Re: Proper noun use

[John Oriel <john_oriel -at- NTSC -dot- NAVY -dot- MIL>]

          I've just returned to reading this list after a long
          absence, so perhaps I've missed something on this thread,
          but it seems to me that there's a simple rule in English
          that can often be used to determine whether or not a given
          noun should be preceded by an article.

          Generally speaking, countable nouns get the article, and
          uncountable nouns do not.  Most native speakers seem able to
          make the distinction without thinking.

          It's understandable, however, that technical terms may cause
          difficulties even to native speakers.  Many of them
          are unfamiliar to most people, many are new words, and many
          originate with people who are not highly skilled at the
          language.  If you have difficulty deciding about a
          particular word, think about whether the item represented by
          the noun is likely to be counted rather than measured.  You
          can also try looking in one of the learner's dictionaries like
          the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary or the Longmans'
          Dictionary of Contemporary English.

          Just for the sake of confusion, the countability of some
          nouns depends upon the sense in which they are used.
          Learner's dictionaries usually have information about such
          cases.  Also, some nouns, like holiday and hospital, are
          countable in the U.S. but not in the U.K.

          In any event, don't forget that things could be worse.  German,
          for example, requires that the gender of every article match
          the gender of it's noun, and the gender of any particular
          German noun has absolutely nothing to do with its meaning.  ;-)

          John