| As proved in research conducted in the Republic of India, Saudi Arabia, Persia and Japan, many students have problems in applying definite and indefinite expressions in English. Usually students whose languages do not have definite and indefinite markers have problems in using definite and indefinite expressions. The purpose of this study is to discover the possible causes of students’ errors in using definite and indefinite expressions in English from the point of view of the English language itself. This purpose is achieved by clarifying the notion of definiteness and indefiniteness in terms of reference and finding out the expressions used One hundred forty three sentences and texts having of two hundred noun phrases taken from various books and magazines have been analyzed The analysis of definiteness has been done by considering the contexts of the uses; anaphoric, cataphoric, immediate and wider as well as associative uses, whereas indefiniteness has been analysed by using two criteria - identification by either the speaker or the hearer, or identification by neither of them. In addition, tables showing the patterns of the noun phrases analyzed have been included. The position of definiteness and indefiniteness is presented in a chart showing the hierarchy of reference. Basically, definiteness and indefiniteness are the grammaticalization or grammatical expressions of definite and indefinite noun phrases. This notion has a close relationship with identifiability. If both the speaker and the hearer can identify the referent either in the text or in the outside world, the referent is definite. If it can be identified by either the speaker or the hearer, or by neither of them, the referent is indefinite. Considering the above notion, definiteness and indefiniteness in English are expressed not only by articles the or a, but also by some other word classes i.e., demonstratives, possessives, personal pronouns, numerals and proper names. From the analysis, it appears that definite and indefinite noun phrases sometimes have overt or covert markers. In some cases, the markers are used inconsistently, and some other cases the contexts determine whether a certain noun phrase is definite or not. Therefore, students usually have problems in using the markers of these expressions without understanding the essence of definiteness and indefiniteness and without studying them in contexts. Finally this study puts forward the relationship between the markers and the students' problems in studying English so that this study will give benefits for students in expressing definite and indefinite noun phrases correctly in English. |