Курсовая работа: The Definite Article with Class Nouns in English and in French

This use of the indefinite article is not to be identified, however, with the generic function of the definite article. The indefinite article is used here in its nominating function, implying any representative of the class. Hence the use of the indefinite article is not equivalent to that of the definite article when the noun is used as a composite image of a whole class. For that reason the indefinite article is not possible in the following sentences:

e. g. Now the horse has been replaced by the tractor.

“In this lecture I am going to speak about the article in English”, said the professor.

Note 2. When the noun man in a generic sense no article is used.

e. g. Silas felt that his trust in man had been cruelly destroyed. (Eliot)

When the noun woman is used in a generic sense it is used with the definite article or occasionally without an article.

e. g. He had always been interested in that mysterious being the woman.

(Bennett)

Woman is man’s helpmate.

A noun used in a generic sense should not be confused with a noun used in a general sense.

A noun used in a general sense denotes an object regarded as an individual representative of a class.

e. g. A detective story helps to while away the time.

(Every or any detective story is meant here).

A noun in a generic sense denotes the whole class.

e. g. Conan Doyle is a master of the detective story.

(The detective story is regarded here as a certain genre).

These are all the cases of the usage of the definite article with class nouns according to Kaushanskaya. Looking over Gordon’s and Barmina’s books on grammar of the English language we can notice that they make a more detailed examination of the usage of the definite article with class nouns used with attributes. E. M. Gordon mentions that since the choice of articles is determined by the context or the general situation, we should take into consideration attributes modifying the noun. He distinguishes two kinds of attributes: limiting and descriptive.

A l i m i t i n g attribute indicates such a quality or characteristic of an object (or a group of objects) which makes it distinct from all other objects of the class.

A d e s c r i p t i v e attribute is used to describe an object (or a group of objects) or give additional information about it. This kind of attribute does not single out an object (or a group of objects) but only narrows the class to which it belongs.

The linguist states that nouns modified by limiting attributes are used with the definite article and nouns modified by descriptive attributes may be used with either the indefinite or the definite articles, as the choice of articles for countable nouns is not affected by this kind of attribute. So, we can make the conclusion that in the majority of cases when nouns are modified by a limited attribute it is used with the definite article, but it appears that it can be used with nouns modified by the descriptive attributes.

We examined all the cases when the definite article is used with nouns modified by both kinds of attributes and selected only those that refer to the usage of the definite article with class nouns.

1)The use of the definite article with class nouns modified by adjectives.

The definite article in such case is accounted for by the situation but not by the attribute:

e. g. The woman looked at me shrewdly and there was a glint of humour in the dark eyes.

Adjectives in the superlative degree, however, are always limiting attributes. That is why nouns modified by the adjectives in the superlative degree are always used with the definite article:

e.g. She was the smartest girl.

Some adjectives, adjective pronouns and adjectivized ing-forms always serve as limiting attributes. The definite article is used before the nouns modified by them. The most important of them are: right and wrong, very, only, main, principal, central, left and right, same, coming, following, present, former and latter.

e. g. My mother was the only person whom I told what had happened.

Note 1: Class nouns modified by the adjectives next and last are generally used with the definite article, especially when they are followed by an ordinal numeral the definite article is obligatory.

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