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Articles

Primary rules

When you have a single, countable English noun, you must always have an article before it. The indefinite article “a” is used when it is followed by a word beginning with a consonant. The indefinite article “an” is used when it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel.

Ex. “please pass me a pan”

Uncountable nouns don’t use ‘a’ or ‘an’. This is because you can’t count them.

Ex. Advice is an uncountable noun. You can’t say “he gave me an advice”, but you can say “he gave me some advice”.

The definite article, which is the only one is “the”. You use it if you want to make general things specific. It can be used with any type of noun – plural or singular, countable or uncountable.

Ex. “Poetry can be beautiful” – poetry in general. “The poetry of Shakespeare is beautiful” – I’m only talking about the poetry of Shakespeare wrote.

Other Rules

The

Rivers, mountain ranges, seas, oceans and geographic areas.

Ex. “The Thames”, “The Alps”, “The Atlantic Ocean”, “The Middle East”.

Unique things.

Ex. “the sun”, “the moon”

Musical instruments.

Ex. “She plays the piano.”

Classes of people.

Ex. “the rich”, “the poor”, “the British”.

Theatres, cinemas and hotels.

Ex. “The Odeon”, “The Almeira”, “The Hilton”

Countries.

If the country’s name has a “plural” meaning.

Ex. “the Netherlands”, “the United States of America”, “The People’s Republic of China”.

Abbreviations

Ex. “the UN”, “the IMF”

Article A

Jobs.

Ex. “I’m a teacher.”

Without Article

Continents, towns and streets.

Ex. “Africa”, “New York”, “Church Street”.

Countries.

We don’t use “a” if the country is singular.

Ex. “He lives in England.”

Sports

Ex. “He plays football.”

Illnesses.

Ex. “He’s got appendicitis.”

Exceptions. “a cold”, “a headache”