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HUNGARIAN-ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL CONTRASTS: THE NOUN PHRASE THE DEFINITE ARTICLE THE The definite article the may have + specific definite reference, and + generic reference. SPECIFIC DEFINITE REFERENCE Definite reference means that the noun refers to something or someone assumed to be known to both the sender and the receiver. Definiteness depends on assumed shared knowledge: the speaker/writer assumes that what they are talking about is known to the listener/hearer either from the situation or from previous discourse: Hi, Jerry. Are you coming to the party tonight? Specific definite reference may be situational (exophoric) reference and discourse/textual reference. Situational reference means that an entity is known from the situation: either the immediate situation in which the given piece of communication takes place, or the wider situation, which includes knowledge of the national situation, the world, or even the universe. There is a grocer’s round the corner. Join the Army and see the world.** Discourse reference means reference to other parts of a piece of discourse. Unknown entities are usually introduced into discourse using the indefinite article. After they have been introduced, they can be treated as ‘known’ and may be referred to by the in subsequent discourse. Discourse reference can be anaphoric or cataphoric. The definite article the can be used anaphorically to refer back to a previously mentioned item: A farmer survived more than 27 hours in a freezing snowdrift by building an igloo. Howard Stevenson was found yesterday — with his trousers frozen solid — five feet under the drift. It can also be used cataphorically. In cataphoric reference definite reference is established by something following later in the text, especially some modifier of the noun e.g. the centre [of London], the summer [of 2015]. GENERIC REFERENCE Reference is generic when a noun phrase refers to the whole class, rather than just one or more members of a class: 34 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/8847. Last accessed 05.12.2020. +75»
