34 Noun Phrases
the telephone
the answering machine
In a city we would expect a whole range of buildings and places. For example:
I have to go to the post offi ce
the bank
the train station
the airport
the drugstore
the grocery store
Some of the places listed above are unique. For example, in any particular city there is usu-
ally only one airport and one train station. Since these are unique places, the use of the defi nite
article makes sense. However, there are many banks, drugstores, and grocery stores in a city, so
it seems odd that we would use the with these nouns when the listener has no way of knowing
which particular bank, drugstore, or grocery store the speaker is talking about. Even though it
doesn’t really make any sense, it is absolutely correct to use the with these place names.
There is a similar odd use of the with the names of places of recreation. For example:
Let’s go to the beach
the movies
the mountains
the park
Even though the listener has no way of knowing which movie or park the speaker has in mind
(if, in fact, the speaker has any particular one in mind), it is still conventional to use the defi nite
article with these nouns.
Exercise 3.4
In each blank space, use an indefi nite article (a or some) if the noun is not defi ned or the defi nite
article the if the noun is defi ned by normal expectations.
I had to replace
the
windshield wipers on my car.
1. My parents always have TV on too loud.

the speaker has in mind.
(i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 35 3/16/09 12:33:58 PM
36 Noun Phrases
Nouns are defi ned in four ways:
1. The noun has been previously mentioned.
2. The noun is uniquely defi ned by its modifi ers.
3. The noun has a unique reference.
4. The noun is defi ned by normal expectations.
Exercise 3.5
In the following paragraphs, fi ll in the blank spaces with the appropriate article. If the noun is
defi ned in one or more of the four ways mentioned above, use the defi nite article the. Otherwise,
fi ll in the blank with the indefi nite article a (singular noun) or some (plural nouns).
During
the
Christmas holidays, I fl ew to Los Angeles to visit with friends. They
picked me up at airport in old car one of them was leasing. Since
company my friend was working for required him to have car, he got reimbursed for
most of his driving expenses. It was fi rst car any of them had ever had. Not having
car in Los Angeles is not really option since there is no public transportation
system to speak of. As result, traffi c is just awful.
They were renting apartment in Santa Monica, really nice town on
beach about twenty miles from center of city. apartment building
they lived in even had swimming pool. We went in pool every day. It was
fi ne as long as pool was in sun. From apartment we could walk to
most of stores we needed. The only thing that we had to take car for was
going to grocery store. There was simply no place to buy groceries in
neighborhood.
I had hoped to go swimming in ocean, but I quickly discovered that water
was too cold. My friends said that if I wanted to go swimming, I would have to get
wet suit. There is current of icy-cold water that comes down coast

The use of some with the noncount noun opposition signals that the speaker anticipates opposi-
tion. The exact nature of that opposition, however, is not shared knowledge between the speaker
and hearer.
(i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 37 3/16/09 12:33:58 PM
38 Noun Phrases
The indefi nite articles a has a second form, an, that is used before vowel sounds. For exam-
ple, we say a banana but an apple. The rule governing the use of an pertains to vowel pronuncia-
tion, not vowel spelling. For example, the following words use a where the spelling would seem to
require an because the pronunciation of the nouns actually begins with a /y/ consonant sound:
a unicorn
a uniform
a unit
a usage
Both a and an are normally unstressed. Unstressed a is pronounced /E/, rhyming with duh.
Unstressed an is pronounced /En/, rhyming with bun. (When we talk about a and an in isolation,
we stress them so that they have quite different pronunciations. Stressed a is pronounced /ey/,
rhyming with day, and stressed an is pronounced /An/, rhyming with can. Don’t confuse these
stressed pronunciations with the normal unstressed pronunciations in sentences.)
The reason for the two forms a and an is historical. Both a and an come from the word one.
Over the years, the pronunciation of one used as a noun modifi er (as opposed to the use of one
as a number) became contracted: the n in one was preserved before words beginning with vow-
els and lost before words beginning with a consonant sound. As a result, today we have the two
forms of the indefi nite article: a before consonant sounds and an before vowel sounds.
The origin of the indefi nite article from the number one also deeply affects the way it is used
in modern English. Since a and an both come from the word one, like the number one, a/an is
inherently singular. Thus we cannot use a/an to modify plural nouns:
X a boo
ks, X an or
anges.
Since the indefi nite article a/an is restricted to modifying singular count nouns, what do we

10. It began as day like any other day.
11. It was unusual request.
12. Apparently her proposal came as complete surprise to the board.
13. It was offer he couldn’t refuse.
14. We found the apartment through ad in the newspaper.
15. I’ve got to get envelopes before I can mail these letters.
Making generalizations without any articles
We expect common nouns to be modifi ed by some kind of article or other pre-adjective modifi er.
There is one important exception: using plural nouns or noncount nouns without any article or
other pre-adjective modifi er to signal that we are making a generalization or general statement
about the noun. For example, compare the difference in meaning between the two following
sentences:
Birds start migrating north early in the spring.
Some birds have nested in our oak trees.
(i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 39 3/16/09 12:33:58 PM
40 Noun Phrases
The absence of any pre-noun modifi er with the plural noun birds in the fi rst sentence signals that
the speaker is making a general statement about all birds, not any particular group of birds. The
presence of the indefi nite article some in the second sentence signals that the speaker is talking
only about one particular group of birds, namely the birds that have nested in the speaker’s oak
trees.
Here is a second pair of examples, this time using the noun airplanes:
Airplanes have totally changed the way we travel.
The airplanes that you see were all made by Boeing.
The absence of any article in the fi rst sentence tells us that the noun is being used to
make a generalization about the nature of airplanes. The use of the article in the second sentence
tells us that we are talking about specifi c airplanes and not making a generalization about all
airplanes.
Sometimes it is diffi cult to tell whether plural count nouns or noncount nouns are being
used to make a generalization. There are two clues in the nature of the sentence that help iden-