Special difficulties in the use of articles
§ 26. The use of articles with the nouns day, night, morning, evening.
The nouns day, night, 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.
The sun had gone and night had come. (Abrahams.)
Day is meant for work, night for sleep.
It was evening. The river was before them. (Dreiser)
(b) In the expressions by day, at night, from morning till night.
It is easier to work by day than at night.
The definite article is used when a noun is modified by a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite.
He will never forgetthe day when he met her.
The night was warm and beautifully still. (Voynich)
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.
I spenta 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.
It was early morning when the train pulled into the little siding. (Abrahams)
§ 27. The use of articles with names of seasons.
Names of seasons are used without articles if they show a certain time of the year.
It was spring. I like spring.
The definite article is used when a particularizing attribute modifies these nouns or when the situation makes them definite.
It happened in the spring of 1930.
The spring was cold and rainy.
The indefinite article is used when these nouns are modified by a descriptive attribute.
It was a cold spring.
When names of seasons are modified by the adjectives early or late, no articles are used.
It was early spring.
§ 28. 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 school — to finish or drop one's studies
School begins at five.
She went to College in the North. (Gow and D'Usseau)
His history since he left school had been indicated in the last page. (Thackeray)
It was at seventeen that he decided to leave school.
to go to the school — not as a pupil (the building is meant).
to leave the school — to leave the building.
Mother went to the school yesterday to attend a parents' meeting.
She left the school at 7 o'clock. She worked at a school in Siberia.
(b) Bed.
to go to bed — ложиться спать
to be in bed — лежать в постели
And now you had better go to bed. Goodnight. (Voynich)
tobeinthebedan article of furniture is meant
to be on the bed
Her portrait was on the wall beside the bed. (Voynich)
(c) Prison, jail.
to be in prison (in jail) —to be a prisoner
to be sent to prison as a prisoner
to be put in prison as a prisoner
Mr. Dorrit was in prison many years.
Mr. Dorrit was sent to prison for debt.
The last they had heard of him was that he was in jail for having killed a person in a fight. (Abrahams)
to be in the prison
to go to the prison not as a prisoner (the building is meant)
Mr. Dorrit's family lived inthe prison.
The prison proper dated from 1822. (Dreiser)
§ 29. The use of articles with the noun town.
The noun town when used with prepositions does not take an article:
(a) When we mean the nearest town (if we live in the country) or the town we live in.
You cannot go to town to-morrow. (Austen)
What can you have to do in town...? (Austen)
(b) When the noun town is opposed to the noun country.
He was not used to country life, having spent twenty years in town.
Otherwise the noun town is used with the definite or indefinite article.
I want to go to the town where I was born.
§ 30. The use of articles with the names of meals.
Names of meals are used without articles.
When did you have dinner?
Is dinner ready?
Mother is cooking dinner.
While they were at breakfast, the letters were brought in. (Austen)
I have finished breakfast, ring the bell. (Ch. Bronte)
The definite article is used when a particularizing attribute or when the situation makes them definite modifies the nouns.
The dinner we had to day was very substantial.
The dinner was a success.
The indefinite article is used if the name of a meal is modified by a descriptive attribute.
After a hearty breakfast the four gentlemen sallied forth to walk to Gravesend. (Dickens)