IRBR CLIO - Mdulo: Ingls Regular - Professor: Anthony Rosenberg

Class 3 - Articles

Three aspects are important to know and be proficient in when using articles in English:

The definite article: the

The indefinite article: a / an
No article:

1. The definite article: the

a) something specific, as opposed to something general (quite often with an adjective before it)
b) has a post-modifier (qualifying aspect follows the noun)
e.g. At the mall yesterday, I ran into the policeman who saved my cat! The girl sitting next to me
is intriguing. The history of Jamaica is far more complex than meets the eye.
c) some specific countries (the US, the UK, the Netherlands, the Ukrain, the Phillipines etc)
d) second time mentioned (previously mentioned in the text)
e.g. My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas. The dog she hinted at is a Great Dane.
e) possessive as an adjective (qualifying aspect this excludes names)
e.g. The typical hot water bill in England increase 28p with every drop of 1C in temperature. The
default retirement age has risen in most countries. SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!
e.g. The governments efforts have not been enough. The countrys plan was discarded.
f) universal idea in every language and culture, its is a known concept
e.g. the government, the church, the President, the market, the economy, the press, the
environment, the budget (federal budget), the second world war,
g) Superlatives the most, the first, the last, the third, the hottest, the shortest, the tallest etc.
h) Nationalities that do not take a plural (i.e. plural meaning, but the word is not plural (no s)).
e.g. The Japanese (all of them) have a specific culture. The French must now deal with
immigration. The British have an extensive history of war.
i) Geographical references too many. See: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/
e.g. the Middle East, the West, the North Pole, the Nile, the Canary Islands,

2. The indefinite article: a / an

a) countable nouns in the singular general use (any)
e.g. My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas. This refers to any dog. We don't know which dog
because we haven't found the dog yet.
b) countable nouns in the singular, first time mentioned (second time mentioned requires the definite
article)
e.g. My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas. The dog she hinted at is a Great Dane.

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3. No article:
a) countable in the plural - general idea (all, any)
e.g. Optimists believe, politicians promise, most cultures include.,
b) uncountable noun - general idea (all, any)
e.g. I love to sail over water (any water), but I love to sail over the water (some specific body of
water). He spilled milk all over the floor (any milk), but He spilled the milk all over the floor (some
specific milk, perhaps the milk you bought earlier that day).
COMMON UNCOUNTABLES FOR RIO BRANCO: information, equipment, production, output,
manufacturing, research, insurance, society, funding, financing, support, upswing, appearance,
recovery, recession, GDP, GNP, consumption, advertising, marketing, capital, confidence,
censorship, knowledge, inflation, news, advice, evidence, proof, progress, software, hardware, oil,
transport etc.
BOTH COUNTABLE & UNCOUNTABLE (same meaning): technology/technologies,
communication(s), property/properties, profit(s), revenue(s), policy/policies, law(s), debt(s),
market(s), power(s) etc.
c) most countries (plurals usually take definite articles the Philippines) Brazil, Japan, Ireland, Sri
Lanka
d) general possessive case (singular and plural with names)
e.g. Silvias car, Brazils new minister, OPECs regulations, Anatels opinion, Amapas local
economy
e) Proper Nouns (names) - Lula, Petrobrs, Kentucky, Sydney, Copacabana
f) Most nationalities in the plural (that take an s) Brazilians, Australians, Americans, Canadians
EXCEPTION Nationalities that do not take a plural tend to require a definite article for a plural
meaning. The Japanese (all of them) have a specific culture. The French must now deal with
immigration. The British have an extensive history of war.

How many Afghan lives are worth one British life?

We shrink at that question. If forced to answer, some reply: "All human life is of ____ infinite value."
____ Others cite __the__ Jewish teaching that if you put one human life on one side of __a__ scale, and
__the__ rest of the world on __the__ other side, __the__ scale is balanced equally. Most just say that
__an__ Afghan life is worth the same as __a__ British life, because all human lives are of equal value. Isn't
that what we all believe?
__The__ Ministry of Defence has been paying compensation to ____ Afghans for accidentally killing their
children, their brothers and sisters, or their parents, during __the__ fighting in ____ Afghanistan. Thanks
to __a__ freedom of information request from __the__ Guardian, we know how much __the__ MoD has
paid ____ families when __a__ member has been killed. Here are some examples: daughter hit by
shrapnel from ____ air-strike and later died of ____ injuries, $1,000; mother killed during ____
bombing, $5,000; two brothers and two sons killed by __a__ hellfire missile strike, $32,000. __The__
variation in __the__ figures is not explained, but in no case was more than $8,000 (about 5,000) paid for
__the__ loss of a single life.

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Now let's take ______ look at ______value of ______ British life. ______ National Institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence (NICE) assesses ______drugs and ______other medical treatments for cost-effectiveness
and recommends whether they should be supplied on ______National Health Service. ______ NICE is
commendably transparent. No freedom of ______ information requests are needed. Just visit its website for
______ description of how it decides if ______ treatment is worth paying for. ______ key factual question is
how much ______ treatment costs for each quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. ______ QALY is one
year of ______ life of good quality, or its equivalent, which might be ______ longer period of ______ life of
lower quality. ______ website then tells you that while ______ decisions are made on ______ case-by-case
basis, "generally if ______ treatment costs more than 20,000-30,000 per QALY, then it would not be
considered cost effective".
Remember, that sum is per QALY, not per life saved. So if we take ______ bottom end of this range, ______
NICE recommends that ______ National Health System (NHS) pay up to four times as much to extend
______ life of ______ British citizen by just one year, as ______ MoD is prepared to pay in compensation for
killing a child or young person. That young person could even allowing for ______ Afghanistan's dismal life
expectancy expect to live another 40 reasonably good-quality years. That suggests ______ answer to
______ question with which I started: it takes about 4 x 40, or 160 Afghan lives, to be worth ______ same
as one British life.
But that would not be ______ right answer, because 5,000 will buy much more in ______ Afghanistan than
it would buy in ______ Britain according to ______ international price comparisons, perhaps four or five
times as much. Let's say five times. Even with that adjustment, it is going to take ______ 32 Afghan lives to
be worth ______ same as one British life.
There is nothing unique about ______ Britain in this respect. The Guardian has reported that ______ US
generally pays no more than $2,500 in compensation for ______ loss of ______ Afghan life. In contrast,
after ______ terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, ______ US government set up ______ Victim
Compensation Fund. ______ average payment it made to ______ families of ______ victims was $1.8m.
Adjusting for ______ purchasing power at a 5:1 ratio suggest that ______ US regards ______ life of ______
American as equivalent to ______ lives of 144 Afghans.
What would happen if ______ Nato forces really took into account ______ idea of the equal value of all
human life? They would then have to compensate ______ Afghans for ______ civilian deaths and injuries
they are causing at ______ same level as they would compensate their own citizens if, for example, ______
military exercise went wrong and killed ______ people at ______ home. That would serve three important
purposes. First, it would demonstrate to ______ Afghans that ______ Nato forces truly respect them as
equals. Second, ______ troops themselves might start to see ______ Afghans as more like them, and have
______ new respect for ______ people they are trying to aid. Third, ______ dramatic increase in ______
costs of endangering ______ lives and ______ limbs of civilians might foster ______ new restraint, because
no military force wants to drain its own resources. ______ result would then be that fewer civilians would be
killed surely ______ very good thing, both for ______ civilians themselves, and for winning over ______
support of ______ Afghans.