ARTICLE 



399 



ARTICLE 



eral branches, on the ends of which are large 

 heads of blue and white flowers. The leaves 

 are large and prickly. Surrounding the flowers 

 are thorny, oval scales, which overlap each 

 other. Portions of the flower heads are eaten 

 raw as a salad, or boiled in salted water and 

 served with incited butter or sauce. The plant 

 is well liked by the people of Europe, but 

 has not been in general use as a food in 

 America except for live stock. However, its 

 popularity is slowly increasing- The Jerusalem 

 artichoke is a species of sunflower that grows 

 in Canada and the upper Mississippi Valley. 

 Its roots are used like potatoes. 



ARTICLE, ar'tik'l. There are two articles 

 in English grammar the and a (an) and they 

 classify as limiting adjectives, because they 

 point out, without describing. At one time 

 they formed a separate part of speech, making 

 nine instead of eight, as now taught by gram- 

 marians. 



Originally the word a or an meant the same 

 as one a meaning still preserved in such 

 expressions as two of a kind, nearly oj a size, 

 three at a time, and the like. In its present 

 usage, however, it does not emphasize number 

 but is closely akin to the word any; that is, 

 a dog refers to any member of the dog family. 

 Therefore a and an are called the indefinite 

 articles. The, on the other hand, is a weakened 

 form of that, and because it points out in a 

 more definite way it is called the definite 

 article. The dog means the particular animal 

 under discussion or about which something is 

 to be asserted; or it may mean dogs as a class, 

 as in the sentence, "The dog is man's staunchest 

 friend." The may also be used to emphasize 

 supremacy ; as, "This is the novel of the year." 



When to Use "An." Until the middle of the 

 twelfth century, the article had only one form 

 an but about that time people began to drop 

 the n before words beginning with a conso- 

 nant sound. This tended to make speech more 

 euphonious. The rule, however, was not always 

 observed, for in the Canterbury 7'a/r* Chaucer 

 writes, "Thou lookest as thou wouldst find an 

 hare," and in Shakespeare and the Bible are 

 expressions like an usurer and an one, where 

 spelling rather than pronunciation dictated tin 

 form of the article. 



present rule is, "Use an before a vowel 

 sound and a before a consonant sound." This 

 us that a word beginning with silent h ia 

 considered to begin with the vowel that fol- 

 lows it, and one beginning with on / sounded 

 like yu is considered to begin with a consonant. 



Thus: 



An apple 

 An action 

 An exception 

 An old shoe 

 A plum 

 A feed 

 A rule 

 A new ulster 



An heir 



An honor 



An unused book 



An uphill climb 



A hero 



A humble home 



A used book 



A European tour 



Many of the older text-books teach that it is 

 necessary to use an before words beginning 

 with h and accented on the second syllable; 

 as, an hysterical woman, an historical novel, on 

 habitual criminal, an hereditary crown. Some 

 modern texts do not endorse the older form. 



Pronunciation of "The." In the interests of 

 euphony, a slight variation is made in the 

 pronunciation of the definite article. The e 

 is given a longer sound before a vowel and is 

 somewhat blurred before a consonant; as, thec 

 orange, thuh lemon. 



Articles Used as Other Parts of Speech. In 

 the expression, "The sooner the better," the 

 is not an article but an adverb, modifying the 

 adverbs sooner and better; the sentence being 

 a short form for, "The sooner we go the better 

 I shall like it," or something equivalent. Simi- 

 larly, a is used as part of an adjective phrase 

 in "many a man" and as a preposition in the 

 Baby Bunting line, "Papa's gone a-hunting." 

 Here and in similar expressions like a-flying, 

 a-whistling , and the like, the a replaces an old 

 preposition, an, meaning the same as our on. 



Repetition of the Article. When a boy an- 

 nounces, "I have a brown and a white dog," 

 his hearers are justified in crediting him with 

 being the master of two dogs, one brown and 

 the other white. If he says, "I have a brown 

 and white dog," he means, if he is careful about 

 his English, that he has only one dog, a mixed 

 brown-and-white in color. Similarly, we are 

 correct in saying, "She is the wife and mother," 

 referring to a woman accompanied by her 

 husband and children; and "The wife and the 

 mother of Senator Harper were both present 

 at the reception," since two different women 

 are involved. Again: 



A novelist and artist named DuMaurler was 

 the author of Trilby. 



A novelist and on artist were appointed on the 

 committee. 



We are studying the life of Burbank, the 

 scientist and t>lant-brcr<1< r. 



We are studying the life of the great scien- 

 tist, Marconi, and the famous plant-breeder, 

 Luther Burbank. 



The manager and bookkeeper, Mr. Smith, is 

 irge of that work. 



The manager and the bookkeeper favored dif- 

 ferent methods of classifying the accounts. 



