2018-07-02 Grammar: articles

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework (optional): finish p. 265-266 exercise 8
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They can’t have disappeared. = It’s impossible that they have disappeared.
They couldn’t have disappeared. = It’s impossible that they disappeared.
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New Grammar: Determiners
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Determiners give information about which or how much/many nouns we’re discussing.
There are several types:
- articles: a/an, the, (some), [zero article] ∅
- demonstratives: this, that, these, those
- possessive: his, my, your, Greg’s, the students’, ...
- quantifiers: all, some, a few, each, three, a little, …
- question words for this information: what, which, whose, how many
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Including the zero article, every noun phrase begins with a determiner.
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Often, the correct determiner depends on whether a noun is count or noncount.
There is some meat on this pizza. (noncount)
There are three meats on this pizza: ham, sausage, and pepperoni. (count - kinds)
There is some turkey in the refrigerator. (noncount)
There is a turkey in the refrigerator. (count - container)
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the - count or noncount, singular or plural: both the speaker and the listener know which one
a/an - singular count: at least one of the speaker or listener doesn’t know which one
some - plural or noncount: at least one of the speaker or listener doesn’t know which (one(s))
∅ - plural or noncount: at least one of them doesn’t know which (especially for generic nouns)
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p. 315 exercise 2 - Which articles can NOT be used with these nouns? Why?
	(Remember: some of these words can be either count or noncount.)
1 a, an (because it’s plural)
2 an (because it starts with a consonant sound)
3 a, some, ∅ (because it’s singular and starts with a vowel sound)
4 an, some, ∅ (because it’s singular and starts with a consonant sound)
5 a, some, ∅ (because it’s singular and starts with a vowel sound)
6 a, an, some (because it’s noncount and always generic)
7 a, an (because it’s never singular, even if it is countable)
8 a, an (because it’s not singular)
9 an, some, ∅ (because it’s singular and starts with a consonant sound)
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The rule for “a” vs “an” depends on the next sound, not the letter:
an hour, an honest person, an mp3 player, an SUV
a university, a one-way street, a USB drive
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Generic and Particular statements
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Generic nouns are general categories of things.
Particular nouns are (real) members of a category. After mentioning a particular thing, you could in theory go and find the one(s) you’re talking about.
- You can ask further questions about particulars: How big is it? How much do they cost? etc.
	These questions don’t make sense for generic statements.
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p. 317 exercise 3 - Are these statements generic or particular?
1 P (“They were so expensive” means you’re talking about particular mangoes that I could go see.)
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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Homework: p. 317 exercise 4 - Try to think of a generic and a particular statement for each noun.