Grammar - Articles
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Grammar - Articles
Articles
The 3 articles in English are a, an and the. The learner has to decide noun-by-noun which one of the articles to use*. In fact, there are 4 choices to make, because sometimes no article is necessary. Native-speakers, of course, use the articles correctly without thinking. English learners, on the other hand, need to have some guidelines for making the right choice - particularly those learners whose own language does not have articles, such as Japanese or Korean. The guidelines that follow here should help ESL students to a basic understanding of English article use.
The most important first step in choosing the correct article is to categorize the noun as count or uncount**:
- A count noun is a noun that can have a number in front of it: 1 teacher, 3 books, 76 trombones, 1,000,000 people.
- An uncount noun is a noun that cannot have a number put in front of it: 1 water, 2 lucks, 10 airs, 21 oils, 39 informations. Once you have correctly categorized the noun (using your dictionary if necessary), the following "rules" apply:
Uncount nouns
- You cannot say a/an with an uncount noun.
- You cannot put a number in front of an uncount noun. (You cannot make an uncount noun plural.)
- You use an uncount noun with no article if you mean that thing in general.
- You use the with an uncount noun when you are talking about a particular example of that thing.
Count nouns
- You can put a number in front of a count noun. (You can make a count noun plural.)
- You can put both a/an and the in front of a count noun.
- You must put an article** in front of a singular count noun.
- You use a plural count noun with no article if you mean all or any of that thing.
- You usually use a/an with a count noun the first time you say or write that noun.
- You use the with count nouns:
- the second and subsequent times you use the noun in a piece of speech or writing
- when the listener knows what you are referring to (maybe because there is only one of that thing)
Note:
- The above rules apply whether there is or there is not an adjective in front of the noun.
- Some nouns can be either count or uncount, depending on the context and meaning:
- Do you have paper? I want to draw a picture. (uncount = a sheet of paper)
- Can you get me a paper when you’re at the shop? (count = a newspaper)
* Instead of an article, the noun can also be preceded by a determiner such as this, that, some, many or my, his, our, etc.
Following are some of the most important guidelines listed above, with example sentences:
1. You use an uncount noun with no article if you mean all or any of that thing.
- I need help!
- I don't eat cheese.
- Do you like music?
- Thanks for the help you gave me yesterday.
- I didn't eat the cheese. It was green!
- Did you like the music they played at the dance?
- Can I borrow a pencil, please?
- There's a cat in the garden!
- Do you have an mp3 player?
- Where's the pencil I lent you yesterday?
- I think the cat belongs to the new neighbours.
- I dropped the mp3 player and it broke.
- Please shut the door!
- I don't like dogs.
- Do they have children?
- I don't need questions. Give me answers!
- I don't eat German cheese.
- Can I borrow a red pencil, please?
- There's an extremely large cat in the garden!
- I don't like small, noisy children.
This page contains short, generalized information about this enormously complex aspect of English grammar. For more detailed information, consult a good reference work such as Swan's Practical English Usage. And do not worry too much about article mistakes - only very rarely will they cause your listener or reader to misunderstand you!
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Join date : 2012-10-31
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