2018-07-03 Grammar: specific and nonspecific

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: p. 317 exercise 4 - Try to think of a generic and a particular statement for each noun.
1 G: Bicycles are one of the oldest transportation machines.
  P: Our bicycles don’t work, so now we use the bus.
2 G: Buying a new car is good.
  P: Eric bought a new car yesterday.
3 G: The English language is important and interesting, but also difficult.
  P: The English language spoken today is very different from Shakespeare’s English.
4 G: Transportation is important for every city.
  P: Boston has good transportation.
5 G: Tea is loved all over the world.
  P: I bought tea as a gift.
6 G: Salespeople are an important part of a company.
  P: Salespeople in CVS are good.
7 G: Books allow us to save knowledge for other generations.
  P: I have seventeen books.
8 G: Hard work makes people feel tired.
  P: We do hard work in English class.
9 G: Chinese food is very common in the US.
  P: I will eat Chinese food on Friday.
10 G: If you do illegal things you’ll have trouble.
   P: I’m having trouble with this grammar.
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In particular statements, nouns can be specific or nonspecific.
specific: both the speaker and the listener know which noun(s) the sentence is about
	(use “the” for specific nouns)
nonspecific: at least one of the speaker or listener doesn’t know which noun(s) it’s about
	(use “a”, “an”, “some”, or ∅ for nonspecific nouns)
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Did you enjoy the movie? - A specific movie that I have in my mind and I believe you know which one I’m asking about.
	(Note: simple past refers to specific time in the same sense that this is a specific noun.)
Do you like the music? - Specific music (e.g. what we’re listening to now)
Do you like music? - Music in general
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Someone told me you have a new boyfriend. - I don’t know who (but you probably do).
I bought a new computer yesterday. - I know which computer (but I think you don’t).
I want a new computer. - Neither of us knows which one.
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p. 319 exercise 5 - Who knows which noun these sentences are about?
1 neither
2 speaker yes, listener no
3 speaker yes, listener no
4 both
5 neither OR speaker yes, listener no
6 speaker no, listener yes
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For relationship words like “girlfriend”, we almost never use “the”, but instead use possessive pronouns.
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exercise 6 - Choose the correct implied meaning of each sentence.
1 b
2 b
3 speaker knows, listener doesn’t (It’s not clear who “you” means in the sentence.)
4 a
5 b
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exercise 7
1 the
2 a
3 A
4 the
5 some / ∅ / a
6 the
7 some / ∅
8 a / the
9 a The
  b a
  c a
  d the / a
  e The