Post by Admin on Nov 22, 2015 11:01:35 GMT
Articles can be hard to get right. A, an and the all mean ‘one’
A/An (indefinite article)
a/an are used when we talk about any one of a number of COUNTABLE NOUNS.
There can be an adjective before the noun, or the noun may be in a phrase, but they still need an article.
There is a book on the table.
There is an old book on the table.
There is a book by that woman from Cambridge University Press on the table.
Whether we use a or an depends on the sound of the word which follows. Use a with a consonant sound and an with a vowel sound.
a book, a car, a concept, a child, a university.
an apple, an infant, an idea, an immigrant, an hour.
One or two words starting with 'h' can use either a or an depending on the pronunciation. For example, some people say ‘an hotel’ or ‘an historic building’ because the words are pronounced ‘otel’ and ‘istoric’. Others say ‘a hotel’ and ‘a historic building’ because they pronounce the ‘h’ at the beginning of each word. The former used to be considered correct, but nowadays the latter is more common. Neither is incorrect – they are just different.
With uncountable nouns, we never use a or an: we can’t sayan information or a pollution or a weather.
THE
The rules are a little more complicated when it comes to using ‘the’. It is the most common word in the English language.
It can be used with plural and singular countable nouns, and with uncountable nouns.
Usually, ‘the’ is not used with proper nouns, but there are exceptions. (Of course there are exceptions – this is English!)
• Families: the Jacksons, the Al Habsis
• Countries with plural nouns as their names: the Philippines, the Comoros
• Countries with words like kingdom, republic, or state in their names: the USA, the People’s Republic of China
• Geographical features: the Alps, the Pacific, the Euphrates, the Suez Canal
• Newspapers: The Evening Standard, The New York Times
• Famous paintings, buildings, or works of art; the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, the Thinker.
• Some organisations: the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation (but not, for examplethe Greenpeace or the Oxfam)
• Hotels, restaurants, theatres etc: The Imperial, The Savoy, The Dorchester (but not, for example, when the hotel’s name is also a person’s name, so notthe Rick Stein's or the Shepherd’s Hotel.)
One more exception is the Internet. It should always have a capital letter (although often it is used without one) and we use the because there is only one.
Getting used to using articles correctly requires practice. Read as much English as you can and learn patterns or phrases which use a/an or the.
A/An (indefinite article)
a/an are used when we talk about any one of a number of COUNTABLE NOUNS.
There can be an adjective before the noun, or the noun may be in a phrase, but they still need an article.
There is a book on the table.
There is an old book on the table.
There is a book by that woman from Cambridge University Press on the table.
Whether we use a or an depends on the sound of the word which follows. Use a with a consonant sound and an with a vowel sound.
a book, a car, a concept, a child, a university.
an apple, an infant, an idea, an immigrant, an hour.
One or two words starting with 'h' can use either a or an depending on the pronunciation. For example, some people say ‘an hotel’ or ‘an historic building’ because the words are pronounced ‘otel’ and ‘istoric’. Others say ‘a hotel’ and ‘a historic building’ because they pronounce the ‘h’ at the beginning of each word. The former used to be considered correct, but nowadays the latter is more common. Neither is incorrect – they are just different.
With uncountable nouns, we never use a or an: we can’t say
THE
The rules are a little more complicated when it comes to using ‘the’. It is the most common word in the English language.
It can be used with plural and singular countable nouns, and with uncountable nouns.
- We use ‘the’ to talk about something specific.
Imagine you hear someone saying “I’m going to buy a car.” Because they say ‘a car’ we can tell that they haven’t decided which car. They want any old car and don’t have a specific car in mind.
Now imagine you hear someone saying “I’m going to buy the car.”Because they say ‘the’ car, we can tell that they are speaking about one particular car – the one they were discussing earlier, the one they saw advertised in the paper or the one they took for a test drive yesterday, for example.
- In both written and spoken English, we use the indefinite article, a/an, (indefinite because we aren’t sure which one) to refer to something the first time, and then use the definite article, the, (definite because we mean a particular one) the second time and thereafter.
For example: Oxford is a beautiful city, famous for its university, which doesn’t have a single campus. In fact, the campus is divided between a number of different colleges spread throughout the city.
In the first sentence we use ‘a city’ and ‘a campus’ because we mean one city amongst many and one campus amongst many. By the second sentence, we know which campus we are talking about (Oxford University’s) so we say ‘the’ campus, and we know which city we are talking about (Oxford) so we say ‘the’ city.
- We also use ‘the’ before certain nouns when everyone knows what we are talking about.
For example, we may say to a friend, ‘Can you meet me at the library?’. We don’t say ‘a library’ because we both have the same place in mind. Similarly, you might write in an essay ‘The government has a duty to help poor people’. You don’t say ‘a government’ because we understand you mean the government of your own country. In the UK, we talk about ‘the’ queen. Of course there are queens in other countries, but in the UK we mean our own queen, so we say ‘the’.
- When we’re talking about unique things we also use ‘the’. By that, I mean when there is only one of something. For example, we talk about ‘the’ sun and ‘the’ moon, because there is only one connected to our particular planet.
For example:
There are many galaxies in the universe. We only have one universe.
Agneta is the best student in the class. There is only one ‘best’ which is why all superlatives use the: the best, the fastest, the most expensive.
- If we want to talk about something in general, belonging to a group or class, such as animals, people, services, instruments and so on, we also use the.
The camel is a large, four-footed animal.
- In this sentence we mean all camels. (It means the same as: Camels are large, four-footed animals.)
I want to work with the elderly.
- In this sentence we mean anyone in the class of people who are elderly.
I learned to play the flute at school.
- In this sentence we mean a specific type of instrument (the flute).
You can listen to English on the radio.
- In this sentence we mean a specific service (the radio).
- We use the with certain fixed phrases.
For example, we say in the long run, in the scheme of things, at the moment, the heart of the matter, and so on.
Usually, ‘the’ is not used with proper nouns, but there are exceptions. (Of course there are exceptions – this is English!)
• Families: the Jacksons, the Al Habsis
• Countries with plural nouns as their names: the Philippines, the Comoros
• Countries with words like kingdom, republic, or state in their names: the USA, the People’s Republic of China
• Geographical features: the Alps, the Pacific, the Euphrates, the Suez Canal
• Newspapers: The Evening Standard, The New York Times
• Famous paintings, buildings, or works of art; the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, the Thinker.
• Some organisations: the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation (but not, for example
• Hotels, restaurants, theatres etc: The Imperial, The Savoy, The Dorchester (but not, for example, when the hotel’s name is also a person’s name, so not
One more exception is the Internet. It should always have a capital letter (although often it is used without one) and we use the because there is only one.
Getting used to using articles correctly requires practice. Read as much English as you can and learn patterns or phrases which use a/an or the.