When you have a single, countable
English noun, you must always have an article before it. We cannot say “please
pass me pen”, we must say “please pass me the pen” or
“please pass me a pen” or “please pass
me your pen”.
Nouns in English can also be uncountable. Uncountable nouns can be
concepts, such as ‘life’, ‘happiness’ and so on, or materials and substances,
such as ‘coffee’, or ‘wood’.
Uncountable nouns don’t use ‘a’ or ‘an’. This is
because you can’t count them. For example, advice is an uncountable noun. You
can’t say “he gave me an advice”, but you can say “he gave me some advice”, or “he gave me a piece of advice”.
Some nouns can be both countable
and uncountable. For example, we say “coffee” meaning the product, but we say “a coffee” when asking for one cup of coffee.
You can use ‘the’ to make general things specific. You can
use ‘the’ with any type of noun – plural or singular,
countable or uncountable.
Examples :
·
“Please pass me a pen” – any
pen.
“Please pass me the pen” – the one that we can both see.
“Please pass me the pen” – the one that we can both see.
·
“Children grow up quickly” – children in general.
“The children I know grow up quickly” – not all children, just the ones I know.
“The children I know grow up quickly” – not all children, just the ones I know.
·
“Poetry can be beautiful”- poetry in general.
·
“The poetry of Hopkins is beautiful” – I’m only
talking about the poetry Hopkins wrote.
Here are some more rules for when we use English articles “a/an”
and “the” – or when we omit the article:
Ø Rivers, mountain ranges, seas,
oceans and geographic areas all use ‘the‘.
For example, “The Thames”, “The Alps”, “The Atlantic Ocean”, “The Middle East”.
Ø Unique things have ‘the’.
For example, “the sun”, “the moon”.
Ø Some institutional buildings don’t have an article if
you visit them for the reason these buildings exist. But if you go to the
building for another reason, you must use ‘the’.
For examples :
·
“Her husband is in prison.” (He’s a prisoner.)
·
“She goes to the prison to
see him once a month.”
·
“My son is in school.” (He’s a student.)
·
“I’m going to the school to
see the head master.”
·
“She’s in hospital at the moment.” (She’s ill.)
·
“Her husband goes to the hospital to
see her every afternoon.”
Ø Musical instruments use ‘the‘.
* “She plays the piano.”
* Sports don’t have an article.
* “He plays football.”
Ø Illnesses don’t have an
article.
·
“He’s got appendicitis.”
But we say “a cold” and “a headache”.
But we say “a cold” and “a headache”.
Ø Jobs use ‘a’.
“I’m a teacher.”
“I’m a teacher.”
Ø Countries
We don’t use ‘a’ if the country is singular. “He lives in England.” But if the country’s name has a “plural” meaning, we use ‘the’. “The People’s Republic of China”,
“The Netherlands”,
“The United States of America”.
Ø Continents, towns and streets don’t have an
article.
“Africa”, “New York”, “Church Street”.
“Africa”, “New York”, “Church Street”.
Ø Theatres, cinemas and hotels have ‘the’.
“The Odeon”, “The Almeira”, “The Hilton”.
“The Odeon”, “The Almeira”, “The Hilton”.
Ø Abbreviations use ‘the’.
“the UN”, “the USA”, “the IMF”.
“the UN”, “the USA”, “the IMF”.
Ø We use ‘the’ before classes of people.
“the rich”, “the poor”, “the British”.
“the rich”, “the poor”, “the British”.
Task
Fill the blanks using the article “the”, “a”, and “an”
A famous detective and his
deputy
(This story is based on a famous joke.)
1. A famous detective and
his deputy were walking in __ forest.
2. __ forest was dark and
a little bit frightening.
3. Soon it began to get
dark. But luckily they had __ tent with them.
4. They decided to stay __
night.
5. They put up their tent
under __ stars and went to sleep.
6. Then, in the middle of
the night, there was __ loud noise.
7. __ detective woke up.
8. He looked up at __ sky.
9. Then he woke up __
deputy and asked, ''What can you see?''
10. The deputy replied,
''I see millions and millions of __ stars.''
11. The detective asked,
''And what is your __ opinion about that?''
12. The deputy replied,
'Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have __
planets, ''
13. ''It’s quite likely
there are some planets like __ Earth out there.''
14. ''If there are __ few
planets like Earth out there,''
15. ''there might also be
__ life.''
16. The detective replied,
''You idiot! It means that somebody stole __ tent.''
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