It's Mr. Hooks, the newspaper editor, he wants to see you.

3. If the apposition precedes the proper name it takes the definite article.

• The painter Turner, the composer Britten, the student Ognev.

4. Nouns in apposition may be used without any article if they denote a position, rank, state, post or occupation, which is, as a rule, unique, and can be occupied by only one person at a time. Here belong such nouns as: president, prime-minister, head, rector, director, dean, manager, chief, principal etc.

The noun in this case usually has an 'of-phrase' attribute:

• Mr. Jackson, superintendant of the school, was an old man.

Mr. Dodson, director of the theatre, was an actor as well.

But we use the article to denote a person himself:

• The Prime-Minister made an announcement yesterday.

The Dean has come. The president is in Texas now.

5. When nouns denoting titles, military ranks or posts are followed by a proper name no article is used:

• Doctor Smith, Professor Jones, Colonel Pickering, Queen Elisabeth, King John, Sir William, Admiral Nelson.

Articles with the Nouns bed, school, town, college, hospital, jail, market, table

1. There are a number of countable nouns in English which are often used without any article, as they change their meanings and become uncountable and denote process rather than a concrete thing:

• to go to school — to be in full-time education,

to be in hospital — to be a patient, i. e., you are there because you are ill,

to send someone to prison — to imprison a person for doing something wrong,

to go to bed — to go to sleep,

to go to church — to go to pray,

to be at table — to have some meal,

But: to be at the table — to study, to write or to read.

Compare: He was sent to prison for five years, (he was a prisoner)

She went to the prison to visit him. (she went into the building)

2. The noun town used in prepositional phrases, doesn't take any article when it denotes the nearest big centre of population as opposed to the country (also when the town we live in is meant).

• I'll be out of town next week. We had lunch in town. In winter we prefer to live in town, not in the country.

3. Either article can be used with these nouns when they denote concrete objects (buildings).

• There is a new hospital in the town, not far from the church.

Let's put the coffee table opposite the bed.

The Use of Articles in With-, Like-, /n-phrases

1. A countable noun in the singular generally takes the indefinite article in adverbial and attributive phrases, introduced by the words:

• a) In: in a hurry

in a whisper

in a loud (low) voice

But: in loud voices

• b) With: with a look (nod, smile, yawn)

• c) Like: She swims like a fish.

She sings like a bird.

He works like a demon.

He sleeps like a log.

It seems like a dream.

But: They behave like children.

• d) As: She was as happy as a lark.

She was as pretty as a calendar

picture. He was as busy as a bee. It was as light as a feather. A change is as good as a rest.

2. No article is used in these phrases if the noun is uncountable:

• In (with) surprise, in (with) anger, in fury.

It was as black as night. She was as white as snow.

It was as green as grass. It was as soft as butter.

The Use of Articles in and with Of-phrases

Depending on the context or situation the of-phrase may be either, descriptive or limiting to the head-noun.

1. The definite article is used with the head-noun if this head-noun denotes part of the whole, expressed by the of-phrase.

• the top of a/the hill, the bottom of a/the lake,

the end/beginning of a/the story,

the figure (profile, shadow, face) of a/the man,

the roof of a/the house,

the middle (depth, width) of a/the river

2. If the noun in the of-phrase is used in a general sense (in the plural mostly) it takes no article. The head-noun may take either article. The definite article is used according to the situation, the indefinite one expresses oneness.

• a/the set of stories a/the party of people

a/the box of sweets a/the box of matches

a/the flock of birds a/the team of players

3. If the noun in the of-phrase is a material or an abstract one, no article is used with it, and the head-noun may be used either with the indefinite or with the definite article.

• a/the stick of chalk a/the strip of land

a/the bar of chocolate a/the heap of rubbish

a/the block of ice a/the word of advice

a/the item of news a/the sense of humour

a/the article of furniture a/the breath of air

The Use of Articles with Some Set-phrases and Free

Combinations

1. No article is used in set-phrases with the prepositions from ... to, in which we find two different nouns:

• from head to foot, from top to toe, from top to bottom, from beginning to end.

2. We find no article in set-phrases with the same noun connected by different prepositions:

• hand in hand, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, word for word, side by side, face to face, step by step, line by line.

3. The article is not used in free combinations in which the same noun is repeated after the prepositions from ... to:

• from tree to tree, from street to street, from word to word, from day to day.

The number of nouns thus used is practically unlimited.

4. There is generally no article with homogeneous parts of a sentence going in pairs:

• horse and rider, husband and wife, lock and key, mother and child.

5. A considerable number of nouns have no article when they are used in adverbial prepositional phrases:

• by tube, by train, by plane, by boat, by bus, by air (sea), by post, by accident, by chance, by mistake, at hand, off hand, in person, on deck, on foot, on tip toes, at sea, on hand, on leave, on business, on holiday.