|
|
Article: The articles in English (1).(LINGUISTICS)(a and an)
- Article from:
- Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English Studies
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Adam Mickiewicz University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
ABSTRACT
After considering the history of the label 'article', this paper shows how, although the and a(n) do make up a grammatical system in Modern English (being mutually exclusive), the two articles have quite different roles in the grammar. The developed from a demonstrative and is nowadays only sometimes substitutable for one. A(n) developed from the number modifier one and has diverged far from it. The generic use of the two articles is contrasted, and also what happens when there is an underlying sequence of articles.
1. Introduction
The label "article" was used for a word class in Classical Greek which had two members--what we would ...