Harry Boyle s Volkswagen

							                              Harry Boyle’s Volkswagen

         Harry Boyle is now the editor of the Prince George Citizen. He has a beard, a wife
and two children and has been on this earth for 40 years. A few years ago, he also
owned the Whitehorse Star in the Yukon. His newspaper office was unusual because it
was connected to the local poolroom by a covered walkway. Harry thinks he’s an expert
at pool.
         Harry also owns ____ Volkswagen. Sometimes people call it ____ “mechanical
cockroach” or ____ “pregnant roller skate.” I am going to tell you how Harry Boyle
collided with ____ huge Volkswagen company.
         About one year ago, Harry was driving along ____ Alaska Highway. Suddenly he
felt really thirsty and had to have ____ drink. He pulled off ____ road and found ____
bottle of beer in his car. He had bought some beer in Prince George for this trip.
         Harry is ____ intelligent and cultured man, but he doesn’t know anything about
____ mechanics. He noticed that ____ air vent was close to ____ windshield and levered
____ bottle cap against ____ glass. He started to open ____ bottle. Of course ____
windshield broke.
         Later, Mr. Boyle got out his typewriter and wrote to ____ Volkswagen people. He
told them, “You are manufacturing ____ most expensive and inefficient bottle opener on
____ market. My Volkswagen is fine. But it is ____ terrible bottle opener that is badly
engineered and full of danger for ____ thirsty man.”
         He got this letter from ____ Volkswagen plant in Toronto:
Dear Mr. Boyle
         We enjoyed your letter which informs us that you are satisfied with your
Volkswagen. Thank you for telling us about ____ secret location of ____ beer bottle
opener which our factory installed at no extra charge.
         We are sorry that you cracked ____ windshield. You are probably happy that this
accident didn’t happen to ____ car with more expensive windshield glass.
         We would like to explain ____ best way for Volkswagen owners to open ____
beer bottles. We asked our photographer to record ____ correct method. You will see
that you have to stop ____ car and get out before you can use ____ bottle opener. We
were thinking about our customers’ safety when we designed this characteristic into
____ car.
         They enclosed ____ two big glossy photographs. They showed ____ Volkswagen
owner opening ____ beer bottle. He was levering ____ cap of ____ Molsen’s beer bottle
in ____ crevice which is between ____ bumper and ____ bumper bracket at ____ front
of ____ car. ____ company also sent Harry ____ multi-coloured marking pen as ____
bonus.
a/an – singular, an = vowels (apple), We don’t know which one (writer –
reader). Example: Look, there’s a dog. The dog ate my lunch.
the – specific, know which one, mentioned it before. (singluar or plural),
nothing – Table is here! _____ Tables are useful! (plural), General (Dogs are
good pets to have.)

A/an –not specific, but singular
Some – not specific, but plural
0 - general

The – specific: speaker and listener know what you mean.
This/That – singular and specific: suggests position
Those – plural and specific: suggests position

Points to consider:
1. LEARNING ARTICLES IS AN ENDLESS PROCESS ---
2. Students should be suspicious of every noun without an article or
some other determiner.
3. As a general (very general) rule, names that begin with a capital letter
take no article.
4. but plural and collective proper names do take the definite article.
        a. Countries (federations and unions)        the USA, the United
Kingdom
        b.      Lakes (if they form a set)                the Great Lakes
        c.      Mountain Ranges                           the Andes
        d.      Islands (a group)                    the Canary Islands
5. A speaker uses no article with a non-count noun when making a
generalization.
        -I like music
6. If the noun has a determiner, the article is not used
        - I need this (my/another/one/) chair
7. The speaker often uses 'some' with a non-count noun
        when s/he is talking about something nonspecific
8. Destinations cause trouble too
        -go to the store, to the post-office, to the bank, to school, to church,
to bed, home
9. And locations
        -at home, in bed, in school, in college
10. And expressions of time