Transcript Slide 1

Articles
Yule
(1998)
Getting a shot or shot?!
Basic forms of Articles
Nouns
Common
Nouns
Countable
nouns
Singular
Consonant
A/ the
Vowel
An/ the
Plural
Non-countable
nouns
(Substances, abstract concepts… )
Ø/ the
Ø
Proper nouns
(Mostly names of people, places, and special times…)
Ø
Basic Forms of Articles in English
 Yule (1998) Summary Box 2.1 (p. 25)
An Article Machine
 Yule (1998) Summary Box 2.2 (p. 27)
★ Exercise
1) She is studying now in
Ø
_________
England.
2) My friend wants to be
a
________
dentist.
a / the
3) There was not ________
doctor in the hospital.
An article machine
Problems with the Article Machine
 Question 1. ‘Unique referent’?
a. Dropping _____ print cartridge can cause structural
damage resulting in ink leakage.
b. _____ damaged cartridge should not be used.
 .Question 2. No proper nouns with an article?
a. There was a John Park looking for you today.
b. Do you know if it’s the John Park who was here before?
Basic Meanings of Articles
Countability
Individuation
Conceptual
structure
Indefinite
(a/an)
Definite
(the/this)
Zero
(Ø)
Singular
Singular
/ Plural
Plural / Noncountability
Individuation
Classifying
Identifying
Non-individuation
No differentiation
required
Countability
Nouns
Common
Nouns
Countable
nouns
Singular
Consonant
A/ the
Vowel
An/ the
Plural
Non-countable
nouns
(Substances, abstract concepts… )
Ø/ the
Ø
1a. I have a bag of apples. [Apple: A thing]
1b. She fed the baby a teaspoon of apple. [Apple: A substance]
2a. Can you give me a spoonful of butter? [Butter: A substance]
2b. There are several new butters being produced without milk.
[Butter: A product]
Singular or plural?
1)
Plural-looking nouns treated as singular
a. Physics is fun and so is linguistics.
b. The news is that measles isn’t fun at all.
Singular-looking nouns treated as plural
a. The press were predicting problems.
b. The public were ignoring them.
Singular or plural?
Collective Nouns: identify a group
(class, club, committee, crowd, enemy, gang, government, staff, team, etc.)
★ Perception about an entity: singular or plural?
a. The audience was cheering and clapping their hands.
b. Her family has decided that they can’t afford a big
wedding.
Individuation
 Individuation: The process of classifying as a single unit
 Yule (1998) Summary box 2.3
Individuation
Individual unit: a/an
Non-individual unit: Ø
• Countable nouns: chair, desk, car, house, etc. • Substances: beer, bread, coffee, glass, gold, ice,
oil, paper, soap, tea, water, wine etc.
• Abstract concepts: advice, courage, death,
fear, help, hope, knowledge, progress, sincerity,
suspicion etc
I want to get a coffee.
b. I want to get coffee.
a.
The indefinite article
: A signal of being treated as a single instance of its kind.
Classifying and Identifying
 A(n) X: ‘single instance of the X type of thing’
 The X: ‘that particular X’
Classifying: a/an
Identifying: the
“A process by which we name a thing (or
“A process by which we refer to a thing
(or things) as distinct from other members
of the same category or class of objects”
(Yule, 1998, p. 33)
things) as belonging to a class of objects”
(Yule, 1998, p. 33).
There is a farmhouse with a horse, Can you see the farmhouse with
a dog and an old truck.
the horse, the dog and the old
truck?
Classifying and Identifying
 A(n) X: ‘not yet identified’
 The X: ‘already identified’
▶ “Classifying (an X) will most likely occur
before identifying (the X)” (Yule, 1998, p. 34)
a. We watched a cartoon about a cat and a bird in a cage.
b. The cat kept trying to get the bird out of the cage.
Classifying and Identifying
▶ There is also a need to classify an entity
already identified.
A: Are you ready to go?
B: Yes, but before I leave, I just have to check that
Cindy is okay and the cage is closed.
A: Pardon?
B: Oh, I forgot, you haven’t met Cindy. She’s a
parrot and I keep her in a cage when I go out.
Classifying and Identifying
 Classifying (a/an)
1) General categorization
- Is there a telephone near here?
- A bitch is a female dog.
2) Labeling
- She’s a doctor and her husband’s a lawyer.
- He’s an American.
3) with the name of the producer of the object.
- I think that painting is a Picasso.
- Do you like my new watch? It’s a Calvin Klein.
Classifying and Identifying
 Already identified (the)
1) Entities treated as the only member of their class
- Physical terms
The moon goes round the earth which goes round the sun.
- Sociocultural terms
The Pope, the President, and the Queen were all there.
- Special events
The Civil War was extremely destructive.
- Special phenomena
The Pacific is bigger than the Atlantic.
Classifying and Identifying
 Already identified (the)
2) Entities treated as identified on the basis of
information supplied by the speaker or writer
[general nouns + post-modifying phrases]
a. I’d like to find the person who made this mess.
b. The place I’m going to describe is where I grew up.
c. He couldn’t tell us the cost of all those repairs.
d. He pointed to the fact that no lives were lost.
e. We’re not opposed to the concept of a laud-for-peace deal.
Classifying and Identifying
 Already identified (the)
3) Entities treated as definite due to pre-modifying expressions
- The point of end-point of scale
: first, last, beginning, end, top, and bottom
a. At the start, I thought I was the first person in her thoughts.
b. But by the end, I found myself at the bottom of her list.
- The superlative forms of adjectives
a. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
b. And I was the luckiest guy.
Classifying and Identifying
 Already identified (the)
4) Physically present entities
a. The glass on the table in the corner must be yours.
5) Part of an assumed shared life experience
a. The mail came while you were at the bank.
b. She always takes the bus to the store.
c. He likes to read the newspaper in the morning.
Classifying and Identifying
 Yule (1998) Summary Box 2.4 (p. 37)
Classifying and Identifying
 No differentiation required (Ø)
“A boy goes to Ø school by Ø bus.”
1) It is not relevant for the entity to be classified as a unit or
identified.
a. Who would want to be in Ø prison?
b. He’d rather stay at Ø work than go to Ø church.
c. I’ll be in Ø town later and we can have Ø lunch.
d. Let’s go to Ø bed.
2) When no differentiation required between any members of the
category
a. I usually like Ø dogs, but the dogs next door are too dangerous.
Meanings in Context
 “New information is introduced with the indefinite article”
 This is a story of a picture that went for a spin.
 “Given information can be presented with the definite article
”
 The tornado damaged many houses in the quiet little town.
 “information that is treated as given will often be referred to
by pronouns”
 “Based on assumptions of shared back ground knowledge, giv
en information can be created”
 It tore off the roof and blew out the windows of George Bober’s
house.
Meanings in Context
 “The indefinite article is often used with the first reference to
an entity, typically classifying it, and the definite article is use
d with second or later references to the same entity, as a way
of identifying it”
 New information: “information that the speaker presents as a
new to the hearer”
 Given information: “information that the speaker treats as cu
rrently known to the hearer”
Meanings in Context
 “It is not always the sequence of occurrence that determines t
he choice of the indefinite and definite articles”
 “The choice is determined by the perspective taken on what i
s new (indefinite) and what is given (definite) at any point in
the text”
Anaphoric and Cataphoric (the)
 Anaphoric: “it is used to refer back to information already est
ablished” (definite)
 “I can give you a cup, but the handle is broken”
 Cataphoric: “On some occasions, to point forward, definite a
rticle is used”
 “The door opened and the killer walked in”
Zero article(exception)
 When text provides instructions, zero article is applied
 “The grammatical point worth emphasizing is that zero articl
e in some texts is an indication that it is not relevant to distin
guish the functions of signaled by the definite and indefinite a
rticles”
Zero article(exception)
 “The absence of article is very common in recipe”
New article (this)
 “In contemporary English, there is one particular cataphoric
device that seems to be functioning like an indefinite article”
 “Indefinite this can be used to introduce new characters or en
tities in a text”
 There was this guy I met in my Japanese class…
 “An article for highlighting a particular entity as the main foc
us of attention”
Teaching Task:
Articles
Target students:
EFL Grade 6 elementary students
Context
Countable nouns
Non- Countable Nouns
Students have already learned about countable and noncountable nouns and the basic use of articles.
Objective: To use appropriate article in given sentences
a
an
the
= John is a popular student.
= I eat an apple every day.
= Jenny wipes the table.
Steps:
Recall and Review
Practice
Practice
A. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate article (a, an, the or Ø ).
•Smith’s Farm Market is ______ outdoor market.
•It sells everything from ______ antiques to fresh vegetables.
•It opens at 7.00 on Tuesday and stays open all day. But you have to go there early if
you want to get _____ parking space.
•By about 8.00, Smith’s Market is packed with _____ people.
•If you are looking for _____ vegetables, you’ll find top quality and unbeatable
prices.
•Last week, I bought _____ basket of tomatoes for less than a dollar.
•____ mushrooms are available, too.
•You’ll also get good buys on _____ household goods like _____mops and _____
brooms.
•You can also buy _____ clothes and _____ watches at Smith’s Market.
•I really like _____ Smith’s Farm Market so I’m going back there next week
B. Work in pairs. Look at the picture
one more time and list down other
nouns you can see. Construct
sentences together using appropriate
articles the nouns in your list.
Teaching Task: Articles
 Target students: EFL Grade 7 students
 Context: Review and practice activity
 Objective: Use appropriate articles to classify and identify
things
 Focus: Articles (classifying and identifying)
Steps
Review
2. Practice
1.
A. Look at the pictures below then identify which sentence goes with which
.
picture
Adapted from Forsyth and Lavender (1994)
B. Look at the pictures again and write the
letters in the correct spaces.
1. In pictures ___, ___ and ___, it is clear
which one they are talking about.
2. In pictures, ___, ___ and ___, it is NOT clear
which one they are talking about.
 Countability
Teaching Task: Articles
Target students: EFL Grade 8
Context: Count and non-count
nouns plus use of articles already
learned
Objectives: change non-count
nouns to count nouns by adding
other words
Focus: Articles
(Basic meanings: countability)
Steps:
1. Group students into two groups.
One group will get cut outs from
Sheet A, the other group will get
from Sheet B.
2. Group 1 students will find their
corresponding partners in Group 2.
3. That partner should be holding
the word that makes Group 1’s
word a count noun.
4. After finding the partners, each
pair will construct a sentence with
count nouns using the words they
have.
baggage
chess
advise
bread
furniture
grass
lightning
luck
news
salt
sugar
hair
coffee
milk
toothpaste
paper
Sheet B
piece
game
piece
loaf
article
blade
flash
stroke
piece
pinch
spoonful
strand
cup
glass
tube
sheet
Activity 4: What’s in your picture
 Classifying Use of the Indefinite Article
Procedure
 Intermediate-low (MATE scale)
 1. Activate students’ schema about items in a
house
 What items are in a bedroom?
 What items are in a kitchen?
 Put students in pairs – Brainstorm items in a kitchen
/ bedroom
2. Give each student a different picture like the follo
wing
Procedure
 3. Model / demonstrate the task and structures:
 What’s in your picture?
 There’s a(n) _______.
 I have a(n) __________.
4. Students describe their respective pictures to each
other.
Procedure / Extension
 1. Practice elicitation / confirmation questions / statements
.
 Do you see it?
 Do you understand?
 Have you got it?
 Yes, I see
 Got it.
 Not yet
Procedure / Extension
 2. Students read a room description to their partner.
 Elicit confirmations.
 Their partner draws it.
 E.g. Draw the bathroom. Against the far wall, in the middle,
there’s a sink. Over the sink, there’s a medicine cabinet. On
the left side of the sink, in the corner, is the toilet. Etc
 3. Switch roles
Activity 5: Category Defining Exercises
 Classifying Function of the Indefinite Article
Procedure
 Beginner / Intermediate-low (MATE scale)
 1. Elicit category labels for the following:
Dog
Banana
Carrot
Cat
Kiwi
Turnip
Mouse
Pineapple
Potato
Procedure
 Beginner / Intermediate-low (MATE scale)
 1. Elicit category labels for the following:
Animals
Fruits
Vegetables
Dog
Banana
Carrot
Cat
Kiwi
Turnip
Mouse
Pineapple
Potato
 2. Practice the categorizing structures:
 What’s a(n)_____? It’s a (n) _______.
 A(n) ______ is a(n)________.
Procedure
 3. Give students a worksheet each.
 4. Put them in pairs.
 5. Students sort the animals into categories and then practice
asking each other the categorizing structure.
Activity 6: Meanings in Context
The Information Structuring Role
of the Articles
Procedure
 Intermediate-mid / Intermediate-high (MATE scale)
 1. Explain the basic rule:
 There are many rules for articles. One is to use a or an
for the first time you mention a count noun and the for e
ach time after that.
 Example: One day a woman found a seagull. The seag
ull seemed to have a broken wing. The bird dragged th
e wing slowly along the sand.
Procedure
 2. (Explain the exception and give an example – the kitchen)
 3. Give students a short, scrambled text and ask
students to recreate it. Pay attention to the clues
provided by a(n) and the.
 4. Post task discussion – explanations. Have stu
dents tell their partner why they made the choices
they did in reorganising.
Procedure
 In the ocean of the California Coast, a sea otter swims down t
o the ocean floor. The otter picks up a clam (its dinner) and a
rock. It swims back up to the surface of the water. Then the
otter lies on its back and uses its stomach as table. It uses th
e rock as a tool to open the clam.
Procedure
 Then the otter lies on its back and uses its stomach as table.
 It swims back up to the surface of the water.
 The otter picks up a clam (its dinner) and a rock.
 It uses the rock as a tool to open the clam.
 In the ocean of the California Coast, a sea otter swims down t
o the ocean floor.