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English communication is usually about something specific or
about something general. Specific things include the history
of a place or event, a person's autobiography, a story about a particular
place or person or event. General things are statements of theory or
general facts or general beliefs.
Here's an example of a specific event. This story is about what
happened to my sister:
On Friday afternoon, a car hit my sister. The car was driven by
an old man. The old man had taken some strong medicine. The medicine
made him sleepy. My sister had a broken arm, but she was not hurt
so bad that she had to stay in the hospital. The doctors and nurses
in the emergency room were very kind as well as very efficient. We
plan to send them a letter to thank them for their help.
Here's an example of a generic statement. It is not about particular
accountants but about accountants in general.
Accountants are trained to keep accurate financial records for
different types of organizations. Some accountants work for corporations
or for the government. Other accountants have businesses to help members
of the public. These accountants are called CPAs--Certified Public
Accountants.
Why does this matter?
If you are writing something specific, you use nouns and articles in
a particular way. If you are writing something general, you use nouns
and articles in another way. Many of the exercises here in Chapter 9
are built on the difference between specific and generic meaning.
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Using The for
Specific, Definite Meaning
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When we are communicating about specific people, places,
things, and events, we combine the with nouns to mean "definite."
Look back at the story about my sister and her broken arm: the
car, the old man, the medicine, the hospital, the doctors and
nurses, the emergency room. In this story, the combines
with singular, plural, and noncount nouns to show the specific,
definite meaning of the noun phrase in these sentences.
What makes the have this meaning? Here are some categories
that grammarians have developed.
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1. Unique:
The noun refers to something that is unique for everyone in the
world
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the sun,
the moon, the universe, the stars
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2. Setting:
The noun is made specific and definite by its setting. For example,
everyone in the classroom will understand the same meaning for
the first set of noun phrases.
In the second
set of example, the nouns refer to the parts of some whole that
is being talked about. If you are describing a house, then you
can write the windows or the doors. If you are describing
a computer, then you write the disk drive and the monitor
as in the 3rd set of examples.
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1st set: the blackboard, the teacher, the students. the desks,
the chairs, the door, the windows
2nd set: Last weekend, we painted our house. Painting the
doors and the windows was especially hard work.
3rd set: I do not have much room on my desk for my computer,
so I set the monitor on top of the disk drive unit.
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3. Second
Mention: A writer can mention something one time, using a
or an to introduce the topic. After that first use, the writer
changes to the because the information is no longer new but is
shared with the reader. Example set #1 shows how this works at
the beginning of a story. Example set #2 shows "second mention"
in more technical material. Example set #3 is personal information
that shows "second mention" in context. The use of a
or an in these examples is called "first mention."
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1st set:
Long ago, an old woman lived in a village. The
old woman had two grandchildren who came to the village
to visit her very Sunday.
2nd set: To carry out this procedure, a new computer
program had to be written. The program was extremely expensive.
3rd set: I bought an apple and a banana in the
cafeteria at school. I ate the apple but saved the
banana to eat after class.
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4. Phrases/Clauses:
A writer can make a noun phrase specific and definite by adding
identifying phrases and clauses. The phrase or clause adds enough
information to identify the noun for the audience.
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...the
president of the youth club
...the house next door to mine
...the student who sits beside me in grammar class
...the car that I hit in the parking lot
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| 5.
Superlative/Numbers: The parts of sets are definite in meaning.
Superlatives are the top of a set. |
...the
first page
...the
second day of class
...the
slowest walker
...the
most difficult assignment
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| 6.
Known to Members of a Particular Group: Members of groups
share meanings together. For example, if you say "the president,"
Americans will assume you mean "the president of the U.S."
But, if you say "the president" in France, your French
audience will think you mean "the president of France."
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The president
went to Europe yesterday for a meeting.
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| 7.
Pointing: A speaker can point (with a finger or a nod of
the head) at something and use the because s/he assumes that
you know which one is meant. |
She pointed
to the desk and said, "Give me the book over there."
He nodded
at the window and said, "Please close the window."
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