Ways of Expressing the Meaning of the English Articles in Russian by means of:

a) cases.

Pour the water into the glass. Налейте воду в стакан.

Pour some water into the glass. Налейте воды в стакан.

b) word order.

Ex.: A woman came up to me and asked what time it was.

Ко мне подошла женщина и спросила, который час.

Ex.: The woman has come. Женщина пришла.

c) the words один, какой-то, какой-нибудь (the indefinite article), этот , тот самый (the definite article).

Ex.: A man is waiting for you downstairs.

Вас внизу ждет какой-то человек.

Do you know Ann? Yes, I do. I like the girl immensely.

Вы знаете Аню? Знаю. Мне очень нравится эта девушка.

Special Difficulties in the Use of Articles.

The nouns day, morning, evening are used without articles:

a) if day and morning mean ‘light’ and night and evening mean ‘darkness’, or if they denote a certain part of the day.

Ex.: Day is meant for work, night for sleep.

Ex.: It was evening. The river was before them. (Dreiser)

b) in the expressions by day, at night, from morning till night.

Ex.: It is easier to work by day than at night.

The definite article is used when these nouns are modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite.

Ex.: He will never forget the day when he met her.

The definite article is also used in the expressions: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening.

The indefinite article is used when the noun is modified by a descriptive attribute.

Ex.: I spent a sleepless night.

When the nouns morning, and evening are modified by the adjectives early and late, no articles are used because these adjectives do not describe the morning or night, but only show the time.

Ex.: It was early morning when the train pulled into the little siding.(Abrahams)

The Use of Articles with Names of Seasons.

Names of seasons are used without articles if they show a certain time of the year.

Ex.: It was spring.

The definite article is used when these nouns are modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite.

Ex.: It happened in the spring of 1930.

The indefinite article is used when these nouns are modified by a descriptive attribute.

Ex.: It was a cold spring.

When names of seasons are modified by the adjectives early or late, no articles are used.

Ex.: It was early spring.

For your independent work.

The Use of Articles with the Nouns School, College, Bed, Prison, Jail.

The nouns school, college, bed, prison, jail are used without an article when they lose their concrete meaning and express the purpose for which the objects denoted by these nouns serve.

When these nouns denote concrete objects the articles are used according to the general principle.

a) School, college

to be at school to be a schoolboy(schoolgirl)

to go to school

to be at college to be a student of a college

to leave college to finish or drop one’s studies

School begins at five.