Indefinite vs. Definite
 

POSTMODIFIERS

Use the definite article (‘the’) when the noun is followed by a modifying phrase that restricts the meaning of the noun and identifies it as a specific example of that noun. The two main forms of postmodification that require the definite article are descriptive of-genitive phrases and relative clauses.

 

DESCRIPTIVE "OF"-GENITIVE PHRASES:

The most common form of postmodification that require the definite article is descriptive of-genitive phrases.

Table 3 shows the growth of the U.S. cell phone industry.
 
Primary metal production involves the separation of metal from its ore.
 
The evolution of the Internet will be to be strongly affected by private networks.

 

PARTITIVE "OF"-GENITIVE PHRASES:

Be careful to not confuse the Descriptive of-genitive (requires ‘the’) with the Partitive of-genitive (requires ‘a/an’). A good test to determine whether the gentive phrase is descriptive is to invert and replace the genitive phrase with the posessive s-genitive. If the meaning remains unchanged, then you have a descriptive genitive. By contrast, the partitive genitive cannot be inverted, though it can be converted into a noun compound.

Descriptive of-genitive:
 
The bandwidth of the device is 2 MHz.
(The device’s bandwidth is 2 MHz. The device bandwidth is 2-MHz.)

Partitive of-genitive:
 
The device has a bandwidth of 2 MHz.
(the 2 MHz’s bandwidth The 2-MHz bandwidth)

 

Partitive of-genitive phrases are similar to counters in that they introduce a unit of measure. For example, the examples below could have been written in their plural form as several new forms of..., two brief periods of..., numerous loose collections of..., All descriptions of... or more than one means of..., thus showing their partitive nature. In this sense, the the meaning of the indefinite article "a" is closer to "one".

Partitive of-genitive:
 
The studies of Coffman (1998) led to the proposal of a new form of Moore’s Law.
 
There was a brief period of explosive growth in 1995 and 1996.
 
The Internet is a loose collection of networks.
 
A more complete description of communications traffic should include a means of measuring how far that traffic travels.

Here are some of the most common partitive of-genitives found in academic and technical writing:

a number of
a host of
a plethora of
a variety of
 a multitude of
a range of
an large amount of
a set of 		a series of
a class of
an array of
a period of 		a portion of
a total of
a way of /to
a method of /to
 an approach to
a solution to
a function of
a summary of
 

POSTMODIFIED PLURAL GENERICS:

Finally, a common stylistic feature of academic writing is absence of the definite article "the" when the main noun is in the plural form or an uncountable noun describing a process. Thus, of-genitive phrases modifiying either a plural noun or an uncountable process tend to occur without a definite article when the noun refers to general and not specific instances of that noun (see also plural generics).

Plural Generics:
 
Ø Studies of data and voice communications have historically concentrated on long haul circuits.
 
Opportunities for Ø structural applications of nanostructured materials are in the form of coatings prepared by thermal spray deposition.
 
Uncountable noun (process):
 
Ø Chemical analysis of the Arabianranta area showed severe contamination of the soil.
 
Ø contamination of soil with base and heavy metals continues to be a problem in many industrialized countries.

 

Press the "NEXT" to see how relative clauses can give unique reference to nouns:

 
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