Appendix Two: Articles in Academic Writing Three of the most common words in the English language are also three of the most difficult to use. We are referring to the articles a, an, and the. We will not attempt here to give you every rule of article use in English, but we will provide you with a quick review ofsome basic rules to guide you in your choice of a, an, the, or 0 (no article needed). 1. Countability Before deciding if you should use an article, you should determine whether the noun in question is countable (count) or uncountable (non-count) and whether it is generic (representative or symbolic). Count nouns can take the plural; non-count nouns cannot, or can only do so under special circumstances. Let us first take a look at specific nouns and countabiliry. We will take a look at generic use later. TASK ONE Mark the following nouns as either count (C) or non-count (NC). behavior -- money -- complication -- problem -- crisis -- progress -- device -- proposal -- discrepancy -- research -- energy -- reception -- equipment -- research project -- UJ h 395 396 ApPENDIX Two: ARTICLES Determining whether a noun is countable may not be as easy as it seems. First, you cannot tell whether a noun is countable simply by looking at it. Some nouns that you intuitively think can be counted may not be countable. Money, for example, can be counted; however, the word money is a 11ancount noun. Second, a noun that is countable in one language may not be countable in another and vice versa. Information, for example, is a non-count noun in English but a count noun in most of its European equivalents. The following are usually non-count nouns in English. Names for languages-Chinese, Korean, French, Arabic . . . Names for areas of study-physics, biology, economics . . . Names for solids-coal, steel, marble . .. Names for liquids-water, nitric acid, oil . .. Names for gases-oxygen, hydrogen, methane . .. Names for powders-salt, sugar, sand . .. Third, although you may have learned that nouns are either count or non-count, this is not the whole story. There are quite a number of nouns that can be either. These can be referred to as double nouns. There may even be considerable differences in meaning between a count noun and its nOllcount counterpart. Table 25 lists some double nouns. TABLE 25. Double Nouns Non-Count Count analysis (in general) an analysis (a particular one) calculation (in general) a calculation (a particular one) diamond (the hard substance) a diamond (a precious stone) grain (in general), i.e., cereal agrain (a particular one), i.e., a grain of salt science (in general) a science (a particular one) sound (in general) a sound (a particular one) ApPENDIX Two: ARTICLES 397 An important group of nouns in this category refers to concepts that can be measured or quantified. Examples of these are temperature, pressure, voltage, growth, density, and velocity. Can you describe the difference between temperature and a temperature? A thermometer measures temperature. Temperature is expressed in degrees. A temperature of over 120'C was recorded. The patient ran a high temperature for several days. Fourth, some nouns that are non-count nouns in everyday English may be count nouns in technical English. Can you explain the difference in usage between the italicized nouns in the following sentences? Rice is a staple food around the world. A rice that can resist certain types of diseases should be introduced to the farmers of the region. Steel is critical for the construction of skyscrapers. The use of a light-weight steel would improve fuel efficiency. There are at least two possible explanations for the difference. One is that the second sentence of each set involves a highly specialized use of the term that would most likely only be used by experts in the field. For example, while most non-experts would make a distinction between rice and wheat Of between steeland aluminum, they would not necessarily distinguish between different types of rice or steel. Experts, however, can and do. Another reason may be for purposes of conciseness. It is simply more efficient for experts to talk of steels rather than diffirent types ofsteel. (However, we recommend that you do not shift non-count nouns to count nouns unless you have seen examples from your field of study.) 398 ApPENDIX Two: ARTICLES 2. The Indefinite Article and 0 Once you have determined what type of noun you are using, you can then make some further decisions regarding your choice (or omission) of an article. As you know, a(n) indicates that the noun is any single countable item, rather than a specific one. A is used before consonant sounds, while an is used before vowel sounds. Note that sound, not spelling, is the criterion. This explains why we write an uprising but a university and a lead battery but an LED display. A(n) is typically used with the first mention of a singular countable noun, but not always. There are a number oflinguistic contexts that require the use of the. (See Section 3, The Definite Article.) Usually, no article (0) is necessary for the first mention of a plural or a non-count noun where none of the special conditions for definite article use apply. (See Section 3.) 3. The Definite Article The use of the definite article is far more problematic than the use of the indefinite because the definite article is used in a number of different ways. The most important of these, however, is to specifY a particular noun, to make clear that reference is being made to a particular singular or plural noun. The definite article should be used in the following contexts. • Second mention (either explicit or implicit) a. The surface is covered by a thin oxidefilm. Thefilm protects the surface from corrosion. b. A very lightweight car was developed, but the vehicle performed poorly in crash tests. c. A new computer was purchased to complete the process, but the hard drive was damaged. • Superlatives or ordinals a. The most-controlled therapy yielded the best results. b. The first studies were conducted in early 1993. c. The last security conference was termed a success, • Specifiers (e.g., same, sole, only, chief principal . .. ) a. The same subjects were retested at two-week intervals. b. The only research previously done in this area yielded mixed results. c. The principal causes of the disaster have yet to be discovered. ApPENDIX Two: ARTICLES 399 • Shared knowledge or unique reference a. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. b. The oxygen balance in the atmosphere is maintained by photosynthesis. c. The stars are fueled by fusion reactions. • Ofphrases or other forms of postmodification (but not with first mention of partitive2 ofphrases such as a molecule ofoxygen, a layer ofsilicon, or a piece ofinformation) a. The behavior ofthis species varies. b. The price ofgoldfluctuates. c. The results ofthe investigation were inconclusive. • Partitive ofphrases with plurals a. None ofthe projects was satisfactory. b. Some ofthe subjects had adverse reactions. c. All ofthe questionnaires were returned. • Names of theories, effects, devices, scales, and so on modified by a proper name used as an adjective a. the Doppler effect b. the Heisenberg uncertainty principle c. the Hubble telescope d. the Kelvin scale Note, however, that when a proper name is used in the possessive form, no article is used. a. Coulomb's law b. Einstein's theory of relativity c. Broca's area d. Wegener's hypothesis 2 A partitive phrase is a construction that denotes part of a whole.