Articles

Question

Hi there,I have here a few sentences which (according to the basic rules) "should have an article" but for some reason which I have abysmally failed to make out they don't. These sentences are from a detective book The Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo and my biggest problem so far has been dealing with articles. I would like to ask you for some help. So I've found these sentences:1. People accepted that as part of the game (why is there no article in front of part it's countable right?)2. He was teetotal, however.. (again the same reason as above)3. ..and you could hear elephants calling to each other when they were being frightened by ship. (again ship is countable isn't it?)And another conundrum for me is this: There was silence. (he was describing the atmosphere in the room I guess) AND I can't this to tally. A further silence. (again describing the same atmosphere in the same room)I was wondering whether there are some exceptions to the usage of articles and I did some research on the Internet however it yielded no results since every single webpage was repeating that every noun has to be used with a determiner and if not then it is uncountable. However in the cases shown above those nouns are countable. Please help me I am so bloody confused about this   I was also thinking whether there is some kind of advanced guide to articles and if you happen to know any would you please be so kind and link it to me? Thanks for help.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Peto Machovcák1. People accepted that as part of the game

Part can be uncountable, if it is a general division, rather than specific element.
eg.
Part of me wanted to run and hide.

Peto Machovcák2. He was teetotal, however..

Teetotal is an adjective.

Peto Machovcák3. ..and you could hear elephants calling to each other when they were being frightened by ship.

This is incorrectly quoted. It should be "ships."

Peto MachovcákThere was silence.

This can be either countable ("a silence" means a specific period of time when no sound was heard.) or non-count (a general condition).

Tkacka15 · Answer

Peto Machovcák I was also thinking whether there is some kind of advanced guide to articles

There is some sort of guide on it, namely a book edited by HarperCollins Publishers, London 1993 under the title: Collins Cobuild (Collins Birmingham University International Language Database) English Guides [3] Articles by Roger Berry.

CalifJim · Answer

Peto Machovcák1. People accepted that as part of the game

(be) part of is a standard idiom. No article.

Peto Machovcák2. He was teetotal, however.

Quite strange. Normally, He was a teetotaler.
It looks to me like the author made up an adjectival form of the noun 'teetotaler'. Adjectives don't require articles.
If it's any consolation to you, this is the first time I've ever seen this adjectival form.

Peto Machovcák3. ..and you could hear elephants calling to each other when they were being frightened by ship.

Strange. It should be 'by ships' or 'by a ship'. (Also strange in that elephants do not normally live anywhere near shipping lanes!) I wonder if the word 'ship' is just entirely wrong and should have been another completely different word, but then I have no idea what that other word would be.

Peto MachovcákThere was silence. ... A further silence.

The author, for some unknown reason, is being inconsistent. First 'silence' is treated as uncountable; then, as countable. It seems that we native speakers don't seem to be very bothered by such inconsistencies in moderate numbers. Only if an author persists in such inconsistencies does it become a bother.

Peto Machovcákwhether there is some kind of advanced guide to articles

Not as advanced as you probably need. You're getting into some very thorny examples.

CJ

Peťo Machovčák · Answer

Thank you everyone so much. It's helped a lot.

Could please give me any advice on this topic? I mean now that you've explained it to me it makes perfect sense but I was wondering how can I find the same answer to these thorny examples myself. So what advice would you give me about that?

Also thanks for mentioning that book. I will check it out.

Tkacka15 · Answer

Peto MachovcákI was wondering how can I find the same answer to these thorny examples myself

Try Practical English Usage by Michael Swan (entries 63 - 71).

He starts the topic with "The correct use of the articles (a/an and the) is one of the most difficult points in English grammar..." and finishes it with the entry "articles: golden rules".

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJimIt looks to me like the author made up an adjectival form of the noun 'teetotaler'.

It's common and normal in BrE: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/teetotal

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonIt's common and normal in BrE

Hmm. Then you can say that you're totally teetotal. Grammatically, at least.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJimThen you can say that you're totally teetotal.

One can

.
I can't .

Articles

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions