The definite article the is the most used word in the English language. The indefinite article a is the fifth most used word. This frequency means that these two small words have a huge effect on how you say something and their correct use is a key sign of a good user of English.
When I take a new student for my private 1-1 lessons many of them seem to use articles randomly. Over time they will begin to use them correctly. Follow the small steps in this articles mini course and no longer will you be choosing your articles randomly.
This course features three character: a, an and the.
Our first character is a (as an article pronounced ah). Study A before nouns to find out the role it plays.
The next character to make an appearance is an. It will make three co-star appearances alongside a in: Using a and an, A or an before nouns and Using a or an before a silent h.
Finally, the will make an appearance. It will star in Using the.
Now that we have introduced the three main characters, let’s take a look in detail at the roles they play.
When Using articles with pairs of nouns, Using a and an before adjectives or Using a, an and the before abbreviations the rules are the same as for single nouns. Things change a little though with Superlative adjectives and when Using articles with adjectives without nouns.
No the before names is probably the one rule that everyone remembers. The next rule that everyone remembers is about The with countries and cities. There are a couple of exceptions, but they are easy to understand.
Using articles and not using articles are both possible sometimes. The pages: Using the with regions, Using articles with place nouns and Using a or an with kind of will show you in simple terms the difference in meaning for both possibilities.
In Articles with radio, cinema, theatre, television, Articles with the names of meals, Using the with materials and Articles with jobs titles you can either use articles or you can’t use articles. No doubts nor possibilities this time.
Some methods of transport, some types of buildings and some geographical features have the in front of them and some do not. Articles with transport, The with buildings and The with geographical features will explain which is which.
It is often said that there are no rules for the use of articles. If you have made it this far you will know that is not true. Except, that is, in these last two pages: Articles with the names of illnesses and The with street names.
Now that you have met the three main characters and studied the roles that they play there are two quizzes to test your new found knowledge. The Articles quiz will test your knowledge of their general use. The Articles with names quiz will test you on… articles with names of things.
