The use of articles with class nouns modified by attributes.

The definite article is used when a noun is modified by an attri­bute which shows that a particular object is meant, i. e. by an attribute which might be called a particularizing attribute. A particularizing attribute is used to single out an object from all the objects of the class, to point out one particular object or group of objects. The use of a particularizing attribute implies the idea of 'тот, который'; 'именно тот, этот'.

A particularizing attribute can be expressed by an of- phrase or an attributive clause. It is always used in post-position.

He knocked at the door of a very neat house. (Marryat)

The letters that I have here have come to me quite by accident. (Dreiser)

A particularizing attribute should not be confused with a descrip­tive attribute.

A descriptive attribute is used to describe an object or to give some additional information about it.

In a fortnight I got a long letter, which I considered odd. (E. Bronte)

The post on her left was occupied by Mr. Erskine of Treadley, an old gentleman of considerable charm and culture. (Wilde)

The use of a descriptive attribute does not affect the use of the article. The same articles would be used if there were no attribute whatever.

One day in January he called at the seminary to return a book which he had borrowed. (Voynich)

I have just spoken to the woman, who seems to have changed her mind. (Bennett)

They went side by side, hand in hand, silently toward the hedge, where the May flower, both pink and white, was in full bloom. (Galsworthy)

In the first example the indefinite article is used with the noun book because the object denoted by it is presented as belonging to a class. The noun woman is used with the definite article because the speaker and the hearer know what particular person is meant. The noun hedge is used with the definite article because the situation makes the object definite.