, those questions don’t make sense.
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p. 317 exercise 3 - Are these statements generic or particular?
1 P
2 G
3 P
4 G
5 G
6 P
7 G
8 P
9 P
10 G
11 P
12 G
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exercise 4 - Write one generic and one particular sentence with these nouns or noun phrases. Finish this for homework
1 G: Bicycles are better than cars.
  P: My mom bought bicycles for Christmas.
2 G: Anyone can buy a new car.
  P: I bought a new car yesterday.