HI, ladies!!
Thank you for letting us know another self-test about the articles, Plum. After trying those tests, I found how many perfunctory work I have done until now. Each article has its correct usage, of course…I have to learn how to use the articles.
Yesterday my daughters tried to make some chocolates prior to Valentine day, not for boys but friends, and those are called tomochoko. It was so hard for us that we spent almost half the day, and I was very tired. I’m a poor cook…
So, see you tomorrow. Bye!
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Hi, ladies!!!
It’s Thursday, February 12, 2009 today.
Valentine Day is just around the corner, isn’t? Valentine chocolate is very important and meaningful for Valentine lovers in Japan, but chocolate is not very popular as a Valentine gift here in Sydney. Valentine Day is a day flower shops could get a lot of profit, it appears, since Valentine bouquets can be seen here and there around this time of the year.
Cherry, thank you for trying the self-tests. Doing a self-test is fun, isn’t it?
Here is a little bit challenging one, but I am sure you can enjoy learning something about “generic the” by reading the explanation (I’m afraid it is confusing and puzzling) and taking this exercise. (You do not have to get 100 percent correct answers. Relax…) This is from Article Practice in Grammar-Quizzes.com.
(Actually a/an + noun and the plural form of a noun are interchangeable.)
The answers are listed below.
Generic Use of Articles
T h e
The lion is a wild animal.
The emphasizes the class itself, without regard for concrete representatives of the class.
A
A lion is a wild animal.
A emphasizes an individual representative of a class. It has the sense of a n y.
N o
Lions are wild animals.
The plural form without an article emphasizes all the representatives of the class.
Use the, a/an or no article before these nouns:
1. _____________ vegetables are good for the health.
2. The world is getting smaller because of _________________airplane.
3. ___________ wheel was an important invention.
4. ____________ athlete has to practice very hard to win.
5. ____________supermarket sells not only ___________groceries, but also___________
liquor, ___________ plants and ___________ magazines.
6. ___________ newspaper is one of the most widespread media of communication.
7. ___________ computer is doing much of the work that humans used to do.
8. ___________ computers are useful.
9. ___________ good engineer must have a good knowledge of mathematics and physics.
10. ___________ university is a place where both ___________ student and ___________
teacher learn.
11. It has been proven that ___________ cigarettes are bad for the health.
12. ___________ Americans are proud of their diverse ethnic heritage.
13. ___________ American should try to learn more than just his own language.
14. ___________ American male has had a fifty-year long love affair with the car.
15. ___________ politician must put in hours of campaigning in order to win a race.
16. ___________ politician who spent the most in the last race won by a "landslide".
17. ___________ politicians spend far too much on their campaigns.
18. ___________ politicians who voted for spending restrictions lost their races.
19. ___________ shopping mall is rapidly taking the place of "Main Street, USA".
18. ___________ shopping mall can offer everything from exercise to entertainment.
(Answers: 1. 0, 2. the 3. the 4. An 5. A, 0,0,0,0 6. The 7. The 8. 0 9. A, 10. A, the, the 11. 0 12. 0 13. An 14. The 15. A 16. The 17. 0 18. The 19. The 20. A)
Hi, friends!
I suppose that you are doing your best every day. Thank you for giving exercise in articles, Plum. I printed them, but I haven’t done it yet, I am sorry.
To tell the truth, my health condition has been worse again and I have been in bed for five days without doing anything. Again trigeminal neuralgia is attacking me. Whenever I move my face muscle, pain runs. I couldn’t drink, eat and speak. Washing a face, brushing teeth and showering are also so painful. So, I am now very dirty Tokie.
There are so many strange diseases in the world, isn’t it? Today I am going to clinic and take other eastern treatments. I hope I’ll recover soon.
By the way, thus, my essay hasn’t progressed smoothly yet, now I wonder why Dr. Mitsuda acquired such a power of authority in medical field of Leprosy. One was his dedication to patients, secondly, his performance. He showed his finding in research in the academic publication. Leprosy was a field which nobody had touched willingly, so he became a kind of hero in this area. Thirdly, he succeeded in getting a big support of the great person, Eiichi Shibusawa, who had an influential power in politics and business circle. Lastly, this is very key point, his idea that segregation was the best way to prevent leprosy from spreading in society, was just fitted with the time of Japan, which wanted eagerly to become a great Imperial nation in those days.
Soon, Dolls Festival comes soon. See you again, my precious friends.
Dear Cherry and friends,
Cosmos, I’m so sorry to know that you have been suffering from trigeminal neuralgia again these several days. It is too sad for me to think you couldn’t do anything, even drink or eat or speak, because of severe pain. Did the eastern treatments work well? Is there any good medicine for your disease? I’m hoping your quick recovering and pray for you. Please take a good care and be gentle to yourself.
Hi, ladies!!!
It’s Friday, February 13, 2009 today. It’s been raining on and off all day here in Sydney and the temperature has been quite low.
I am very sorry to hear that you have been again suffering from that torturing pain from trigeminal neuralgia. It must be very hard and irritating that you could not do ordinary everyday activities as you like due to the pain. Perhaps the cold weather has been partially inflicting this hardship, I am afraid. I sincerely hope spring will come earlier and warm weather will ease up your agony. Please take a good rest and look after yourself, Cosmos.
Now, I assume that all of you are somehow familiar with “generic the”, “abstract the” and “abstract 0 article”, aren’t you? Probably these types of article usage would be the most difficult to understand. Not many high schools teach them in English class I believe, though I have recently realized how important they are especially in written English.
There are some basic rules concerning articles, and I will let you know some of them tomorrow (I am well aware that you are so familiar with them but it is very easy to forget them unfortunately and so it is good to review them from time to time). I will also give you a very easy self-test on basic article rules.
At the moment we have visitors at my daughter’s flat, a Korean-New Zealander, English speaking husband (who reminds me of Jonathan for some reason), a Japanese wife/mother, and their one and a half year old son. I will join them now, my precious friends. I will talk to you tomorrow. I pray that your trigeminal neuralgia pain will disappear as soon as possible, Cosmos.
Hi, ladies!
I am sorry that all of you are worrying about my disease. At last, today, I took a special pain killing treatment. I have suffered from trigeminal neuralgia for nearly three years.
The disease’s symptom came up severely sometimes and disappeared suddenly, anyway they have showed up as they like. So I have tried to take a few treatments, taking western drugs and rehabilitation, herbal medicines, acupuncture, etc.
I managed to control the disease so far. This time, however, I couldn’t. Today’s pain-killing treatment is the way to inject an anesthetic into the affected part. I could have a dinner today anyway. I will be much better tomorrow, I hope. I really appreciate your kind sympathy and encouragement, my precious friends. Oh, please praise me. I did the article test from Plum during the waiting time in the clinic.
Bye, see you soon.
Hi, ladies!!!
It’s Saturday, February 14, 2009 today. Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!!! I am always tremendously thankful to you, my precious friends, for your warm and sincere friendship. Unfortunately it’s been raining on and off all day today in Sydney and the temperature has been quite low, too. I just miss beautiful sunny weather special to Sydney.
Cosmos, how are you feeling today? A little better? I really hope so. It seems that your anesthetic treatment applied directly to the affected part worked well, and I am very happy to hear that you were able to eat dinner last night. I am also delighted to hear that you have done the self-test I listed the other day. Good for you!!!
I was going to take a day off today and go out to see one of my friends in Sydney, but he emailed that he was too busy to see me. Thus I decided to stay at home. On the other hand, Yoji had decided to stay at home, instead of going to work, babysitting his sons, believing that I was going out. But three adults were one too many for babysitting two little ones. Therefore I told Ulala and Yoji that they could go out to have fun while I was babysitting Kenjin. The couple and Yujin went swimming at a swimming pool somewhere in this suburb while I, luckily, was able to watch two DVDs my daughter rented for me, since Kenjin was asleep for quite a while after bottle-feeding; Great Expectations and Amazing Grace.
Great Expectations is a movie based on the novel by Charles Dickens, and it was as exciting, hilarious and intriguing as other films based on his other novels.
Amazing Grace is a story about William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. The most impressive was the portrayal of how he got into the slavery abolishment movement. The movie also depicts Wilberforce’s close friendship with William Pitt, the Younger (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806), the Britain’s youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24.
Later I discovered that Wilberforce was deeply involved in the foundation of the Church Mission Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (Some animals such as dogs and hares are seen relaxed inside and outside his large castle-like house.)
I was planning to list some of the basic rules of article usage, but it was revealed that the explanation I thought appropriate was too long to be listed in this message box. Therefore I will omit it and paste only a self-test and the answers.
(Sorry I was not able to paste the self-test probably due to some mechanic or technical trouble.)
Goodnight to you all, my lovely friends.
Dear Cherry and friends,
Hi! How are you?
It was unusually warm today. It was like a spring day in Toyohashi.
I wish Cosmos got better today.
How admirable you have done the article test at the clinic!
Encouraged by your attitude, I tried it this morning.
Generic use of articles is an interesting idea, indeed.
I remember that the word “sosho.” I still don’t understand the difference between “the + plural” and “the + singular” when they are used to emphasize the class itself.
From tomorrow morning, I will go to Isawa hot springs in Yamanashi. The winter seminar is held there. Now, I'm making some handouts.
Talk to you later.
Hi, ladies!!!
It's Sunday, February 15, 2009, today. It's been another cool, cloudy summer day here in Sydney. I just wonder what happened to Sydney’s weather. It used be balmy, mild and very pleasant.
Thank you, Alice, for your interesting feedback:
I remember that the word “sosho.” I still don’t understand the difference between “the + plural” and “the + singular” when they are used to emphasize the class itself.
I have found this passage on the web. In this case, the in “the London buses” looks like “sosho the”, because “the London buses” refer to all London buses, but “the” in this phrase is “restrictive the”. Interesting, isn’t it?
THE BIG QUESTION:
Sometimes it is not easy to decide if a plural noun is being used as a generalization, or in a restrictive context: often the speaker or writer can choose. Look at these two sentences:
a) London buses are red
b) The London buses are red.
In example (a), the writer is clearly implying a generalisation on the noun group "London buses": All London buses are red.
In example (b), he is referring to a restricted or defined category of the noun "buses", London buses are red, but other buses may be of other colours.
In cases like these, one therefore has a choice; but the choice is not always completely free, as it often depends on context. Is it more important or more logical to imply a generalization, or a limitation?
Deciding whether it is best to use an article in such cases is a skill that has to be mastered!
Let me paste a short account of “generic the” listed on the web. Is it convincing enough for you, Alice?
It says that “generic the + N(s)” can be applied only to limited types of common countable nouns including ones that refer to a group of people of a certain class.
*** The and a singular count noun can refer to a whole group (not just one specific member). This occurs often in formal writing, and with inventions, musical instruments, parts of the body.
* The lion is endangered.
* The heart is like a pump.
* When was the radio invented?
* She plays the piano.
* The inexperienced student may need help.
“Generic the + N(p)” can be seen with a group of animals or people, just as in the following.
A dinosaur
some dinosaurs
the dinosaurs (not specific dinosaurs)
a Roman
Romans
The Romans
a Japanese (s)
two Japanese (p)
the Japanese (p)
“Generic the + N(p)” can be also seen with some other very limited number of common nouns, I suppose, such as the following.
a star
some stars
the stars (not specific stars)
a suburb
some suburbs
the suburbs (not specific suburbs; I live in the suburbs.)
The words listed below would never be considered to be “generic the + N(p)”.
the apples
the dogs
the houses
It is fascinating for me to think about the definite article. I do like to learn the usage of the definite article. How about you, my precious friends? Bye for now…
Hi Cherry and friends,
Thank you, Plum, for the explanation of “generic the”. It was very understandable, but still very difficult to use articles correctly and mysterious (?) for me. I’d like to learn them more.
By the way, the movie “Miss Potter” which Cherry mentioned last month in this blog is one of my favorite movies. As Cherry wrote, this movies is about the story of Beartrix Potter (1866-1943) who is well known for her children’s books such as Peter Rabbit. I have not had enough time to write about this movie, but today I want to tell you something about it a little bit, but not a detail about the movie.
When I watched that movie at the theater, I was very impressed by her life and moved to tears. (I had not started to study about the Victorian Women yet at that time.) I think it is one of the most charming, beautiful and enchanting movie. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Lake District in England and the country side in Scotland, where Beatrix spent her holidays in her childhood, as well as the life in London in the late 19C and early 20C.
Now I’m learning Victorian era, so I found this film is very interesting and useful to understand the way of living and the way of thinking in those days very clearly. It is truly worth to watch. I, too, really recommend you to watch this movie. You can also enjoy the beautiful song and some scenes from the movie through You Tube “When You Taught Me How to Dance” by Katie Melua. Please try it if you have time.
It is very late. I have to go to bed now. Bye for now, my precious friends.
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