Peculiarities of article omission in modern English language

Articles play a big role in the English language, both semantic and emotional, and also inform about the level of human education. But, reading English magazines and newspapers, listening to the spoken language (language courses), you can see that sometimes articles are not used according to traditional, classical rules. Faced with such cases, we decided to analyze whether or not many nouns are used without the articles in cases where they should have been. There is a hypothesis that in modern English, articles are often omitted, if the meaning of the sentence is not violated.

Articles are not used with uncountable nouns and with plural nouns, mentioned in a general sense; with their own names; in constructions like: ” He turned sailor” “ He was son of a university professor ” (if you need to emphasize the social situation); or when it refers to a single-of-a-kind title or position. e.g. They are nominated candidates for the post of President and VicePresident.

e.g. He was the secretary of the new Committee .

Articles are not used in a variety of ways: from tree to tree, from house to house, horse and rider, husband and wife, lock and key; to be in, out to sea, etc

But on the other hand, the following phrases do not fall under either of these rules: e.g . I am in seventh grade (Klementyeva T., Shannon D., Happy English, book 2 Obninsk, 1995). I like hamburger (English Together I, Unit 9) By all rules there must be an article. No grammar textbook explains why the article is not used in these cases. (The following works were studied: R. Murphy, M. Hewings, A. Thompson, EM Gordon and IP Krylova). And only in the book of GA. Weichmann's New in English Grammar says that there is now a tendency to expand the use of the zero article, and lists some cases of its use, although very briefly. So, the zero article is used in all sorts of instructions. e.g. Use pencil. Blow-dry, brushing hair with a flat paddle brush to get it. Comb hair into place, parting on the side and sweeping bangs across one eye. ("Seventeen" magazine, August 1995).

Articles are not used in technical literature, especially instructions, even set out in spoken language. e.g. Supply the correct adapter for the different standard of telephone plug.

Often articles are not used as with uncountable, and with countable nouns in a specific sense. Similar examples are becoming more widespread in science and popular science journals.

e.g. For the first time, oil is reported on the shores of Seward, at the head of Resurrection Bay.

Note. On the other hand, the same word in a similar situation has an article. In the following we consider the following: e.g. As the oil continues to move to the southwest, plans are made to open in Seward. The lack of articles is typical for all types of ads.

e.g. The very demanding but challenging role for articulate The secretary is bursting with enthusiasm! Experienced, confident, as needed by disorganized lawyer in well established legal practice! (" London", 10 January 2000)

Nouns are used without the article in the recipes. Coconut Cake Prepare cake according to directions making 2 layers ... (Guillot K., Potmesil I., Chech-Out Cajun Cooking).

• G. Weichmann, author of "New in English Grammar", cites some cases of using the zero article, but they are all fairly well known and can have a logical explanation. It features the use of articles with the words television, headache, day, morning, government, management, work, sea, and also with words that call educational institutions in both British and American versions: boarding school, university, college. It should be noted that previously these words were used with the zero article in the sentence phrases. But now we see the zero article if they act as a subject. e.g. School should be a place where children are to be taught to enjoy learning.

In modern English, the article with the names of countries, parties, government bodies, magazines, ships, hospitals, sports teams, companies and trademarks is increasingly found. e.g. Congo, Lebanon, Ukraine, Crimea, Argentina, instead of the Congo, the Lebanon, the Ukraine, the Crimea, the Argentine. Labor instead of the Labor Party. Conservative Republican instead of the Republican Party.

Note. As a rule, in the names of political and public organizations that have appeared relatively recently, there is no article; most likely, this also affects the names of traditional political parties. Zero article often meets with nouns in popular science articles, as well as articles on cultural life and even articles on everyday topics. Zero article replaces both indefinite and definite article, and more often than indefinite.

The use of the zero article instead of the article the in the articles from which the examples are drawn seems arbitrary, the same noun in a particular sense is used with the article, and without it.

In English there is a tendency to expand the use of the zero article. The most often zero article is used in written speech, especially in instructions, various announcements, in signatures under photographs, in culinary recipes. It coherent literary text, the more traditionally the articles are used. But despite all the above examples, they reflect a relatively recent trend, mainly refer to written speech and have not been confirmed in grammatical reference books, so we, who study English as a foreign language, should and here to the classical rules of the use of articles in their speech.