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

Attributes expressed by nouns in the common case are usually descriptive and the indefinite article is used. The definite article also can be used but this is accounted for by situation.

e.g. Lanny looked at the dining-room window and smiled.

8) The use of the definite article with class nouns modified by class nouns in the genitive case.

The meanings of the definite article used with nouns in the genitive case are the same as with nouns in the common case:

a) the specifying meaning which denotes a particular person or thing, as in: my mother’s picture, the river’s bed.

b) the generic meaning:

I stand in the place of the doctor. The doctor first diagnoses the patient’s disorder (=the disorder the patient suffers from), then he recommends a course of treatment.

9) The use of the definite article with class nouns modified by prepositional phrases.

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by a noun (at the window). A prepositional phrase may be used as a) a limiting or b) a descriptive attribute. Being used as a limiting prepositional phrase it requires the use of the definite article:

e.g. He always felt ill at ease among the callers at his sister’s house.

Within this type of attributes special consideration should be given to the so-called of-phrase which is very common. Kaushanskaya calls of-phrase attributes as particularizing attributes.

As limiting of-phrase express a great variety of meanings there is no point in classifying them. The most common types of combinations with the class nouns are: the house of my neighbor, the wife of a miner, the foot of a mountain, the collar of a shirt, the shadow of a tree.

If the head-noun denotes an object which is the only bearer of the property expressed by the of-phrase, the definite article is used: the president of the club, the glow of a lamp, the murderer of Caesar, the monitor of the group, etc.

But if there are many objects of the same description, the indefinite article is used.

Sometimes, however, the definite article is used, alongside of the indefinite article, even if there is more than one object of the same description. This occurs when there is a d e f i n i t e number of component parts: the (a)leg of the table, the (a)wheel of the car, the (an) ear of a dog.

· The definite article is found in the following patterns in which an of-phrase is preceded by one, some, any, each, many, most, none, all, several, the last, the rest, the majority.

e.g. “One of the letters is from Tom,” she said.

2.3.1 Certain Peculiarities in the Use of the Definite Article with Class

Nouns

Besides the cases of the usage of the definite article with class nouns listed above we should remark that there are certain instances of the use of the definite article which are to be regarded as a matter of tradition. E. M. Gordon distinguishes two cases:

1) the definite article used by reason of locality, e.g. with reference to objects that surround the speaker (or the people and things described by him). This usually refers to objects either indoors (e.g. the corner, the window, the table, the door, the wall,etc.) or out- of-doors (e.g. the stars, the trees, the flowers, the houses, the leaves, the birds, the bees, etc.)

e.g. As I came up our street, I saw my mother and my brother waving

from the window.

The trees swayed to and fro under the grey sky.

2) The definite article is used with class nouns denoting objects that are normally found in a particular place. For example, when we speak about the cinema or the theatre we say: “I couldn’t find my seat and asked the attendant to help me.”

2.4 The Usage of the Definite Article with Class Nouns in French

The French definite article is used much more often than its English counterpart.

Note: When there are two or more nouns listed in a French sentence, the definite article must be listed in front of each one.

The French for the “class nouns” is les noms concrets - concrete nouns. Having consulted the book of E. K. Nikolskaia and T. Y. Goldenberg “Grammaire Française” we learned that the French definite article is used: