An English Grammar Part 34

[Sidenote: _Two relics._]

Our expressions _the one_, _the other_, were formerly _that one_, _that other_; the latter is still preserved in the expression, in vulgar English, _the tother_. Not only this is kept in the Scotch dialect, but the former is used, these occurring as _the tane, the tother_, or _the tane, the t.i.ther_; for example,--

We ca' her sometimes _the tane_, sometimes _the tother_.--SCOTT.

[Sidenote: An _before vowel sounds_, a _before consonant sounds_.]

173. Ordinarily _an_ is used before vowel sounds, and _a_ before consonant sounds. Remember that a _vowel sound_ does not necessarily mean beginning with a vowel, nor does _consonant sound_ mean beginning with a consonant, because English spelling does not coincide closely with the sound of words. Examples: "_a_ house," "_an_ orange," "_a_ European," "_an_ honor," "_a_ yelling crowd."

[Sidenote: An _with consonant sounds_.]

174. Many writers use _an_ before _h_, even when not silent, when the word is not accented on the first syllable.

_An_ historian, such as we have been attempting to describe, would indeed be an intellectual prodigy.--MACAULAY.

The Persians were _an_ heroic people like the Greeks.--BREWER.

He [Rip] evinced _an_ hereditary disposition to attend to anything else but his business.--IRVING.

_An_ habitual submission of the understanding to mere events and images.--COLERIDGE.

_An_ hereditary tenure of these offices.--THOMAS JEFFERSON.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

175. An article is a limiting word, not descriptive, which cannot be used alone, but always joins to a substantive word to denote a particular thing, or a group or cla.s.s of things, or any individual of a group or cla.s.s.

[Sidenote: _Kinds._]

176. Articles are either definite or indefinite.

The is the definite article, since it points out a particular individual, or group, or cla.s.s.

An or a is the indefinite article, because it refers to any one of a group or cla.s.s of things.

An and a are different forms of the same word, the older _an_.

USES OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE.

[Sidenote: _Reference to a known object._]

177. The most common use of the definite article is to refer to an object that the listener or reader is already acquainted with; as in the sentence,--

Don't you remember how, when _the_ dragon was infesting _the_ neighborhood of Babylon, _the_ citizens used to walk dismally out of evenings, and look at _the_ valleys round about strewed with _the_ bones?--THACKERAY.

NOTE.--This use is noticed when, on opening a story, a person is introduced by _a_, and afterwards referred to by _the_:--

By and by _a_ giant came out of the dark north, and lay down on the ice near Audhumla.... _The_ giant frowned when he saw the glitter of the golden hair.--_Heroes of Asgard._

[Sidenote: _With names of rivers._]

178. _The_ is often prefixed to the names of rivers; and when the word _river_ is omitted, as "_the_ Mississippi," "_the_ Ohio," the article indicates clearly that a river, and not a state or other geographical division, is referred to.

No wonder I could face _the_ Mississippi with so much courage supplied to me.--THACKERAY.

The Dakota tribes, doubtless, then occupied the country southwest of _the_ Missouri.--G. BANCROFT.

[Sidenote: _To call attention to attributes._]

179. When _the_ is prefixed to a proper name, it alters the force of the noun by directing attention to _certain qualities_ possessed by the person or thing spoken of; thus,--

_The_ Bacon, _the_ Spinoza, _the_ Hume, Sch.e.l.ling, Kant, or whosoever propounds to you a philosophy of the mind, is only a more or less awkward translator of things in your consciousness.--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _With plural of abstract nouns._]

180. _The_, when placed before the pluralized abstract noun, marks it as half abstract or a common noun.

[Sidenote: _Common._]

His messages to _the_ provincial _authorities_.--MOTLEY.

[Sidenote: _Half abstract._]

He was probably skilled in _the subtleties_ of Italian statesmans.h.i.+p.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _With adjectives used as nouns._]

181. When _the_ precedes adjectives of the positive degree used substantively, it marks their use as common and plural nouns when they refer to persons, and as singular and abstract when they refer to qualities.

1. _The simple_ rise as by specific levity, not into a particular virtue, but into the region of all the virtues.--EMERSON.

2. If _the good_ is there, so is _the evil_.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

NOTE.--This is not to be confused with words that have s.h.i.+fted from adjectives and become pure nouns; as,--

As she hesitated to pa.s.s on, _the gallant_, throwing his cloak from his shoulders, laid it on the miry spot.--SCOTT.

But De Soto was no longer able to abate the confidence or punish the temerity of _the natives_.--G. BANCROFT.

[Sidenote: _One thing for its cla.s.s._]