Articles Use

Articles Use – A/ An, The, Zero Article

Articles are words that go before nouns, they help us to explain and define a noun more accurately. There are two types of articles, a/an and the:

1. A/An – Indefinite Articles

before singular countable nouns (a car, an umbrella).
An is generally used before articles starting with vowels (an ambulance, an egg, an orange).
It cannot be used with uncountable nouns like information, advice and furniture because it is singular
It cannot be used with nouns in plural form, because it is singular (cars, people, children, chairs etc)

2. The – Definite Article

This article can before both countable (the car) and uncountable nouns (the information).
It describes particular or specific nouns. For example;

“The children are playing in the garden” – the speaker and the person he/ she is speaking to knows what children and what garden the person is talking about.

There are many other ways we use these articles, see the chart below. It is also very important to know when NOT to use an article, this is often called ‘zero article’:

3. Zero article

The most important time we should not use an article is when we are speaking about things in general. When doing this, we often put countable nouns in their plural form, for example:

“Teachers need to have clears rules for children to enjoy their lessons.”

“I don’t like cats. I prefer dogs because dogs show their owners affection.”

In both these sentences the nouns are in plural and there are no articles because we are speaking in general. We are not speaking about anything specific or particular.

The chart below gives an overview of the most common ways we use a/an, the and zero article. It is one of the most challenging parts of English for learners who do not have articles in their language and I have had c1 learners who still struggled with using articles consistently and accurately!

Other important Points about Articles

1. A/ An…….

Not using A/AN before singular countable nouns is the most common mistake I’ve seen in my years as an ESL teacher, it takes practice.

You may ask ….. Why do we say:

‘I went to the shop’, and not ‘I went to a shop’, if it’s not a particular one?”

Well, you can, but it’s like the rule for common places in towns and cities, we just usually say ‘…. the shop’.

Other places that follow this rule include: the opera, the theatre, the beach, the cinema, the bus stop.

We use AN before vowels, but also some ‘vowel sounds’, these are particular common with ‘h’ words (hour, honour, honest)

Similarly, with some words beginning with ‘U’ we do not use ‘AN’ because it has a ‘you’ sound, for example – uniform, unicorn.

Sometimes we don’t really hear the ‘A’ as it’s linked in with the verb ‘BE’, for example ‘He’s-a teacher’, ‘I’m-a bit tired’.

2. The….

Some Geographical terms also include ‘the’, including:

Mountain Ranges – The Himalayas, The Andes, The Rocky Mountains

Rivers – The (River) Nile, The Amazon (River), The (River) Danube.

Deserts – The Sahara (Desert), The Gobi (Desert), The Atacama (Desert)

Oceans/ Seas – The Atlantic (Ocean), The Indian (Ocean), The Baltic Sea

Canals – The Panama Canal, The Suez Canal, The Grand Canal

Island groups – The Bahamas, The Canary Islands, The Hebrides

Also – The is sometimes used for forests/ jungles, peninsulas and bays.

Organisations and Groups

We often use ‘The’ before organisations and Government Agencies, for example:

The World Health Organisation (WHO), The International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Department of Transport, The Department of Finance.

This follows the general rule of ‘there is only one’. However, some organisations do not use the, for example, NASA.

We also use it for international groups, which countries or states are part of, for example, The EU, The UN, The USA, The UK.

A final word on articles…..

It takes time to master when and when not to use articles. Sometimes the rules can be confusing. My advice is to try and follow the general rules. The chart above lists the most important rules at the top, for example: