Noun phrases are composed of three parts: qualifier + adjective + noun Each of these three parts may be vacant.

One of the most common mistakes in English writing is the mistake of noun phrases, especially the ones that should be missing, or the plural should be added at the end of the noun without adding it.Therefore, if you want to develop good habits of writing in English and avoid mistakes, it is best to have the following determination: whenever noun is used in English sentences, it must appear in the form of “noun phrase”, that is, there must be three parts: qualifier + adjective + noun.Among these three parts, adjectives are optional modifiers.Therefore, the vacancy of the adjective will not affect the correctness of the noun phrase.If the following noun is plural or uncountable, the zero article can be used, that is, no article is added. In this case, the qualifier may also be vacant.The concept of zero article is further explained below in this chapter.Even the noun part may be omitted as long as it is clear enough.Therefore, even if there is only one word in the sentence, it should be regarded as a noun phrase composed of three parts.

In addition, adverbs can be attached to the adjectives in the noun phrase to modify it.The two types of word “adjectives and adverbs” are two modifiers in English. This book will be discussed in detail in the following chapters.The themes discussed in this chapter are the two parts of noun and qualifiers in noun phrases.

Please first look at the following examples of noun phrases:

Noun

First, let’s take a look at the noun part in the noun phrase.When writing this part, it is more important to pay attention to the issue of “countable and uncountable”.

There are singular and plural nouns.An singular countable noun, the article a or an can be added to represent “a”, such as:

• a book

• an apple

Other qualifiers can also be added, such as:

• my book

• the apple

A countable noun with a plural number should be added with -s (or other irregular plural variation) to represent “more than two”, such as:

• books

• apples

It can also be preceded by some qualifiers other than a, such as:

• my books

• the apples

You can understand this: the article a or an, and the plural ending –s are symbols used to represent “countable nouns”.The article a or an means a countable noun (one) that is singular, and the plural ending –s means a countable noun (multiple).If this noun is plural and is expressed as the ending of the plural, the singular article a or an cannot be used before it.At this time, grammarists said that the term “zero article” was used before.With zero articles, there is no need to add other qualifiers to form a complete noun phrase.

As for the uncountable noun, there is no plural form.Moreover, since an uncountable noun cannot calculate “several”, of course, the article a or an that means “one” cannot be added.You can understand this way: Uncountable nouns do not need to be expressed in singular or plural terms.Its word ending cannot be plural, nor can it be preceded by a or an.This situation of “no article required” is called zero article, such as:

• money

• water

In addition, you can also choose to add some qualifiers other than a, such as:

• my money

• the water

1. Countable nouns

There are two main categories of countable nouns:

1). Objects with fixed shapes

For objects with fixed shapes, you can count how many of them are, which are countable nouns.When used in a sentence, if the countable noun is a plural, the zero article can be used in the previous qualifier position.If it is an odd number, there must be a qualifier.For example:

• a boy

• dogs

• the flower

• those tables

2). Units of Weights and Measures

Although units of weight and measure are abstract and intangible, since they are used as units, they must be used for calculation.Therefore, the units of weight and measure are countable nouns.For example:

• a pound

• 20 feet Twenty feet

• an hour

• 15 cents 15 cents

2. Uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns can be divided into four categories, as follows.

1). Material noun

Generally, gases, liquids, and solids without fixed shapes are mostly material nouns.Because there is no fixed shape, it is uncountable, and zero articles can be used in front.For example:

• water

• air

• gold

• paper

Please compare: things like “book” have fixed shapes and are countable nouns. If they are singular, they must be explained as “a” (a book), and the plural must be added -s (books).The so-called “having a fixed shape” can be done: if you tear a page from a book, this page cannot be called a “book” because it does not conform to the fixed shape of a “book”.However, if it is the noun “paper”, it is still called “paper” after tearing it off. Therefore, paper has no fixed shape and is an uncountable noun. Zero articles can be used before.

If a material noun is to be calculated, it is usually counting its units, for example:

• three bottles of water

• a liter of air

• two ounces of gold

• a sheet of paper

If you see that a is added before or -s is added after, then this noun is no longer a material noun, but is used as a countable ordinary noun.For example:

• I have a paper to write tonight. (I have a report to write tonight.)

The noun phrase a paper in the sentence is not “a piece of paper” but “a report”, so it is a countable noun.

• Drinking a couple of beers a day won’t do you any harm.

The beers in the sentence are plural because a beer is used directly to represent “a bottle of beer” and used as a countable noun.

• Several essential foods have risen in price lately. (Several essential foods have risen in price lately.)

In general usage, food is a material noun and can use definite articles.However, the noun phrase several essential foods in the previous sentence have been added before the qualifiers several and noun foods that represent “several” are taken into plural forms. This is all about a food as “a kind of food”, so it is a countable noun.Many uncountable material nouns can be used as countable nouns when interpreted as “genre”.

2). Abstract noun

Nouns representing abstract concepts are invisible or touched, and have no specific shapes, so there are no “several” numbers.These are all uncountable nouns and zero articles can be used.For example:

• cowardice

• ugliness

• Wisdom

• eternity

If you see an abstract noun with a before or a plural -s added after it, it means using it as a countable ordinary noun, which often has different meanings.For example:

• Your sister is a real beauty. (Your sister is a great beauty.)

In general usage, beauty is an abstract noun and uncountable.The a real beauty in the previous sentence means “a great beauty”, which refers to a concrete and tangible “person”, which is a countable noun.

3). Gernoun

Most gerunds (V-ing) represent “action” or “things”, are uncountable nouns and can use zero articles.For example:

• Smoking is harmless to health. (Smoking is harmful to health.)

The gerund smoking means “smoking”, which is an uncountable noun and zero article.

• I love swimming. (I love swimming.)

The gerund swiming means “swimming”, which is an uncountable noun and uses zero articles.

There are a few gerunds that can be used as countable nouns, for example:

• There were three weddings at this restaurant yesterday.

Although three weddings in the sentence are also gerunds, a wedding refers to “a wedding”, so it is a countable noun.

4). Proper noun

Like human names and place names, a noun only represents a single object and is called a proper noun.Since there is only one object represented by a proper noun, it naturally belongs to an uncountable noun.For example:

• Neil Armstrong was the first man that landed on the moon.

The name of Neil Armstrong is a proper noun and is uncountable, so there is no plural form.Because proper nouns only represent a single object, it is clear that there is no need to limit the scope, so there is no qualifier before it.

• I used to live in London. (I used to live in London.)

The place name London is a proper noun, uncountable, and no qualifying words are added.If more than two people share the same name, then the name is no longer a proper noun or a countable noun.For example:

• I’d like to invite the Armstrongs over for dinner.

Although Armstrong is a proper noun, this family uses this name, so there can be plural numbers and the qualifiers can be added in front of them.The relationship between proper nouns and qualifiers will be described in detail below.

compound noun

The adjective should be placed in the middle of the noun phrase.If this position is directly placed in another noun to be used as an adjective, this construction is called **compound nouns (compounds).For example:

1. The dishwasher is not working well.

2. Who is the best pole-vaulter on your team?

3. The flower shop is not far from here.

There are three ways to write compound nouns.The first is like the dishwasher: two nouns are written together to become one word.The dish in the previous one is a noun used as an adjective, meaning “dish washing dishes”, so the adjective must be used in accordance with the usage and cannot be used in plural numbers (the English adjective has no plural numbers).The second type is like the pole-vaulter, where there is a hyphen connection between the two nouns.Similarly, the previous noun pole is now used as an adjective, and cannot be used in plural numbers.The third type is like the flower shop, where the two nouns are separated.The previous noun flower is also used when the adjective is used (meaning “flower selling”) and has no plural shapes.Let’s take a look at a few examples:

• He’s got some coins in his trouser pocket.

For nouns like trousers, pants, glasses, and scissors, the English habit is to always take the plural form.However, even if this noun that always adopts plural forms and is used as an adjective in compound nouns, it still needs to follow the usage of the adjective, that is, it should be changed to an singular number, such as his trouser pocket.

• Have you got a clothes hanger for my jacket? (Is there any hanger to hang my jacket?)

The adjective position in the middle of the noun phrase a clothes hanger is not allowed to have plural, but if clothes are changed to singular and become a clothes hanger, the meaning will become (cloth hanger).In this case, the adjective position in the middle of the noun phrase must be taken into a plural form, otherwise the meaning will be wrong.

There are also some compound words that are used to using plural adjectives, such as:

• He drives a sports car to school.

• You should write to the admissions office to inquire. (You should write to the organization in charge of admissions license to inquire.)

Adjectives like sports and admissions are usually used in plural adjectives.

plural of compound nouns

For general compound nouns, the plural –s is added to the last noun position, for example:

• There are three gift shops in my neighborhood. (There are three gift shops near my home.)

Noun phrase three gift shops is plural, and the middle gift is used so that the singular shape is maintained, only the following noun shops is to take plural shapes.

• I have two brothers-in-law. (I have two brothers-in-law.)

There is a relatively different compound noun in the noun phrase two brothers-in-law: brother-in-law, which contains a preposition phrase in law modifies the noun brother, and then uses hyphen to connect it into a compound word. It can be seen that the main noun is brother.At this time, the plural number should be added to the noun brother and become three brothers-in-law.

• The soldiers do 100 push-ups every day. (The soldiers do a hundred push-ups every day.)

There is also a more special compound noun among the noun phrases 100 push-ups: push-up is a compound noun composed of the verb push connected to the prepositional adverb up.There is no position in this compound noun that is the main noun (unlike brother-in-law), so its plural is still added to the end of the word (push-ups).

Adverb

Adverbs can also be included in noun phrases.For example, in addition to the three parts of the qualifier (their) + adjective (pretty + noun) , you can see that the word very is attached to the adjective. Very is an adverb (intensifier) **, which is used here as a modifier for the adjective pretty, and is an optional element. Let’s take a look at a similar example:

• that rather old jacket

The same is true for this noun phrase. In addition to the three parts of qualifier (that) + adjective (old) + noun (jacket), the adverb of degree **** is also added to the adverb of degree **​ in front of the adjective old to modify it.

Adjective

Please observe this noun phrase:

• these juicy Japanese apples

The qualifier is these, the noun is apples, and the position of the adjective in the middle is to include two adjectives: juicy and Japanese.From this we can see that there are more than one adjective position in the middle of the noun phrase.Let’s take a look at another example:

• all healthy young girls

The adjectives healthy and young are placed between the qualifier all and the noun girls.

Regarding the usage of adjectives and adverbs, this book will be discussed in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 respectively.

Omitting noun phrases

Among the three parts of the noun phrase “qualifier + adjective + noun”, each part may be vacant.For example, in the noun phrase a good teacher, even if the adjective good is removed and only a teacher is left, the noun phrase is still correct.Even in the noun phrase the smartest kid, if the most important noun kid is removed and only the smartest is left, it is also correct, for example:

• Of all the kids in my class, Jack is the smartest. (All the students in my class belong to Jack is the smartest.)

Readers can clearly understand from the context that the smartest is the omission of the smartest kid.What’s more, in these juicy Japanese apples noun phrases, two adjectives (juicy, Japanese) and nouns can be removed together, leaving only the qualifier these, which is still the correct noun phrase.For example, you point to a bunch of apples and say to your boss:

• I want these. (I want these.)

The boss will also know what you want.At this time, these replaced the subsequent noun and upgraded to pronoun.

Among the three positions of noun phrases, only the qualifier position cannot be omitted.If you see that the qualifier position of the noun phrase is vacant, then the noun phrase adopts zero articles and must meet the conditions of zero articles.

Omit noun

If you want to omit the most important nouns in nouns, there must be a prerequisite: after omitting, readers must be very clear about what you are missing and they cannot make them guess.This has to conform to the idiomatic usage.

Traditional grammar often lists a rule: the + adjective = plural noun.However, this rule is not necessary on the one hand, and on the other hand, it may also cause learners to apply it incorrectly.Most of the so-called rules in traditional grammar are at this level, and there is no need to remember them.Let’s take a look at this example:

• The rich are not always happier than the poor. (Rich people are not necessarily happier than the poor.)

Applying grammatical rules: the rich is “the + adjective”, which is equal to a plural noun. When the subject is used, plural verbs should be used, such as are.But just by thinking about it, it is easy to see that among the three parts of the noun phrase (qualifier + adjective + noun), the noun phrase the rich only has the first two parts, and the third part (noun) is omitted.So, which noun is omitted?Judging from the meaning, what is saved from the rich “rich” is of course “people”, and the word that generally refers to “ordinary people” in English is people.Therefore, if the omitted part is restored back, it is the noun phrase the rich people.Because the people in the noun part are a plural noun, it is of course a plural.As long as you see this, you don’t need to memorize the rule “the + adjective = plural noun”.

On the contrary, if you memorize the rules, you may be mistaken.In order to avoid misunderstanding rules, you have to memorize a lot of “exceptions” while memorizing the rules.For example, the following two sentences:

• The new is not always better than the old. (New things are not necessarily better than the old.)

• The unknown is often feared. (The unknown is often feared.)

If grammatical rules are applied, then the new and the unknown are in line with the construction of “the + adjective”, but neither can be interpreted as plural nouns, but should be singular.Why?Because it is easy to judge from the meaning: the omitted part of these two noun phrases is no longer people, but things.If you restore it, the two noun phrases, the new thing and the unknown thing, are of course singular rather than plural.

Types of qualifiers

The classification of qualifiers can be divided into **definite qualifiers such as the, those, John’s, and **indefinite qualifiers such as a, some, fifty.If divided according to its limited scope, it can be divided into partitive qualifiers such as some, and universal qualifiers such as all.However, a classification closely related to English writing is divided by the position where qualifiers appear in noun phrases: they can be divided into pre-determiners, central determiners, and post-determiners.Let’s take a look at the following examples:

1. Front qualifier

Among the qualifiers, the first qualifier is called the front qualifier.When used with median qualifiers, the front qualifiers must be placed in front.Including all, both, half, one-third, one-fifth, double, twice, three times, such, etc., all belong to the front qualifiers.For example:

2. Posture qualifier

The posterior qualifier should be ranked in the next order in noun phrases.If used in conjunction with the front or median qualifier, the back and side qualifier must be placed at the end (of course, its position is still in front of the adjective).The posterior qualifiers include all the number of words (three, 200), ordinal numbers (first, second, 300th, last), as well as many, much, little, few, etc. that represent “more or less”.For example:

3. Median qualifier

The median qualifiers that appear most frequently among qualifiers are median qualifiers, including articles (a, an, the and zero articles), indicator qualifiers (this, that, these, those), indefinite qualifiers (some, any, either), negative qualifiers (no, neither), full qualifiers (every, each) and possessive (my, your, John’s), etc. are all median qualifiers.For example:

Please note: the front qualifier, the middle qualifier and the posterior qualifier can appear together in a noun phrase, as long as the order is not wrong.For example: all (before) my (before) many (behind) friends.However, if it is also a median qualifier, then there is exclusivity between each other, that is, only one can be used.In other words, it would be a mistake to write two median qualifiers together.For example, the following noun phrases make this mistake:

• these some boy (error)

• any my car (error)

• neither John’s sister (error)

• every some mistake

Noun phrases in noun phraseses

The construction of noun phrases has three positions: “qualifier + adjective + noun”.Among them, the position of the “qualified word” and the position of the “noun” can be placed in a noun phrase.The following are introduced separately.

1. Noun phrases that define the position of words

Take a look at the following example of the noun phrase:

In this noun phrase, the qualifier position is an possessive a dog’s.If you look closely at this possessive, you will find that it is composed of the noun phrase a dog (qualifier a plus noun dog) plus ‘s that represent possessive.Therefore, there may also be a noun phrase hiding in the qualifying position in the form of possessive characters.Similar examples include:

• the school’s history

• a man’s honor

• my father’s company

The same is true for these noun phrases. Each has another noun phrase (the school, a man, my father) hiding in the position of the qualifier in the form of possessive characters.

2. Noun phrases in the position of noun

You can also insert a complete noun phrase into the noun position at the end of the noun phrase.For example:

At first glance, it looks a bit strange: nouns are plural dollars, why can the singular article an be added before it?

In fact, an is not the article of dollars.In the above noun phrase, the 200 billion dollar of the noun position itself is another noun phrase: 200 billion The number word is a qualifier, and the dollar is a plural noun.However, if the entire noun phrase 200 billion dollars is stuffed into the noun position of another noun phrase and add an adjective unbelievable in front of it, then a new qualifier position is generated in front of it.As a result, a larger noun phrase appeared: the qualifier is an, the adjective is unbelievable, and the noun position is 200 billion dollars.In this case, although the noun phrase at the end will contain a number of words and a countable plural noun, it is viewed as a whole, so a qualifier should be added at the beginning, such as the article an.Let’s take a look at another example:

• The meeting dragged on for a tiredome 15 days.

In the noun phrase a tiredome 15 days, the noun position itself is a noun phrase 15 days (15 is a qualifier, and days is a noun).Because the adjective tiredome was added before, a qualifier position appeared further before, requiring an article a.Similar examples include:

• an amazing 500 miles stunning 500 miles

• a mere 20 soldiers

Let’s take a look at a slightly different example:

• The construction will take another 30 days. (The construction will take another 30 days.)

In the noun phrase another 30 days, 30 days itself is a plural noun phrase (qualification word 30 plus noun days), but the noun position of another noun phrase and the qualification word another is added in front of it, which becomes another 30 days, the new noun phrase (singular).

Discussion on the position of adjectives

The construction of noun phrase is “qualifier + adjective + noun”.You can put a noun phrase in the qualifier position (using the possessive form), and you can put a complete noun phrase in the noun position.So, what about the adjective position in the middle?Can you put noun phrases in this position?The answer is: No.This position is too small to only accommodate words and phrases.Take a look at the following example:

This noun phrase is placed in the adjective position with the word flower.The dictionary will tell you: flower is a noun.However, flower is placed here using nouns as an adjective: a “flower selling” store.We mentioned earlier: you should develop good writing habits, and all nouns that appear in English sentences should be treated as noun phrases.However, this flower in the middle of a flower shop cannot be regarded as a noun.From the perspective of function, it is just an adjective: flower does not have its own qualifier or plural. In this case, it cannot be regarded as a noun, but is just a noun used as an adjective.A structure like a flower shop, the noun flower is used as an adjective, and is generally called a “compound noun”.

If you want to put a noun phrase in the adjective position, the noun phrase must be transformed into a word of the adjective.When a phrase is transformed into a word, it is done by connecting the word symbols (hyphen).Moreover, since it is a word that is transformed into an adjective, the English adjectives do not have plural forms, so the plurals in the original noun phrase must be changed to singular.For example:

• My uncle lives in a three-story mansion. (My uncle lives in a three-story building.)

In the noun phrase a three-story mansion, the adjective is placed in the compound adjective three-story “three-story” from the noun phrase three stories “three stories”.This noun phrase should be transformed into an adjective word. In addition to using hyphen to connect it into a word, the end of the plural word must also be removed and changed to an singular number, because three-story is an adjective word without a plural form.

Consistency between noun and qualifiers

There is another point to note in noun phrases: nouns and the previous qualifiers must be consistent in countable and uncountable aspects.For example:

Countable nouns books should be used with countable qualifiers many, uncountable nouns time should be used with uncountable qualifier much. Only qualifiers like some can be used both countable nouns and uncountable nouns.

The consistency between nouns and qualifiers is a very simple concept, but because Chinese does not need to express countable or uncountable expressions, it is easy for us to forget this requirement when writing in English.Moreover, there are some qualifiers that even British and Americans often use incorrectly, for example, where fewer should be used is often mistakenly planted as less.Take a look at the following example:

• Today I interviewed for no less than four jobs, but didn’t get any definite answer. (Not good)

As we all know, the qualifiers that represent “many” include many (countable) and much (uncountable), and their comparative level is also more. For example, more books and more time are correct.However, there are differences between few and little, where few should be used in conjunction with countable nouns, the comparison level is fewer, while little should be used in conjunction with uncountable nouns, and the comparison level is less.In other words, the two qualifiers fewer and less are countable and cannot be confused.In the above example, there is a mistake in no less than four jobs: jobs are plural countable nouns, and the previous qualifier cannot be used as uncountable less, and should be changed to fewer, as follows:

• Today I interviewed for no fewer than four jobs, but didn’t get any definite answer.

Article

In terms of frequency of use, the most commonly seen qualifiers are articles (belonging to median qualifiers), which can be divided into indefinite articles a or an, definite articles the, and zero articles.This is also one of the most error-prone places in English writing: sometimes the article should be added without adding, sometimes a or an should be used but the or the.The following discusses the usage of three articles separately.

1. Indefinite article a or an

To understand the usage of the indefinite article a or an, you might as well start from this observation: a or an is the weakening result of one.In fact, a or an is Middle English, and the source comes from the Old English vocabulary that means one in Old English.

According to the above observations, the simplest way to judge the use of the indefinite article a or an is: a or an can be used where one can be used (it can be said “a” something).On the contrary, if one cannot be used, the qualifier position can be empty (called zero article).For example:

• Black-faced spoonbills are an endangered species.

In the noun phrase black-faced spoonbills, there are only two parts: adjective (black-faced) and noun (spoonbills), and no qualifiers are not seen.This is because the spoonbills of the noun position are plural, and the position of the previous qualifier can naturally not be said one, that is, the indefinite article cannot be added.At this time, you can choose to empty the qualifier position (called zero article).On the contrary, in noun phrases like a bird, the noun bird is an singular and countable noun, which can be said to be “one”, so there is an article a.

2. Zero article

Gramologists have created the concept of the zero article, mainly to facilitate the interpretation of noun phrases, and can also remind users not to forget to add qualifiers when writing noun phrases.

If: There must be a qualifier in front of a noun phrase, then there will be some exceptions.For example, new books, which is a correct noun phrase, but only adjective new and noun books, and no qualifiers are in front of it.In order to avoid such irregularities, grammaticians said: There is still a qualifier in front of the noun phrase new books, but it is not visible and is called “zero article”.

If there are only two types of articles in English: indefinite articles (a, an) and definite articles (the), it is not comprehensive enough to interpret noun phrases.Adding the concept of zero articles, the articles are expanded into three types: indefinite articles, definite articles, and zero articles, which are more comprehensive (complete) when interpreted.

The position of the qualifier before the noun phrase can be used to represent the countable noun with a singular number after it, or the zero article (without the article) can be used to represent the plural or uncountable noun.

With the concept of zero article added, the construction of noun phrases is relatively unified:

There are three positions for noun phrases: qualifier + adjective + noun.Among them, the adjectives are modifiers and are optional.The position of nouns can be omitted depending on the situation, such as the rich people can be omitted to the rich, and those yellow flowers can be omitted to those (that is, those are upgraded to pronoun).Only the qualifier position is indispensable.If you see that the qualifier position of the noun phrase is empty, it means that the zero article is used.In other words, this noun is either plural or uncountable, and a or an cannot be put in front of it.

The scope of application of zero article

The definite article can be used before the plural noun.Except for plurals, abstract nouns (such as bravery, exhaustion) have no specific shape and cannot be expressed as one (a or an cannot be added before).Although material nouns (such as gold, air) are specific things, their shape is not fixed and cannot be expressed as one.These nouns that cannot be defined by a or an can empty the qualifier position and use zero articles.For example:

• Bravery is a necessary quality in a soldier. (Bravery is a necessary quality in a soldier.)

Although the subject bravery of this sentence has only one word, it is still called “noun phrase” because it is the constructive form of “zero article plus noun”.The abstract noun bravery cannot put the article a before it, so it can be said that the article zero is placed in front of it.However, if a noun like soldier appears alone, it is a mistake, because it is an singular countable noun and one can be added in front of it.If the position of the qualifier in front of the singular countable noun is lost, soldier alone does not make any singular or plural expressions, and it cannot constitute a correct noun phrase.This is one of the common mistakes that you make when writing.Let’s take a look at another example:

• Air is invisible, but people can’t live without it.

The air in this sentence is the correct noun phrase and uses the zero article (air is an abstract noun and does not have to be expressed in singularity).In addition, people are also the correct noun phrase, because it is a plural “people” and has already made a plural representation, so the zero article is used before.In order to avoid mistakes in noun phrases when writing, you should develop a habit: nouns in English sentences must appear in the shape of noun phrases, that is, there must be qualifiers, including zero articles.

3. The final article the

The definite article the is also in Middle English, from the word that means that.Therefore, to understand the usage of the , you can start from this observation: the , is the weakening of that or those , and the , can only be used where that or those .That or those are also a type of qualifier, or “indicative adjective”.Anything that or those can be used is indicative, that is, it is “that” or “those”.Because the is a weakening of that or those, where the can be used, whether explicitly or implied, is also indicative.For example:

• There’s a dog in his front yard, but it’s not the dog I saw last time.

The previous a dog is equivalent to one dog, “a dog”, and the context does not indicate “which one”.The dog behind is equivalent to that dog, because the relationship clause below shows that I saw last time pointed out that it is the “that line” I saw last time I saw last time.

To determine whether to use the indefinite article a or an or the determinant word the, the easiest way is to interpret a or an as one “one”, the “one” as that or those, respectively, and to guess in the meaning of the clause, whether it should be said “one” or “that”.For example:

• John is a very tall player, but he’s not the tallest player on the team.

The context of a very tall player in the previous context does not indicate it, it only says that it is a very tall player, which is equivalent to one player, so the indefinite article a should be used.Later, it is pointed out that it is the highest “that” in the team, which is equivalent to that player, so the definite article should be used.Generally, grammar books say that “the most advanced article must be added”, and this is the reason.

The most advanced article needs to be added?

Grammar books like to list rules, but grammar rules are neither easy to memorize and are full of exceptions.Instead of memorizing the rules, it is better to try to understand the truth behind the grammatical rules.As long as you understand the truth behind it, know both the truth and the reason, you will not be afraid of using it in the wrong way when writing.Take the rule of “the highest level must be added to the final article” for example. If you recite it to the death, it may cause a lot of problems.For example, there are many examples of the highest but non-definite article:

• Most books in my library are science fiction. (Most books in my library are science fiction.)

Among the noun phrases most books, most is the most advanced: qualifiers many (original form), more (comparative level), most (most advanced).However, it plays the role of a qualifier in this noun phrase, and its function is to limit the scope of this noun: it is the “most” books in the library, and does not indicate “which books”.Since it lacks indicativeness and does not have the function of that or th ose, the definite article cannot be used.

This situation is different from the most expensive books in my library. The latter noun phrase uses the most expensive adjective to point out the most expensive “those books” in the library, which has a clear indication, so the definite article should be used.

Moreover, even if it is an ordinary adjective, the most advanced one does not necessarily need to be added.For example:

• Mangoes are most expensive in early summer, when they first come out.

The most expensive in the previous sentence is the highest level of the adjective expensive, but the one is not added.Because: This adjective is not placed in a noun phrase, but in the subject complementary position.The definite article the is a type of qualifier and should appear together with nouns unless the noun is omitted (such as the rich, the poor, the new, the unknown, etc. mentioned above).As in the previous sentence, most expensive is a pure adjective complement that modifies the subject mangoes.Because there is no noun after the adjective, of course there will be no problem of adding the article.

However, the sentence just now is acceptable if you say this:

• Mangoes are the most expensive in early summer, when they first come out.

It is not wrong to add a definite article, mainly because too many people say this, and the usage that conforms to most people’s habits is acceptable, although it is not very logical (the language is not very logical).besides:

• John runs (the)fastest among all the boys in my class. (All the boys in my class are John who run the fastest.)

The fastest in this sentence is an adverb that modifies the previous verb runs.It is just a modifier, attached to the verb, and logically speaking, there is no question of articles (there are articles in noun phrases).But the example above can be added.Language is a common thing. Although some usages are not reasonable, it is correct for everyone to use it like this.

Let’s take a look at the rule of “the highest level needs to add a fixed article”, which seems to imply “the more precise articles you should not add a fixed article”.But this is not necessarily the case.For example:

1. This is too expensive; do you have a cheaper room? (This room is too expensive. Is there a cheaper room?)

2. I’ll take the cheaper of the two rooms.

A cheaper room in sentence 1 contains the comparative adjective cheaper, which means one cheaper room. “One room” is a bit cheaper, so the indefinite article a is used.However, although the cheaper of the two rooms in sentence 2 is also a comparative adjective cheaper, it points out that the cheaper “the room” among the two rooms, so the definite article should be used.Let’s take a look at the following example:

• Modern British architecture leaves a lot to be desired, says Charles.

The noun phrase modern British architecture does not add a before, because the noun architecture is an uncountable abstract noun and one cannot be added.It also does not add the to the first because the context is not indicative: modern and British in the adjective position are both modifiers and do not have an indicative function.

• The architecture of modern China is characterized by boldness.

The architecture is followed by the prepositional phrase of modern China. When describing the use and pointing out it to be the “type” architecture of modern China, the article must be added before it.However, whether an adjective is indicative has nothing to do with it “putting it before or after a noun”, and it should be judged from the meaning to be accurate.For example:

• Of these chips, the blue ones are worth 100 dollars each, the red ones 50, and the yellow ones 10. (Of these chips, each blue one is worth 100 yuan, red ones, and yellow ones 10 yuan.)

The three noun phrases The blue ones, the red ones and the yellow ones are all pointed out by the adjectives in front of the noun as blue “that”, red “that”, etc.Therefore, the adjectives before the noun can also have an indicative function and use a definite article.on the contrary:

• He picked up a chip in that pile and gave it to the waitress.

Although there is a prepositional phrase in that pile to modify it, there is no indicative at this time: “Inside a pile of chips” does not indicate “which one”, so it can only be said that a chip represents one chip.

To sum up, the judgment of the indefinite article a or an and the definite article the can be said to involve quite complex situations, and Zhou Yan cannot be covered by the backrest rules.Instead of memorizing the rules, it is better to return to the origin: the indefinite article a or an comes from one, the definite article the comes from that or those, and then use the meaning of the sentence to judge, so that there will be no mistakes when writing.

Proper noun

People’s names (such as Bill Gates), place names (such as California), etc. are all proper nouns.As for a man and a place, they are ordinary nouns.The so-called ordinary noun is a concept of universal (universal).That is: any man in the world can be called a man, and any place in the world can also be called a place.This is the common name, that is, the ordinary noun.It is precisely because ordinary nouns are common names and many objects can be applied that we need to “limit” it: is this man or that man?Is it one man or many men?Therefore: only ordinary nouns need qualifying words.

As for proper nouns such as Bill Gates and California, they belong to the concept of special name (particular).That is: Everyone knows that the richest man in the world of Microsoft is named Bill Gates.As long as Bill Gates is mentioned, everyone already knows who this person is.This is a special term, that is, a proper noun.Because the proper noun is a special noun, only one object can be applied, and you will know who it is once you say it, then there is no need to “limit” it, so no qualifiers can be added.Because the noun like Bill Gates has only one object, there is no question of “one” or “two”, nor is there a question of “this” or “that”.Therefore, you cannot add a or the before Bill Gates.