Вопрос 4. The Article. Three types of the Article. The Indefinite Article and its use.

The Article is a word that serves as a noun determiner alongside with such determiners as demonstrative, possessive and indefinite pronouns. The article is one of the main means of expressing the category of definiteness and indefiniteness in English.

Types of Articles with Examples

Definite Article

Definite means to be clear, exact or obvious about something. It is called definite because it is used in relation to a particular thing or person. “The” is the definite article in English, which is used to refer to particular nouns, the identities of which are known. The definite article indicates that the noun is specific. The speaker talks about a particular thing.

For example:

The cat sat on the couch.

The dog attacked me and ran away

Indefinite Articles

Indefinite means something which is not clear, obvious or exact. They are called indefinite because the identity of the thing or person being spoken about is left unclear or indefinite. The indefinite article indicates that the noun is not someone or something in particular. The speaker talks about anyone of that type of things. The indefinite articles in English are “a” and “an.”

For example:

Do you have a pencil?

I want to have an apple.

Where Articles Are Not Used?

The usage of articles is one of the most confusing things to remember for many English learners. It is not always necessary to use articles everywhere. Our tip is to remember the cases where articles should not be used.

Do not use articles:

1. When you talk about things in general.

For example: I like birds.

Here, the speaker wants to imply that he/she likes any bird in general, and not a specific type of a bird.

2.When talking about plural count nouns.

For example: Dogs make great pets.

Here, you are not talking about one specific dog or one specific pet; you are talking about all dogs in general.

3.When talking about non-count nouns.

For example: I love music.

Here, the speaker is saying that he enjoys music, in general – not any specific kind of music or song.

4. When talking about specific days or holidays, geography, companies, languages.

For example: I have bought candles for Diwali.

Here, the speaker is talking about the candles he has bought to use on the day of Diwali.

5. When talking about Geography.

Articles are not used before countries, states, cities, towns, continents, single lakes, single mountains, etc.

For example: I live in Canada.

Mt. Rosa is part of the Alps mountain range.

Here, Mt. Rosa is one mountain, whereas The Alps refer to a group of mountains.

NOTE:

The United Arab Emirates, The Russian Federation”, The People’s Republic of China, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Dominion of Canada, etc., all contain articles because of the usage of common nouns such as kingdom, republic, states, united, dominion, emirates, etc.

The Netherlands, the Philippines, The Bahamas, The Maldives, etc. have ‘the’ before them due to the plural nature of the names of the countries.

The Ukraine, the Sudan, etc. are exceptions to all of these rules. It is perhaps, due to common use, or at least previous common use. There have been historical uses of articles before names of countries that don’t fit into either category.

6. When you talk about companies.

For example: Steve Jobs founded Apple.

I use Facebook every day.

Here, the speaker is referring to companies like Apple and Facebook.

7. When you talk about languages.

For example: I speak Hindi.

Here, the speaker is talking about the language Hindi.

8. When you talk about places, locations, streets.

For example: My house is located on Callowhill Drive.

I left my pen at home.

Here, a street called Callowhill Drive and speaker’s home are being talked about.

However, there are specific places that do need the use an article. For example:

the bank, the hospital, the post office, the airport, the train station, the bus stop, etc.

9. When you talk about sports and physical activities.

For example: I love to play cricket.

She enjoys dancing.

Here, cricket and dancing is being talked about.

10. When there is a noun + number

For example: She is staying at the Hilton hotel in room 127.

The train to Montreal leaves from platform 9.

Here, the nouns are followed by numbers; hence, no article is used.

11. When talking about academic subjects.

For example: I hate attending Mathematics classes.

Here, the mathematic classes are being discussed.

The Indefinite Article

The meanings:

1. It refers an object to a group of objects of the some kind. We can use word any/every instead of the article. A noun is representative of the class.

1) Classifying (general) meaning the article serves to refer an object to the class of objects of the same kind, just to classify it: I am a school teacher. It’s a teenager novel.

2) In its numerical meaning the indefinite article retains its original meaning of the cardinal numeral “one” and expresses oneness. This meaning is evident with nouns denoting units of measure (time, distance, length, weight, etc.): An apple a day keeps wrinkles away.

2. A countable noun in the singular takes the indefinite article if it is used:

1) in the function of the subject and just classifies it. : A student should work hard

2) in the function of a predicative: He is an air traffic controller.

3) in the function of a direct object: I wrote a letter. We got a Christmas card from London

4) in some set-phrases expressing one-time (однократные ) actions like: to be à success, to have a rest, to have a lovely time, to give a look, to give a lift, to give a hint, to do a favour, to make a will, to make a fuss, to make a mistake, to take a seat, to have a date, to keep an eye on.

5) after the exclamatory “what”, “such”: What an idea! What a surprise! What a shame! What a man!

If the noun is uncountable (abstract or material) no article is used: What fine weather! What interesting news!

6) with a descriptive attribute. Compare: It was night. — I was a cool night.