冠词可分三种类型:不定冠词、定冠词以及零冠词(不使用冠词)。
考点3:不定冠词的基本用法
不定冠词a (其后的单词为元音开头时要改用an)与数词one 同源,本义是“一个”,但不定冠词在表示“一”的概念时是非强调性的,如果要强调“一”这一数量最好使用one。不定冠词在高考中的基本用法包括两方面:
例如:He is an old doctor. 他是一名老医生。// A Mr. Chen came to see you this morning. 一位姓陈的先生今天上午来看过你。// She is now a different China from what she was twenty years ago. 现在的中国和20年前大不一样。
[例1] Being able to afford ____ drink would be ____ comfort in those tough times.
A. the; the
B. a; a
C. a; 不填
D. 不填; a
[答案] B
[解析] 题干句意为:在那些难熬的时光中,能买得起一杯饮料是一个莫大的安慰。物质名词和抽象名词一般为不可数名词,但有时它们可以转化为具体的事物,称作抽象名词的具体化,此时可以和不定冠词连用,如本题中a drink表示“一杯饮料”,a comfort表示“一件令人感到安慰的事情”。
[例2] Experts think that ____ recently discovered painting may be ____ Picasso.
A. the; 不填
B. a; the
C. a; 不填
D. the; a
[答案] D
[解析] 题干的句意为:专家们认为,最近发现的这幅画作可能是一幅毕加索的作品。第一个下划线处应填入表示特指的定冠词the,第二个下划线处应填入不定冠词,用以泛指毕加索的众多作品之一。注意:“不定冠词+人名”通常有两种含义:一是指“一位名叫……的人”;二是指“某人的一件作品”。
例如:once upon a time 从前
an hour or two 一两个小时
a long time 很长时间
a few 有几个
a little 有一点
考点4:定冠词的基本用法
定冠词the与指示代词this、that同源,有“这(那)”的意思,但语气较弱。定冠词在高考中的基本用法如下:
例如:I bought a skirt yesterday. The skirt is very beautiful. 我昨天买了一条裙子,那条裙子非常漂亮 。
注意:定冠词可以用于表示世界上独一无二的事物(包括用于表示“被发明的事物”的单数名词前)。例如:the moon,the world。若在此类事物前使用不定冠词,则表示某种具体状态,例如:a new moon 一轮新月。
[例1] This area experienced ____ heaviest rainfall in ____ month of May.
A. 不填; a
B. a; the
C. the; the
D. the; a
[答案] C
[解析] 第一个下划线处之后为形容词最高级形式,应与定冠词连用;第二个下划线处之后为表示特指的“五月份”,也应与定冠词连用。
例如:in the morning/afternoon/evening,in the end,by the way
[例2] As is known to all, ____ People'republic of China is ____ biggest developing country in the world.
A. the; 不填
B. 不填; the
C. the; the
D. 不填; 不填
[答案] C
[解析] 第一个下划线处应填入定冠词表示对“中华人民共和国”这一专有名词的特指;第二个下划线处应填入定冠词与后面的形容词最高级连用。
[例3] We are said to be living in ____ Information Age, ____ time of new discoveries and great changes.
A. an; the
B. 不填; the
C. 不填; a
D. the; a
[答案] D
[解析] 第一个下划线处应填入定冠词,the Information Age前加定冠词为固定用法;第二个下划线处应填入不定冠词泛指“一个充满新发现和巨大变化的时代”。
考点5:零冠词的基本用法
不使用冠词的情况在语法上被称为零冠词,使用零冠词的情况主要有:
例如:Everyone needs fresh air. 人人都需要新鲜空气 。// Failure is the mother of success. 失败是成功之母 。// Children like cartoons. 孩子们喜欢卡通 。
例如:Do you have a rest after lunch? 你午饭后休息一会儿吗 ?// They are fond of playing basketball. 他们喜欢打篮球 。// Spring is the best season of the year. 一年之计在于春 。// I was born in April. 我在4月出生 。// We have no classes on Sunday/Children'day. 我们星期天/儿童节没有课 。
例如:on foot, at home, at night, in danger, for example。要特别注意某些介词连接相同或相对的名词而形成的固定词组,例如:face to face, hand in hand, side by side, step by step。
[例1] Sarah looked at ____ finished painting with ____ satisfaction.
A. 不填; a
B. a; the
C. the; 不填
D. the; a
[答案] C
[解析] 题干句意为:莎拉满意地看着那幅已经完成的画。第一个下划线处应用定冠词表示特指;“with satisfaction(满意地)”是固定短语,第二个下划线处应选“不填”。
[例2] There are over 58,000 rocky objects in ____ space, about 900 of which could fall down onto ____ earth.
A. the; the
B. 不填; the
C. the; 不填
D. a; the
[答案] B
[解析] 题干句意为:太空中有超过58000个岩质物体,其中大约900个有可能掉到地球上。第一个下划线后接泛指“太空”的不可数名词space,不需冠词修饰;第二个下划线后接特指地球的earth,必须填入定冠词。
[例3] Sam has been appointed ____ manager of the engineering department to take ____ place of George.
A. 不填; 不填
B. the; 不填
C. the; the
D. 不填; the
[答案] D
[解析] 题干句意为:山姆被任命为工程部经理,取代了乔治。表示官衔、职位的词作补足语时前面通常不加冠词,题干中“manager”表示职务,作主语补足语,其前面不需要加冠词;take the place of是固定短语,意为“代替,取代”。
本章补充强化训练题
1. Although he talked half an hour, he couldn't give us a good ____ of the reason why he did it.
A. idea
B. explanation
C. sense
D. understanding
2. John'record was not so good as ____ on the team.
A. all the players
B. any other player's
C. other players
D. any player's
3. As we all know, ____ knowledge comes from ____ practice.
A. the; the
B. a; a
C. the; 不填
D. 不填; 不填
4. Of all the subjects, I like ____ history best because it gives us ____ useful knowledge of things in the past.
A. the; a
B. 不填; a
C. a; the
D. a; 不填
5. ____ the manager?
A. Who is in place of
B. Who is in the place of
C. Who shall take the place of
D. Who will take place of
6.“____ breakfast is well cooked”, he said just after ____ breakfast.
A. 不填; 不填
B. The; 不填
C. 不填; the
D. The; the
7. Mr. Paul, his new teacher of ____ French, is ____ European.
A. the; 不填
B. 不填; the
C. 不填; an
D. 不填; a
8. Please pay special attention to ____ idioms of ____ English Language.
A. the; the
B. 不填; the
C. the; 不填
D. 不填; 不填
9.— What did you think of the house?
— I didn't care for it at ____ first, but after ____ time I got to like it.
A. 不填; the
B. the; a
C. the; 不填
D. 不填; a
10. He worked without ____ success. As a doctor, he was not ____ success.
A. a; a
B. much; 不填
C. much; a
D. a; much
11. Qingdao is ____ most beautiful coastal city and I believe I will come for ____ second visit.
A. the; a
B. a; a
C. the; the
D. a; the
12. I don't think it right that ____ honest man who married and brought up a large family did more service than he who continued single and only talked of ____ population.
A. a; 不填
B. an; 不填
C. a; the
D. an; the
本章补充强化训练题参考答案
1. B 2. B 3. D 4. B 5. A 6. B 7. D 8. A 9. D 10. C 11. A 12. D