THE ARTICLE

The article is a grammatical instrument which is mainly used to individualize

different objects denominated by the noun. In contemporary English, the article is
most frequently used as the determiner of the noun. In actual usage, the article is
represented either by explicit expressed forms, which is the case of the definite and
indefinite article, or by an implicit or unexpressed form, i.e. the so-called zero article.
the book(s); a book; an egg; (-)books; (-) eggs.
Main Characteristics of the Article
In English the articles are non-inflected and proclitic. In other words they have no
endings and they precede the nouns they determine. In most cases, the articles are not
accented:
the Èbook; the Èbooks; an Èegg

The Definite Article – The

The definite article is generally unaccented. It has 2 forms in pronunciation, as

follows:
a. [] or [] before words whose pronunciation begins with a consonant, including
here the [j] and [w] semivowel sounds:
the Great Gatsby
the book; the wall; the year
b. the weak, unaccented form [], before words whose pronunciation begins with a
vowel:
the egg
- the strong, accented form [ù] before consonant or vowel sounds to denote that a
characteristic, something or somebody is singular:
George is the [ù] specialist in computers.
This is the [ù] hour we’ve been waiting for.
Obs. In print or written form one uses italics or underlining in order to indicate this
special function of the definite article.

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 Functions of the Definite Article

In English, the definite article discharges three main functions: anaphoric,

generic and epiphoric.
1. The Anaphoric Function - By the anaphoric function of a part of speech, one
understands the capacity of that part of speech to make reference to something
which has already been mentioned during the linguistic communication such as
an idea, a character, a place, an object, etc., and also to something or somebody that is
known to both parties of a communication without being mentioned in it before. The
personal pronoun is perhaps the best example in point. In the sentence: He did it
again, the pronoun he makes reference to a person of masculine gender such as little
John who has already been mentioned during the current conversation, narrative or is
that masculine person everybody knows about. Following this line of judgement, he
refers to John or “the boy in question”. Now if the sentence reads: The boy did it
again, the definite article the refers the notion of boy to “our boy” or to our
“neighbour’s boy” etc.
In light of the above, the definite article discharges in English two anaphorical
functions:
a. The Anaphoric Demonstrative Function
This is just a particular case of the more general anaphoric function by which the
article the functions like an attenuated form of its former self, i.e. an adjectival
demonstrative form such as this, that, these, and those. When used as such, the
definite article can very easily be replaced by one of the respective demonstrative
adjectives:
I didn’t speak to the boy/that boy.
The demonstrative character of the definite article is quite clear in certain set
phrases, e.g. under the (these, those) circumstances; nothing of the (this) kind; to rise
to the (this, that) occasion etc.
b. The Anaphoric-Situation Function

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 This time, the definite article no longer refers to something prior to the actual
moment of communication, but to an object or objects known by the interlocutor in the
given situation or circumstance:
Have you read the paper? (today’s paper)
Open the window, please. (the window of the room in which are the speaker and
his interlocutor)
2. The Generic Function
When used generically, the definite article describes a noun in its most general sense:
The whale is an endangered species.
The dog has been man’s friend for thousands years.
3. The Epiphoric Function
With such usage of the definite article the speaker introduces in the linguistic
communication some new information or a new notion, which has so far been
unknown to his interlocutor or reader:
The boot of the car had been forced open.

epiphoric anaphoric

Categories of Proper Nouns Preceded by the Definite Article

a. Names of rivers: the Congo, the Thames, the Argeş.

Obs. The article is however omitted in enumerations: the region between the upper waters of
Euphrates and Tigris; a network of canals connecting Humber, Severn, Mersey and Thames.
b. Names of seas and oceans: the Atlantic (Ocean), the Baltic, the Black Sea, the
Mediterranean (Sea).
b. Names of mountains and hills: the Alps, the Carpathians, the Cheviot Hills, the
Pennines.
c. Plural names of islands or groups of islands: the British Isles, the Azores, the Antilles.
d. Names of straits, channel, bays, capes: the Straits of Dover, the English Channel, the
Bay of Biscay.

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Obs. The nouns cape, lake/loch, mount, port followed by an appositional proper or common name
do not take the article: Cape Canaveral, Lake Windermere, Loch Ness, Mount Everest, Mount
Sinai, Port Arthur, Port Said.
e. A number of geographical names of regions and countries: the Crimea, the Sahara,
the Lebanon, the Netherlands, the Ukraine.
f. Names of ships: the Mayflower (the ship in which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from
Southampton to the New World in 1620), the Titanic.
Obs. If the name of a ship is attached to a preceding appellative in the definite form, the article
may or may not be used:
The rebel battleship the Espana sank after an explosion.
Real-Admiral Byrd’s barquentine Bear of Oakland (vas cu 3 sau mai multe catarge) left Boston on
Monday.
g. Names of English and American newspapers and magazines: the Times, the Observer,
the New Yorker.
h. The plural of family names: the Browns, the Smiths.
i. Proper names (nouns) determined by an attribute in front or post position or by an
attributive clause:
the celebrated Charles Dickens; the famous Mrs. Dalloway/Moll Flanders;
I could hardly recognize the Bucharest of my youth.
The Ann I married was not the Ann of my dreams.
Obs. Proper names preceded by an affective attribute or by words which are meant as nicknames
or express a single idea together with the respective noun, do not get the definite article:
darling Jane/Mother, dear Susan, good old Pete, poor little Ann (affective);
crazy Tom, lazy Mary, brave Robin Hood and his merry fellows (nicknames);
Old Mrs. Brown, Little Dorrit, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Prince, ancient Rome, Romanian
literature.
However, when the respective proper name is followed by an adjective or by an
appositive noun which is meant as a nickname, the definite article usually precedes the nickname:
Edward the Confessor (King of England 1042-1066); Richard the Lion-Hearted (King of England
1189-1199).
Exceptions: John Lackland (King of England 1199-1216).
j. The names of the cardinal points and of the respective regions: the east, the west such
as in: To the east, the plain stretched for hundreds of miles.

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Also: the West (occidentul); the East; the Middle East; the East End (of London); the
West End (of London).
Obs. When the names of the cardinal points are employed adverbially, the definite article is not
used:
One flew east,
One flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.
k. Proper names formed by an adjective + a common name: the Green Park; the
Zoological Gardens; the British Museum.
Obs. Proper names formed of two nouns (a proper or common name + a common name such as
street, square, park, palace, abbey, cross) are not articulated: Trafalgar Square; Scotland Yard;
Hyde Park; Windsor Castle; Buckingham Palace; Westminster Abbey; China Town.
l. A number of names of town districts, streets, buildings, monuments on account of the
fact they tend to be world-known: the City; the Mall; the Strand; the Tower; the Tate
(Gallery); the Zoo; the Drury Lane (Theatre); the Old Vic (Theatre); the Savoy; the
Ascot; the Derby; the Concorde.
m. Names of days, months, years, seasons and holidays which, although in most cases
are seen as unique and consequently do not get the definite article: on New Year’s
Eve; I like spring; May Day, etc., they are still countable in certain situations and do
get the definite article as follows:
 When the has the value of a demonstrative adjective: The (that) autumn was cold and
rainy.
 When the noun does not express time related to the present: On the Monday he went
to work as usually.
 When the article is used contrastively: Those were his pastimes in the winter./In the
summer he used to go up the mountains.