有人问： 有这样一个句子：

(1)Electrical home appliances like air conditioner, washing machine and refrigerator make our life comfortable.

句中的个体名词air conditioner, washing machine and refrigerator之前为什么没有限定词呢？

英语中成串的并列的类名词常用零冠词，即其前不用a或the。再如：

(2)The artistic appeal of the play is enormous, with chief credit going to playwright, director and designer .

(3)His face was almost sculpturally masculine in its bold lines of brow,nose and jaw .

(4)To make his acrobatic fighting more real, he went to Beijing Physical Culture Institute to learn how to use cudgel, spear, nine-section whip and broadsword .

(5)The little inn was really a combination of restaurant and dancing parlor and hotel .

但请注意，一串并列的名词绝不限于上述情况。由于文章内容的需要和作者自身的风格，名词并列的形式是多种多样的，现只举几例如下：

(6)A clean cloth was spread before him, with knife, fork, and spoon, saltcellar, pepperbox, glass, and pewter ale-pot .（含有两组并列名词）

(7)She had lost youth, fortune, child and husband .（含有不可数抽象名词youth）

(8)He looked at a photograph of a young woman with short dark hair, strong jaw, long upper lip, biggish nose .（并列名词之前有修饰语）

(9)The richness lies in the exquisite and elegant movements of hand, feet, and shoulders .（内含复形名词）

成串的类名词用零冠词，和成对的名词（如body and soul, from door to door, hand in hand等）用零冠词一样，皆是由于要将类名词泛化或抽象化的缘故。