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Radovan Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
articles, higher level
Hi, can you explain this clearly, please? Thank you in advance for you comments.
1) This sentece is from the book "The Skeleton Road" written by Val McDermid.
"The historic walls of the outer harbour loom solid against the fragile sky like shadows projected on a screen, and the quaysides are languid with tourists making their leisurely way from pavement artist to jewellery stall, from restaurant to souvenir shop."
Why are there no articles at the end of the sentence? Why not: .....from a pavement to a jewellery stall, from a restaurant to a souvenir shop. ???
And if there is a reason for no articles would it also be correct with the articles?
2) This sentence is from an exercise in face2face intermediate from an article about Gates:
Fill in the gaps with a, an, the or ---- (no article).
In 1973 Gates went to Harvard University. While at Harvard, Gates developed _____ new type of _____ programming language called BASIC.
acording to the KEY the answer is: first gap = a, second gap = no article
Why is there no article in front of programming? I believe the word "language" is a countable noun, we talk about it for the first time, so there should be "a programming language".
1) This sentece is from the book "The Skeleton Road" written by Val McDermid.
"The historic walls of the outer harbour loom solid against the fragile sky like shadows projected on a screen, and the quaysides are languid with tourists making their leisurely way from pavement artist to jewellery stall, from restaurant to souvenir shop."
Why are there no articles at the end of the sentence? Why not: .....from a pavement to a jewellery stall, from a restaurant to a souvenir shop. ???
And if there is a reason for no articles would it also be correct with the articles?
2) This sentence is from an exercise in face2face intermediate from an article about Gates:
Fill in the gaps with a, an, the or ---- (no article).
In 1973 Gates went to Harvard University. While at Harvard, Gates developed _____ new type of _____ programming language called BASIC.
acording to the KEY the answer is: first gap = a, second gap = no article
Why is there no article in front of programming? I believe the word "language" is a countable noun, we talk about it for the first time, so there should be "a programming language".
Top answer
There are several pavement artists and jewelry stalls, though the tourists are moving among them one by one. The second item has more to do with "type" than the kind of noun that follows it (count or non-count). There is a new type of instrument.
- There are several pavement artists and jewelry stalls, though the tourists are moving among them one by one.
- The second item has more to do with "type" than the kind of noun that follows it (count or non-count).
- There is a new type of instrument.
- There is a new type of musical instrument.
- We don't use the article in that environment.
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2 Answers
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There are several pavement artists and jewelry stalls, though the tourists are moving among them one by one.
The second item has more to do with "type" than the kind of noun that follows it (count or non-count).
There is a new type of instrument.
There is a new type of musical instrument.
We don't use the article in that environment.
The second item has more to do with "type" than the kind of noun that follows it (count or non-count).
There is a new type of instrument.
There is a new type of musical instrument.
We don't use the article in that environment.
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radovanfrom pavement artist to jewellery stall, from restaurant to souvenir shop."This is the "from ... to ..." formula. No articles. The nouns that appear in this formula have no definite referents, or rather the referents are purposely kept ambiguous. The idea is "from any pavement artist — it doesn't matter which — to any jewellery stall — it doesn't ma
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