The definite article is omitted before substantives 
used in a general sense: 
Abstract nouns : Idleness is a vice, (but The idleness of this hoy.) 
Names of materials: Cotton is grown in hot countfies, (but 
The cotton grown in Bengal has a long staple.) 
Class names in plural: Cows give us müh. (but r Die coivs are 
grazing in our meadow.) 
Meals: Come to supper. (but The supper given to the hing.) 
Seasons: Spring has come. (but The spring of this year was, 
very cold.) 
Months: December is the last month of the year. (but The JJe- 
cember of 1848 is one that will . . .) 
Days: I shall arrive on Wednesday. (but The ship arrived 
the Wednesday before last.) 
Before proper nouns: George, but in plural and to describe 
a ship, house etc, The Georges; The Niobe; The Cecil Hotel. 
Before geographieal nouns: Switzerland, Turkey etc. (but The 
United States, The Brazils etc.) 
Before geographieal definitions, as mount, cape, lakc: Mount 
Htna-, Cape Finisterre, Lake Superior. (Note: The Cape of Good 
Hope, Ihe Lake of Geneva.) 
Before names of Streets, squares, buildings and bridges:: 
Old Broad Street, Leicester Square, Weslminster Abbey, Waterloo 
Bridge. (Note: The Boyal Exchange.) 
Further after the prepositions at, in, from, to before the 
words church, school, town (but the country) when the purpose of 
the plaee is taken into account: as We go to church every Sunday, 
The pupils were in school when the fire broke out. Very many people 
leave town in snmmer. — From East to West, but The North, the 
South (etc.) of England. 
The indefinite article is a or an. 
a before a consonantal sound and semivowels; e. g. a cargo,. 
a unit. an before a vowel, and a silent h; o. g. an average, an 
hour. (h is silent in the words hour, honour, honest, honorable, heir,. 
humour) an is also used before words wkere the h is aspirated 
and the accent is on the second syllable; as an historian; an hotel. 
Note the use of the indefinite article in the following sen- 
tences: 
Steamers sail for Hamburg three times a week. The Import duty 
on tea into England is 2 d a pound. The cloth costs 1/9 d a yard. 
In commercial language per is substituted for a; as 6/—- per 
pound. (Always ten per ccnt.) 
Repetition of the article. 
The article is repeated: 
1. For the sake of emphasis; as The merchant and the clerk 
have absconded. 
2. When different forms of the article are used; as An of- 
fice and a samplc-room.