Mr. Hundhausen’s 5 magic article rules!

(Will help you get about 95% of your articles correct, but they don’t work for times or places L )


1. One of many (in the world)                         a/an

    Plural, first time mentioned                        none

2. Already mentioned     (valid for plurals)    the

3. Something unique                                               the

(the internet, the sun, the moon, the Earth, the President of the Czech Republic, the city centre)


a) ordinal numbers (the 1^st, the 10^th)              the

       b) superlatives  (valid for plurals)          the

c) the last, the only, the same, the right, the wrong, the next                          (valid for
plurals)                 the

d) defined immediately afterwards          the

                           (valid for plurals)

             (the price OF petrol)

(the author OF the book WHICH I read last week!)

                   (the dog WHICH bit my girlfriend)

         Key words: OF, WHO, WHICH, THAT, WHERE but not prepositions

4. Abstract or uncountable things                  none

water, information, love, science (all academic subjects) etc. Also nouns formed by adding –ing to
verbs like running. But be careful! This rule is superseded by rule 3d (e.g. The hatred of
chocolate is a rare but serious disease.)

5. Expressions of quantity using nouns          a/an

(a lot of sloths, a few, a majority, a handful, a series, special names for collectives e.g. a herd
of cattle, a flock of birds, a pack of cigarettes etc.) but NOT “several”




The United States

The United Kingdom

The Czech Republic J

The Netherlands









Cinematographer / director of photography



The beauty of the Czech landscape


Beauty


In this film played A. H. word order problem!


It’s not too clever a story.


The film is about a man who is a Uni. Prof. ,

Womanizer = sukničkář


We don’t know whether they will get back together.


Open ending

In the end = nakonec

At the end = na konci

End = konec

Ending = konec příběhu


Na místě = at this place / in this place

Clown

Clone


Please use a variety of verbs, not only “to be”


A little girl living in Australia

Čj: V tom filmu hral Anthony Hopkins.

Aj: In this film plays A. H.


Subject – verb – object/predicate


Anthony Hopkins plays in this film.


A revolution of animals



Punctuation


Capital letters:

In Eng, capitalise every word in a title, except for articles and prepositions.


Druhá světová válka = The Second World War

Děkujeme, že kouříte = Thank You for Smoking

Machovo jezero          = Macha Lake





Commas!!!! BIG PROBLEM! 6 magic rules


1) Put a comma before a change of subject (podmět)

E.g. Bob was grumpy, and it made life miserable for everyone.

Bob ate fish, and the meat was not chosen by anyone.

2) A comma is always possible before BUT and necessary before SINCE and AS when they are
conjunctions (spojky).

E.G. I was tired, but I continued working nonetheless.    ALE     Bob ate all the bananas but one.

I was tired, since/as I had been thinking in Czech all day.    ALE: I have been here since noon.


3) Put commas around non-defining clauses and participle clauses (přechodníky)!

E.G. Bob, who is my best friend, is coming to visit me.

Bob’s sisters, seeing that he was an idiot, decided to adopt another brother.


4) NEVER put a comma before ‘that’ or ‘if’ or ‘when’ even if there is a change of subject!

I think, that English punctuation is stupid. L

I do not know, if Bob is home. L

I got home, when Bob was having a fit. L


5) Put commas around (or after) editorial and organisational comments, time phrases (usually ;),
and after the hypothesis of a conditional sentence.

E.G. Unfortunately, Bob did not enjoy the trip.

The trip, in my opinion, was a waste of time.

In the early part of 2009, I was working for a publisher.

If I could, I would switch to a logical language like German.

Your organizing team, however, thinks that…


6) lists

A, B, C(,)  and D


I want to attack the country which invented Mondays.


Paris, which is a lovely city, is where I met my girlfriend/boyfriend.


The Paris that I LOVE is the one with no other tourists in it.


Which play did they perform?

The company performed the play which they had discovered on their trip to Paris.


Contractions!


I’m, don’t, aren’t, shouldn’t, he’s, it’s, isn’t etc.


DO NOT use contractions in written English.