- •Unit 1 The Article General Notion
- •Practice
- •Unit 2 The Use of the Indefinite Article with Class Nouns
- •Practice
- •Unit 3 The Use of the Definite Article with Class Nouns
- •Note 1 The definite article is used with ‘wrong’ even when it does not make sense to talk about only one wrong possibility.
- •Practice
- •Unit 4 The Use of Articles with Class Nouns Modified by Attributes
- •Modification by nouns in the genitive case
- •Modification by prepositional phrases
- •Practice
- •Unit 5 The Use of Articles with Nouns in Apposition and with Predicative Nouns
- •Practice
- •Practice
- •Traditional Methods of Food Preservation
- •Unit 7 The Use of Articles with Abstract Nouns
- •The use of articles with uncountable abstract nouns
- •Practice
- •Unit 8 The Use of Articles with Names of Persons
- •1. No article is used:
- •2. The definite article is used:
- •3. The indefinite article is used:
- •4. The use of articles with nouns modified by proper nouns.
- •Practice
- •Unit 9 The Use of Articles with Geographic Names
- •1. Geographical names and place names with the definite article.
- •2. Geographical names and place names without article.
- •Practice
- •Geography of ____ United States
- •Unit 10 The Use of Articles with Miscellaneous Proper Names
- •Names of buildings and institutions
- •The following names typically have no article
- •Names of universities, colleges and schools: London University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Trinity College, Manchester Grammar School
- •Names of streets, roads, squares and parks
- •Names of ships, trains, and spacecraft
- •The names of smaller boats usually have no article:
- •Names of newspapers and periodicals
- •Names of sporting events
- •Names of festivals
- •Names of organizations
- •Names of political institutions
- •Practice
- •Getting around London
- •Unit 11 The Use of Articles with Some Semantic Groups of Nouns (1) Names of Seasons
- •Names of Months and Days of the Week
- •Names of Parts of the Day
- •2. The definite article is used:
- •Names of Longer and Specific Periods
- •Names of Meals The group includes the nouns: breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and tea.
- •Practice
- •Unit 12 The Use of Articles with Some Semantic Groups of Nouns (2) Names of Diseases
- •Names of musical instruments
- •Media and communications
- •Names of means of transport
- •Forms of entertainment
- •Names of institutions in society
- •Parts of the body
- •Geographical oppositions
- •Names of shops and other businesses
- •Names of languages and religions
- •Names of grammatical categories
- •Practice
- •Newspaper papers phone post radio telephone television
- •The use of the definite article with nouns in set expressions.
- •Nouns in set expressions used without an article.
- •Practice
- •Unit 14 The Use of Articles with Nouns Modified by Certain Adjectives, Pronouns and Numerals
- •1. Most.
- •2. Few, a few, the few; little, a little, the little
- •3. Two, the two; the second, a second
- •4. Another, the other, other.
- •5. Last, the last; Next, the next.
- •6. A number, the number
- •Practice
Names of means of transport
Names of means of transport are used with the definite article when you are referring to a whole transport system or naming the form of transport
Here is a list of words in this category.
Boat Train bus |
Hovercraft Underground (Br) Subway (Am) |
Plane Tube (Br) |
Ferry tram |
How long does it take on the train?
She sent a cable to her husband and caught the plane back to New York.
I walked to the tube instead of spending money on a taxi
Note 1 With “underground”, “tube”, “subway”, you can use the definite article to refer not only to the form of transport, but also to the location.
I am alone in the underground waiting for a train.
Note 2 “taxi, car, bicycle, ship” are not used in this way, because they do not offer a systemic means of transport.
If you say “Take the car/taxi/ bicycle” you must be referring to a particular car, taxi, bicycle.
When these nouns are modified by a particularizing attribute and when it is clear from the context what vehicle you are talking about.
Quick! Get on the train. It’s ready to leave.
Names of means of transport are used with the indefinite article when we mean one of many vehicles which runs on roads.
I saw Jake this morning. He was on a bus which passed me.
All these words can be used after “by” without an article to describe the form of transport used, for example: “by bus”, “by train”, “by plane”.
I don’t often travel by bus.
You can also use the following words after “by” without an article.
Air Bicycle road |
Bike Cab taxi |
Car Rail
|
Sea Ship
|
Forms of entertainment
When you are talking about someone going to enjoy a form of entertainment you use the definite article with the word for the form of entertainments. Words like these are: “cinema”, (Am “movies”), “theatre”, “opera”, “ballet”
Let’s go to the movies.
You have seen things. You have been to the opera, the ballet, the theatre.
Here we are not thinking of a particular performance of an opera or ballet, or a particular theatre building, but just of the form of entertainment.
Cinema, theatre, opera, ballet, as well as dance, film, and television, can be used as uncountable nouns without an article to refer to the art form.
They are supreme artists of dance and theatre
I’ve seen a very fine piece of cinema.
But if these nouns indicate a particular object, the articles are used with them in accordance with the general rules. But this case is not common.
We found that the film was on at a cinema across the river.
Names of institutions in society
These nouns are used without any article when, as part of set phrases, they lose their concrete meaning and express the purpose which the objects denoted by these nouns serve.
Here is a list of words that can be used like this.
school college university |
hospital prison |
jail camp |
church court |
Thus hospital comes to denote treatment, prison, jail—punishment, school, college, university—studies, church - worshipping.
When these nouns denote concrete objects the articles are used according to the general principle. Compare the following examples.
After lunch Dr. Reily went off to the hospital.
"How long were you in hospital with that wound?" she asked.
They had a hospital in the town during the war.
The road to the prison was blocked by policemen.
He would be sent to prison if he were caught.
Perhaps he was in a German prison.
It should be noted that the use of a descriptive attribute or a particularizing attribute destroys the idiomatic meaning of the phrases in question.
He was sent to school.
He was sent to a secondary (good, public) school.
He was sent to the best school in the town.
Note. Americans say “the hospital” instead of “hospital” for institutional reference.
The words bed, table and occasionally market behave in a similar way; without an article they lose their concrete meanings.
He went to bed early, but lay awake for a long time.
I softly drew the chair to the bed and sat down.
I found a bed made up for me.
I asked her to tell me who all the people at table were.
Madame Duclerk sat at the table darning socks.
In the cafe we had a table to ourselves, but those around us were soon filled.