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doubt but ye are _the_ people, and wisdom shall die with you.--_Bible._ As for New Orleans, it seemed to me _the_ city of the world where you can eat and drink the most and suffer the least.--THACKERAY. He was _the_ man in all Europe that could (if any could) have driven six-in-hand full gallop over Al Sirat.--DE QUINCEY. [Sidenote: _Mark of a substantive._] 186. _The_, since it belongs distinctively to substantives, is a sure indication that a word of verbal form is not used participially, but substantively. In the hills of Sacramento there is gold for _the gathering_.--EMERSON. I thought _the writing_ excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it.--FRANKLIN. [Sidenote: _Caution._] 187. There is one use of _the_ which is different from all the above. It is an adverbial use, and is spoken of more fully in Sec. 283. Compare this sentence with those above:-- There was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed, and which grew still _the more obvious_ to the sight _the oftener_ they looked upon him.--HAWTHORNE. Exercise.--Find sentences with five uses of the definite article. USES OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE. [Sidenote: _Denotes any one of a class._] 188. The most frequent use of the indefinite article is to denote any one of a class or group of objects: consequently it belongs to singular words; as in the sentence,-- Near the churchyard gate stands _a_ poor-box, fastened to _a_ post by iron bands and secured by _a_ padlock, with _a_ sloping wooden roof to keep off the rain.--LONGFELLOW [Sidenote: _Widens the scope of proper nouns._] 189. When the indefinite article precedes proper names, it alters them to class names. The qualities or attributes of the object are made prominent, and transferred to any one possessing them; as,-- The vulgar riot and debauchery, which scarcely disgraced _an Alcibiades_ or _a Caesar_, have been exchanged for the higher ideals of _a Bayard_ or _a Sydney_.--PEARSON [Sidenote: _With abstract nouns._] 190. _An_ or _a_ before abstract nouns often changes them to half abstract: the idea of quality remains, but the word now denotes only one instance or example of things possessing the quality. [Sidenote: _Become half abstract._] The simple perception of natural forms is _a delight_.--EMERSON If thou hadst _a
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