- The identifying function
- The definitizing function
- The individualizing function
1. When we speak, we may want to point out to something that both us and the hearer perceive with our organs of feeling. There are five different ways of getting the information about something existing in the objective reality. We can see it (Do you like the picture?), hear it (I believe, the music is too loud), feel it (The pillow is so soft!), smell it (What is the name of the perfume?) or taste it (The soup tastes bitter).
The frame is a structurally organized system of images. For example, the frame “classroom” includes a window, a blackboard and a door. So if both the speaker and the hearer know what classroom they are speaking of, the constituents of the classroom don’t need any special concretization, and the indefinite article will be used.
e.g. I want to talk to the rector (even if you have never met the man).
3. The object in question may be presented as a unique thing with the hearer’s attention focused on its distinguishing features, which are represented with the help of a particularizing attribute. The object is singled out from the class it belongs to.
The particularizing attribute can be expressed by:
a) adjectives in the superlative degree e.g. This is the easiest way out.
b) ordinal numerals e.g. I have forgotten the first word.
c) attributive relative restrictive clauses e.g. I need the book I bought yesterday.
