在这一篇中，让我们谈谈有关“零冠词+单形集体、物质、抽象名词”结构的一些问题。我们就按此题目所列的顺序先谈“零冠词+单形集体名词”结构。

说到集体名词，学过一点语法的人就会想到 family, committee, party, class, army, herd 等词，并想到这些名词的单数形式只能与定冠词或不定冠词连用，而不可用零冠词。可是这样想并不符合事实，有些单形集体名词常可用零冠词，如 mankind, humanity, officialdom, vermin 等。 请看实例：

(1)They have performed a valuable service to mankind .

(2)This is a crime against humanity .

(3)This leaves the individual at the mercy of officialdom .

(4)He says that football hooligans are vermin .

上述单形集体名词一般皆不可数，无复形，之所以用零冠词，对中国学生来说，是比较容易理解和使用的。中国学生较难掌握的恐怕是“零冠词+可数而有复形的单形集体名词”结构，如 family 一词。你可能会说，它不是一个像类名词一样可数的具体名词吗？怎么可以用零冠词呢？是的，它常用作可数的具体名词，故常可与定冠词、不定冠词、物主代词等连用，如：

(5)John is the youngest in our family .

(6)The Jones family have gone on vacation to Spain.

(7)They have a very big family — five sons and three daughters.

但这只是单形集体名词 family 的一种用法，是一种较普通的用法。但 family 还有另一种用法，即其与零冠词连用的用法。这种用法似乎比较少见，但却是事实，故应引起中国学生的格外注意。现举几例如下：

(8)I didn't know you had family . （family 在此意谓“亲人”）

(9)On the wall is another couplet reading, “Family of 100 years values charities; pleasure of first grade is reading.”

(10)a man of family （指出身名门之人）

像 family 这样既可用定冠词和不定冠词，也可用零冠词的单形集体名词还有一些，现再举几例如下：

(11)In these novels society figures largely as a jungle.

(12)If the lady marries the gamekeeper, it is not class-spite, but in spite of class .

(13)I figure we can make do with three in crew .

(14)Sorry, fellows, office wants Sid and me back right away.

(15)This appeal to old acquaintance must have been extremely distasteful to the Chief Inspector.

(16)Youth sometimes lack prudence.

(17)It is a proper office of public authority to guard against accidents.

下面一例中的单形集体名词 group 的用法则有点特殊：

(18)The movement's secretary, Michael Terry, said it was Britain's largest anti-apartheid rally since group was formed 25 years ago.

这里的 group 亦可代之以 the group， 所以有的语法家管这种现象唤作“临界情况” (borderline case)。这种临界情况似乎更常见于单形类名词，如：

(19)Beg your pardon. I am a man of few words and a bad hand at explanation — but lady here is extremely curious that there should be no row.

这种单形类名词往往用以引导一个句子，所以要大写，如：

(20)—Where did you get all this information?

—A well-informed source. Fellow who gave me this gun. Revson.

应该指出，上面所说的这一类单形集体名词，并非都可以与零冠词连用，比如单形集体名词 audience 在当代英语中就似乎很少用零冠词。又，像 police, people 等集体名词当然也常可用零冠词，但我们认为它们并非单形集体名词，而是无单形的复形集体名词（也有人将它们唤作群体名词）。

现在让我们再谈“零冠词+单形物质名词”结构。学过一点语法的人，看到这种结构，可能马上会觉得它是显而易见的，如 water, milk, honey, wine, tea 等单形物质名词当然常用零冠词，这有什么可讨论的呢？是的，如果单形物质名词都是这样，问题就简单了。上面所举的一些单形物质名词常常只用其单形，不用其复形，同时又往往不可数，所以常可用零冠词。但有一些单形物质名词并不是这样。它们不但常用其单形，也常用其复形，同时它们也常常是可数，如 cake, seed, brick, cloud, rope, stone 等。 对这些单形物质名词，我们中国学生往往只会用定冠词、不定冠词以及物主代词等表其单念，如a cake, the cake, my cake, 实例如：

(21)She said she would bake a cake for my birthday.

(22)She cut the cake and gave me a piece.

(23)That's my cake you're eating!

而不会将这些单形物质名词与零冠词连用，表其零念，如：

(24)Are you fond of cake ?

(25)We always have cake for tea on Sundays.

(26)I enjoyed sitting down with friends over coffee and cake when the day's work was over.

现将其他类似的单形物质名词与零冠词连用的情况举例如下：

(27)The hall is paved with brick .

(28)There is more cloud today than yesterday.

(29)He bound it with rope .

(30)All brick is artificial; only stone is natural.

(31)All these trees were grown from seed .

(32)From the money bag the old man poured a small heap of coin .

(33)They started to wear western dress .

(34)The eggs were packed in straw .

注意 forest 与 jungle 亦可与零冠词连用，表零念，如：

(35)About 26,000 square miles of the country are under forest .

(36)Soon high jungle closed in.

dessert 虽可数，表单念，但亦可用零冠词表零念，如：

(37)For dessert there was ice cream.

表示声音的名词亦应是物质名词。如 sound, voice, noise 等皆可用零冠词，例：

(38)Sound travels better in water than in air.

(39)With commanding voice he said:“Hands off! No, I must go, not you! You have a wife and children. I have no one!”

(40)I don't like noise .

表灯光火焰的单形物质名词 light, flame 等也是一样，如：

(41)The house blazed with light .

(42)The aircraft disappeared in a ball of brilliant yellow flame .

最后，让我们谈一下“零冠词+单形抽象名词”结构。和单形物质名词一样，有许多单形抽象名词都可以与零冠词连用，如 honesty, happiness, beauty, music, luck, commerce, transportation 等。但这些单形抽象名词一般都不可数，没有复形，所以它们用零冠词是容易理解因而也是容易掌握的。但有不少单形抽象名词并不是这样，它们是可数的，都有复形，如：act, day, feeling, fact, habit, thought, song 等。我国学生对这一类单形抽象名词与定冠词或不定冠词连用的情况比较熟悉，试以 song 为例：

(43)Please sing us a song .

(44)I like the song very much.

但对下列一些句中的“零冠词+song”结构恐怕就感到有点陌生了：

(45)Our group had all burst into song .

(46)The bird is in full song .

让我们将其他类似的单形抽象名词与零冠词连用的情况再举一些例子如下：

(47)It was day now outside.

(48)That reads like fiction, but is indeed fact .

(49)I met her by accident .

(50)She was already years older in thought and act .

(51)Feeling , blessedly, had at least momentarily fled.

(52)—Why do you still collect stamps?

—I don't know. I suppose it's habit .

(53)We turn to Germany for method , go to France for culture .

(54)They were studying the development of language in children.

(55)Use your head and avoid trouble .

(56)The car's in poor condition .

(57)Look here, George, I'm acting on principle .

(58)His father was a count. He was next in line .

(59)Nothing should be left to chance .

(60)The principle is not open to question .

(61)These ranches are answer enough.