3.1 The indefinite article: 'a/an' (1)
3.3C 'The' + nationality noun: 'the Chinese' [> LEG 3.19.2, App 49]
Study: We use the in front of nationality nouns to refer to 'all the people in general'.
We can divide nationality nouns into four groups:
1 the + -ese or -ss: the Chinese, the Japanese, the Portuguese, the Sudanese, the Swiss.
2 the + plural ending in -s:
-ian: the Austrians, the Belgians, the Brazilians, the Egyptians, the Russians.
-an: the Americans, the Koreans, the Mexicans, the Venezuelans, the Zimbabweans.
other -s endings: the Arabs, the Germans, the Greeks, the Poles, the Scots, the Turks.
3 Two forms: the Danes/the Danish, the Spaniards/the Spanish, the Swedes/the Swedish.
4 the + -ch or -sh: the British, the Dutch, the English, the French, the Irish, the Welsh.
Write: Rewrite these sentences using nationality nouns to refer to 'the people in general'.
1 The people from Portugal are very different from the people from Spain.
ТагШ^.
2 The people from America and the people from Russia understand each other better.
3 The people from Brazil speak Portuguese, but the people from Mexico speak Spanish.
4 The people from Germany and the people from Japan work very hard.
5 The people from Greece buy ships from the people from Korea.
6 The people from Britain and the people from Holland do a lot of foreign trade.
3.3D Context
Write: Put in a or the.
ANCIENT SECRETS
Mr Denys Stocks,^1 retired policeman, has just been given
(^2) B.Sc. for twelve years' research into ancient Egyptian
industrial methods. Egyptologists have often wondered how^3
Egyptians were able to cut such hard stone and how they produced
such fine jewellery. Mr Stocks has shown that^4 Egyptians used
saws and drills.^5 saws and drills were made of copper, which is
very soft. But^6 Egyptian craftsmen turned them into very
powerful tools. First^7 craftsman made^8 cut in^9
stone with^10 soft saw. Then^11 craftsman poured sand
into^12 cut.^13 hard sand got into^14 teeth of
(^15) saw and did (^16) cutting. In this way, (^17) worker
could cut basalt, one of the hardest rocks.^18 sand he used
turned into^19 very fine powder.^20 powder was then
used by jewellers to cut precious stones and to make delicate jewellery.
An ancient Egyptian drill