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Zero-marking in English is the indication of a particular grammatical function by the absence of any morpheme (word, prefix, or suffix). The most common types of zero-marking in English involve zero articles, zero relative pronouns, and zero subordinating conjunctions. Examples of these are ''I like cats'' (where the absence of the definite article ''the'' signals that cats is an indefinite reference whose specific identity is not known to the listener), ''that's the cat I saw'', in which the relative clause ''(that) I saw'' omits the implied relative pronoun ''that'' that would be the object of the clause's verb, and ''I wish you were here'', in which the dependent clause ''(that) you were here'' omits the subordinating conjunction ''that''. In some varieties of English, grammatical information that other English varieties typically express with grammatical function words or bound morphemes may be omitted. For example, where most varieties of English utilize explicit plural morphemes (e.g. singular ''mango'' versus plural ''mangoes''), West Indian creole speakers refer to plural objects without such morphology (''I find one dozen mango.''). The lack of marking to show grammatical category or agreement is known as zero-marking or zero morpheme realization. This information is typically expressed with prepositions, articles, bound morphemes or function words in other varieties of English. ==Zero article== Zero article refers to noun phrases that contain no articles, definite or indefinite. English, like many other languages, does not require an article in plural noun phrases with a generic reference, reference to a general class of things. English also uses no article before a mass noun or a plural noun if the reference is indefinite, a thing that is not specifically identifiable in context.〔 For example: *generic mass noun: Happiness ''is contagious.'' *generic plural noun: Cars ''have accelerators.'' *generic plural noun: They want ''equal rights.'' *indefinite mass noun: ''I drink'' coffee. *indefinite plural noun: ''I saw'' cars. In English, the zero article rather than the indefinite article is often used with plurals and mass nouns (although the word "some" can function like an indefinite plural article): * Friends ''have told us that they like our new house''. The definite article is sometimes omitted before some words for specific institutions, such as ''prison'', ''school'', and (in standard non-American dialects) ''hospital''. * ''She is in'' hospital. * ''The criminal went to'' prison. * ''I'm going to'' school. The article may also be omitted between a preposition and the word ''bed'' when describing activities typically associated with beds.〔 * ''He is lying in'' bed. * ''They went to'' bed. Where a particular location is meant, or when describing activities that are not typical, the definite article is used.〔 * ''She was dismissed from'' the hospital. * ''The plumber went to'' the prison ''to fix the pipes.'' * ''We were jumping on'' the bed. The zero article is also used in instructions and manuals. In such cases, the references in the text are all definite, and thus no distinction between definite and indefinite has to be made. *''Grasp'' drumstick. ''Place'' knife ''between'' thigh ''and'' body; ''cut through'' skin ''to'' joint. ''Separate'' thigh ''and'' drumstick ''at'' joint. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zero-marking in English」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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