Articles in the English Language November 14, 2017

A versus An In general, use A before words that begin with consonants Ex) a doctor, a bird, a king Also use A before U or EU when it sounds like the word “you” Ex) a University, a European city Use an before words that begin with vowels or words that begin with a silent h Ex) an apple, an eagle, an hour (but a house)

When to use “a”, “an” and “the” You can use “a” or “the” in front of countable nouns (cat vs music) Ex) a screwdriver, the books Use “a” when you are mentioning something for the first time and use “the” when referencing something that was already introduced Ex) She has a car and a bike, but she uses the car more often. You CAN use the with a noun you have not mentioned before, but only if it is obvious what you meant Ex) Have you fed the fish; I met him last week at the conference

When to use “a”, “an” and “the” (2) Use “a” when you are talking about one of several things or people Use “the” when it is clear you are referencing a single thing and there is only one Ex) The man I worked with told me about it Ex) A man I work with told me about it Use “a” when you wish to discuss a particular type of thing or person Ex) I am training to be an engineer EX) I went out to buy a magazine

When to use “a”, “an” and “the” (3) Singular nouns such as world, sky, or sun require “the” because there is only one of these things EX) I am going to travel around the world. I do not look directly at the sun. Use “the” when referencing buildings, places, and organizations EX) the theater, the football field, the gym

When to not use Articles When there is a countable noun in the plural, when you are talking in general about something Ex) Lions are very fierce; Prices keep going up Common phrases to know (meals, illnesses, ways of travelling): Ex) Will you have lunch with me? Ex) Her month has cancer. Ex) I go to work by bus. Most names of places do not have “the” in front of it Exceptions to this rule are plural names of countries Ex) I am visiting Belgium, I live in France, I am from the United States

When to not use Articles (2) Using non countable nouns Listen to music, eat chocolate, etc. No article with proper noun (holidays, companies, languages) Christmas, New Year’s Day, All Saint’s Day I use Facebook all the time I graduated from the Technical University of Gdańsk vs I graduated from Harvard No articles for subjects you study, sports, noun plus number (platform 10) Acronyms pronounced as a word vs individually (NATO versus the EU) But not before University acronyms! (MIT)