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L2 complexities can also be reflected in the learning and use of so many rules for English articles. It is, in fact, one of the most difficult challenges and one of the most frustrating experiences for L2 learners. The difficult challenge lies in the fact that L2 learners have to learn many rules about English articles. As demonstrated in A Practical English Grammar (Zhang, 1978), one of the most popular English grammar books used in China, a whole chapter is devoted to articles. The chapter consists of 26 sections (5 sections more than those in the chapter on nouns). From those 26 sections, about 40 or more different rules can be derived. Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik (1985) went even further. In their influential book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, 47 sections in 33 pages were spent on article usage. L2 learners also feel extremely frustrated because all rules for English articles have exceptions. Numerous rules go hand in hand with as many exceptions. Some of the rules that govern article usage are so subtle, complex, and idiosyncratic that only years of experience with the language might enable L2 learners to understand and apply those rules. In many cases, even years of experience with the language and advanced proficiency in the language cannot help them to understand and explain simple cases such as why the is used in The Ohio State University, but not used in Ohio University and Michigan State University. In other words, there are no simple and golden rules for English articles.
In addition, there are still theoretic disputes on the property of definiteness. As summarized by Guella, Déprez, and Sleeman (2008), definiteness can be based on uniqueness/maximality, anaphoric properties, familiarity, or the situational use of the definite DPs (saliency), or based on the presupposition of the speaker and the hearer regarding the existence of a unique individual in the context denoted by the NP. Epstein (2002) argued that no previous analysis is empirically satisfactory since the focus is only on the referential function of the article and no analysis