Part 8: Understanding the grammar point
Task 11: Read the following information about five key principles for understanding and using articles – the, a, an – in English. Articles are sometimes called ‘determiners’.
1. Articles are ‘function’ words, meaning that their grammatical job is to give more information about nouns, specifically saying whether they are being used in a general or a specific way.
2. A good understanding of articles is important because they are so commonly used in English. The is the most common word in the language. Together, the, a and an make up about 15% of the words spoken or written in English.
3. The two articles in English are known as the definite and indefinite articles. In general terms, the definite article (the) refers to things where the speaker and listener are both clear which thing/person is being talked about – i.e., they both have a specific understanding. In contrast, the indefinite article (a / an) is used when the object or person is not specific – where there is no shared understanding, e.g., a reason why this happened (= one of many reasons) vs. the reason why this happened (= there was only one, specific reason).
4. Some of the situations where the is used are as follows:
a. When we refer to something specific which has already been mentioned, e.g., Shall I retell the story? (= we already know which story)
b. When it is clear which particular thing is meant because of shared knowledge, e.g., Have you fed the dogs? (= our dogs, which we both know about)
c. When it is clear which particular thing is meant because of a shared situation, e.g., Please can you shut the window? (= since we are in the same room, you know which window I mean)
d. For unique objects, e.g., The Earth orbits the sun. e. With superlatives, e.g., Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth. f. With ordinal numbers, e.g., She was the first person to finish.
5. Some of the situations in which a or an (the indefinite article) is used are as follows: a.
When it is not known which object is meant, e.g., I’m reading a story in the newspaper. (= I am not talking about a specific story)
b. When it does not matter which one is meant, e.g., Have you ever owned a pet dog? c. To classify people or things, usually after a copular verb, e.g., The Earth is a planet.
There are a number of occasions where it appears that you need an article, but in fact you do not. For example: a. When taking about things in general, e.g., The Mountains are beautiful.
b. Generally, when using uncountable nouns, e.g., You need to take more the responsibility.
c. When using proper nouns, e.g., The Tom lives in The London.
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