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Grammar: Definite and Indefinite Articles

Identifying articles

Howmanyarticles canyousee?

Julie

I had a sandwich and an apple for lunch.

The sandwich was not very nice, but the apple was lovely.

Lucy

Julie

Using articles

Four…WhydoesJuliestartwitha/an andthenusethe?

I had a sandwich and an apple for lunch.

The sandwich was not very nice, but the apple was lovely.

Lucy

Julie Lucy

Definite and Indefinite articles

Because…

I had a sandwich and an apple for lunch.

The sandwich was not very nice, but the apple was lovely.

…thisisthefirst timeshetalkedaboutthesandwichandtheapple

…Lucynowknows whichsandwichandwhichappleJulieistalkingabout

Definite and Indefinite articles

I saw . . . . cat. . . . . cat was sitting on

. . . . fence. . . . . fence was painted

green. . . . . cat jumped off . . . . fence

when it saw . . . . ant. . . . . ant ran into

. . . . hole when it saw . . . . cat so . . . .

cat didn't catch . . . . ant.

Using articles

Usetheindefinitearticle (a/an)if:

› Youthinkthepersonreadingyouressaydoesn’tknowthe‘identity’ofthenoun

› Youarewritingaboutsomethingingeneral(notunique,non‐specific)

Usethedefinitearticle (the)if:

› Thepersonreadingyouressayknows the‘identity’ofthenoun

› Thenoun wasmentionedearlierinyoursentence/paragraph/essay

› Thenoun being‘identified’isobvious(واضح)orunique(فريد)orspecific (محدد)

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Definite and Indefinite articles

I want to watch . . . .film tonight.

. . . . romance film or

. . . . comedy film?

No, I think I want to watch . . . . action film.

What about . . . . one with Bruce Lee?

Good idea, that is . . . . best film ever!

The Indefinite Article

Usetheindefinitearticle (a/an)

› Torefertosomethingforthefirst timee.g.:“Ihada sandwichandan appleforlunch.”

› Tosaywhatjob somebodydoese.g.:“Mybrotherisan engineer.”“Mymotherisa doctoratTiwam hospital”

› Wecanonlyusea/an withsingularcountablenouns e.g.:

Iliketoeatan appleeveryday. IliketoeatØ appleseveryday.

IliketodrinkØ water. IliketoeatØ rice.

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The Definite Article

Usethedefinitearticle (the)

› Ifthereaderknows thenounyouarewritingaboute.g.:The tablebelowshows…The secondeffectIwilldiscussis…The firstkeyreasonIwillfocusonis…

› Withsuperlatives e.g.:the bestthe longestthemostbeautifulthe worst

› Whenthenoun isobvious(واضح)orunique(فريد)orspecific (محدد) e.g.:the sunthe Governmentthe Presidentthe worldthe 1970s

› Withsomepropernouns e.g.:Nationalitiesthe Britishthe Emiratis Somecountriesthe UKthe UAE

Riversthe Nilethe GangesSeas/Oceansthe Arabianseathe Indianocean

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The Zero Article

Usethezeroarticle(Ø i.e.nothing)

› Withpluraland uncountablenounsandalso,whenwritingaboutanouningeneral:“ØGold isexpensivethesedays”“ØScientists areclever”

› Withcertainpropernouns e.g.:Continents Europe,Africa MostcountriesJapan,Germany,SaudiArabia,Kuwait

Cities,EmiratesandTowns London,Tokyo,NewYork,Doha Fujairah AlAin

MountainsEverest,JebelHafeet

CompaniesToyota,Nissan,Etisalat, Apple,Samsung

(Butnot specificcompanyproducts:the NissanPatrol,the SamsungGalaxySIII)

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Fill in the gaps using, ‘the’ or ‘a’/‘an’ or ‘Ø’

[Please use capitals when necessary.]

.....tablebelowprovidessomefactsandfiguresontwocars,they

are.....NissanPatroland.....ToyotaLandcruiser.InthisreportIam

goingtocompareandcontrast .....similaritiesand.....differences

betweenthem.

Fill in the gaps using, ‘the’ or ‘a’/‘an’ or ‘Ø’

[Please use capitals when necessary.]

Mybrother,whois.....accountant,saidtomysister,who

is.....companydirector,thathisfriendfrom.....Tunisiareadavery

interestingbook......bookwascalledWarandPeace.However,my

friendfrom.....NewZealand,wholivesherein.....UAE,said

that.....bookisactuallyquiteboring!

Fill in the gaps using, ‘the’ or ‘a’/‘an’ or ‘Ø’

[Please use capitals when necessary.]

TherearemanymountainsinEurope.....tallestis.....MountBlanc.

.....PicoDeEuropais.....highestmountaininSpain......river

Danube,in.....Germanyislongerthan.....riverThamesin.....UK,

butshorterthan.....Voga river......Voga riveris.....longestinall

of.....Europe.

&c. articles are very common in English

“the”isthe5thmostcommonwordintheEnglishlanguage

“a”isthe6thmostcommonwordinEnglish[“an”is32nd]

› use“a” ifthenoun startswithaconsonant

› use”an” ifthenoun startswithavowel[a,e,i,o,u]