Articles - need help

Question

Hello again!I need help with the senetence below. The task is to insert the proper article: a, an, the or no article. If you could provide clear explanation or maybe a clear explanation i'd be grateful. __ Bermuda Triangle has received ___ notoriety as ___ area of misforune because __ number of vessels have disappeared there.Thanks!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

A few things you have to know to answer this one are:

There is a common idiom with "number" that means "some". You have to find out what this idiom is. (Try looking up "number" in a dictionary.)

An abstract noun takes no article. (I hope you can identify an abstract noun when you see it.)

If the speaker believes that a noun phrase refers to one thing in the world so accurately that a listener won't have to ask "Which one?", he uses "the" with the noun phrase.

If the speaker means "an example of a", he uses "a".

"an" substitutes for "a" before a vowel sound.

Now you try to fill in the right articles, OK?

CJ

Philip · Answer

Normally, we try to get you to attempt to fill in the blanks, but because this is such a short exercise, here are the anwers:

The / - / an / the

CalifJim · Answer

Oof! I just wasted my time.

Not completely right, though, Philip! Oops!

CJ

Morrru · Answer

Thank you! I had the answers at the back of my grammar book, I just needed a clear explanation for the given sentence.

I have some more questions now about the articles:

When we put a fraction in the sentence, does the article go before or after the fraction? Or it doesn't appear at all? Check the below please:

Now we can add: 1/4 of an apple*, *a 1/4 of apple*, *1/4 apple*, *1/4 an apple* or maybe *a 1/4 apple?

Second question is about the abstract nouns. In most cases we do not put an article before an abstract noun, but we can make an abstract noun countable by adding an adjective before the noun and therefore add an article before whole phrase, for example: an extensive knowledge or an extreme faith. Awaway some abstract noun phrases are followed by "the" article before them, for example: the important information. What is the rule for that? Can you give more examples to make it clearer for me. Oh! I also found this sentence without any article. Take a look please: I opened my mouth and the wail that i let escape was one of sheer terror. No article before sheer terror :/.

Thanks for your time and I hope you will find some more to answer these

.

CalifJim · Answer

1/4 of an apple OK.

a 1/4 of apple No.

1/4 apple No.

1/4 an apple No.

a 1/4 apple No.

_______________

Morrrusome abstract noun phrases are followed by "the" article before them

Before we get into the content of your question, let's clear up the meanings of "followed by" and "before" as used in talking about the order of items in a text.

P Q<< Here P is followed by Q, and Q has P before it.

You can't have "X is followed Y and Y is before X". It's a contradiction.

_______________

Morrruthe important information. What is the rule for that?

There is no special rule for the use of "the" in phrases like "the important information". It's the same as for any other use of "the". If you use "the", you are referring to some particular thing in the real world.

Morrruthe wail ... was one of sheer terror

Articles are often omitted after "of" when the of-phrase is purely descriptive.

CJ

Morrru · Answer

CalifJimThere is no special rule for the use of "the" in phrases like "the important information". It's the same as for any other use of "the". If you use "the", you are referring to some particular thing in the real world.

Thank you for your reply. As mentioned above, some abstract nouns can not be preceded by a/an articles. These nouns can go with "the" article, though. I'd like to ask if these nouns/noun phrases normaly go without any article and "the" is only added when we mean the particular example of a noun phrase, like here:

"We are having terrible weather" vs "We are having the terrible weather"

"It's interesting work" vs "It's the interesting work"

Is the second option of the examples correct here or not?

CalifJim · Answer

Morrru"We are having terrible weather" vs "We are having the terrible weather"
"It's interesting work" vs "It's the interesting work"
Is the second option of the examples correct here or not?

No, the second options are not correct.

CJ

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