2019-02-11 Grammar: articles overview

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all classes
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Articles: the, a/an, (some), ∅ (= “zero article”)
- Articles go before nouns.

the - specific (count, noncount, singular, plural), some proper nouns
a/an - nonspecific (singular count)
	a: nouns that start with consonant sounds (a teacher, a book, a US citizen, a European)
	an: nouns that start with vowel sounds (an apple, an hour, an mp3 player)
some - nonspecific (noncount, plural count)
∅ - nonspecific (noncount, plural count), or specific for most proper nouns
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p. 315 - Which articles can NOT be used with each of these nouns?
1 a, an
2 an
3 a, ∅, some
4 an, ∅, (some)
5 a, ∅, some
6 a, an, the, some (“motherhood” is generic and noncount, so we can only use the zero article)
7 an
8 a, an
9 an, ∅, some
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Generic vs. Particular
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generic = general categories of things
particular = individual members of the category

G: Computers are important to modern life.
- You can’t go look at these computers. You can’t ask how much they cost. You can’t ask how many.
P: We need new computers at school.
- You could ask what kind of computers. You could ask how much they’ll cost. You could ask how many.

generic/particular is separate from the question of which article(s) to use
Each article is possible in some generic and some particular statements.
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Homework: p. 317 exercise 3 - Decide if each statement is generic or particular.