2017-07-17 Grammar: generic/particular articles

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Determiners: words that go at the beginning of a noun phrase to identify which or how many nouns we’re talking about
	articles: a/an/the/(some)/x (zero article)
	demonstratives: this/that/these/those
	quantifiers: some/many/much/three/no/...
	interrogatives: which/what
	possessives: my/your/one’s/Greg’s
- If we include the zero article, we can say that every noun phrase begins with a determiner.
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Articles:
a/an	- singular (countable), indefinite or non-specific
	“a” when the next sound is a consonant: a book, a number, a university, a one-way street
	“an” when the next sound is a vowel: an apple, an English teacher, an hour, an mp3 player
some	- uncountable, indefinite or non-specific
	- plural (countable), indefinite or non-specific
x	- uncountable or plural, non-specific and general (also many names)
the	- singular or plural or uncountable, definite and specific
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p. 315 - Which article(s) CANNOT be used with these noun phrases?
1 a, an
2 an (We can order a water in a restaurant when we mean a glass of water.)
3 a (We can talk about some apple if we’re talking about the material.)
4 an, some, x (We can say “some professor”, but then it’s not an article.)
5 a, some, x
6 a, an, some, the (“Motherhood” is almost always discussed in general, so only the zero article works.)
7 an (We might be able to talk about “a bread” if we’re distinguishing different types of bread.)
8 a, an
9 an, some, x
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Generic vs. Particular
- generic statements are about general categories of things
- particular statements are about real things (if physical, we can imagine pointing at them)
You can’t just look at the article to decide if a noun is generic or particular. All articles except “some” can be used for both.
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p. 317 exercise 3 - Decide if the nouns are generic or particular in the sentences.
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 for your word
1 Bicycles are cheaper than motorcycles.
  Obama bought bicycles for everyone in his family.
2 Buying a new car is not always easy.
  I will buy a new car.
3 We have a lot of languages in this world, including the English language.
  The English language in Shakespeare is difficult for many modern students.
4 Public transportation is good in Boston.
 Boston’s public transportation is good. I need to find transportation to my job tomorrow.
5 Tea is very healthy.
  Tea from Japan is the best in the world.
6 Salespeople are sometimes annoying.
  I searched for salespeople in the store.
7 Books are necessary for kids.
  There are a lot of books on the table.
8 It’s bad for health to do hard work every day.
  I’ve just finished some hard work.
9 Chinese food is common all over the world.
  There’s still Chinese food in the fridge from last night.
10 Poverty causes trouble in a lot of places.
   Drunk tourists were causing trouble in this neighborhood yesterday.