Grammar: Topic #1

Articles

Articles are small but important parts of the English language. There are two groups of articles: Definite (“the”) and Indefinite (“a, an, some, and no article ø”).

Rules:
The = specific thing

1.Use “the” when we know which person or thing we are talking about.
The girl over there. = one specific girl

2.Use “the” when there is only one example.
the Prime Minister.

3.Use “the” with names of hotels, museums, public buildings, bodies of water.
the Elbow River

But
4.Don’t use “the” with names of streets, stations, towns, cities, mountains, or countries.
Except: the UK, the USA, the Caymen Islands (or other island groups)

A/An = one

5.Use “a” with single countable nouns that start with a consonant.
a car= one car

6.Use “a” before nouns with the “yu” sound at the beginning.
a university = one general university

7.Use “an” before nouns that begin with ‘a,e,i,o,u’.
an apple = one general apple

8.Use “an” before nouns where the beginning “h” is not pronounced.
an hour

9.Use “a/an” for jobs.
a dentist, an engineer

No article Ø = something general and a noun in the non-countable group

10.Use “no article ø” for things that are plural in English.
Ø jeans = non-countable; otherwise, a pair of jeans = countable
I like flowers.= flowers in general. Not “the flowers” = those specific flowers

Some = general, not specific, part of a larger group

11.Use “some” for uncountable nouns that have one form.
a.some money

12.Use “some” for general plural countable nouns.
a.some apples