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Units65,66,69,70

Professor : Sarah Torabian

M.A.

Shiraz University

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Articles

Articles can be a problem area in English forstudents even at advanced level, especially for

those whose own language has a very differentarticle system.

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Indefinite Articles

Articles (a/an, the) precede nouns.

We use the indefinite article (a/an) withsingular countable nouns:

e.g. a garage, an opinion.

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a/anWhen a is used before a word that begins with avowel, it changes to an.

hour

university

European

Can I have _____ cup of tea?

1) an other 2) another

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Definite Article

We use the definite article (the) with:

1. singular countable nouns

e.g. the garage,

2.plural nouns

e.g. the latest computers

3. uncountable nounse.g. the purest water

We can omit the with uncountable andplural nouns

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Known and Unknown

A and the are called the articles. A is called theindefinite article, and theis called the definitearticle. They are used in the following ways:

1. The main use of a and the is to say whether youare talking about a noun for the first time, orwhether you have mentioned it before.

For a first-time mention, use a; for later mentions,

use the.e.g. Mary bought a car and a bike, but she usedthe bike more often.

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2. If you use the with a noun that you have notmentioned before, you are actually saying to your listeneryou know which one I mean.

This is usually because there is only one example of thenoun in the situation, or you have only one such examplein your mind. That is why it is definite.

e.g. Have you fed the cat? (=you have only one cat)

Theres the hotel. (="that" is the hotel we have beenlooking for)

I met him during the war. (="both" you and your listenerknow which war you mean)

Pass the salt, please.

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3.If you want to talk about something of aparticular type in an indefinite way, use a.

Im training to be an engineer. NOT Imtraining to be engineer.

I went out to buy a newspaper. NOT I wentout to buy newspaper.

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4.Use a when you are talking about one of severalthings or people and it is not important to saywhich one. Use the when it is clear that you are

talking about one particular thing or person andthere is only one.

A man I work with told me about it. (=you workwith several men)

The man I work with told me about it. (="you" workwith only one man)

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5. You must use the with singular nouns such asworld, sky, or sun, because there is only one of

these things in the situation that you are talkingabout.(They are unique.)

Were going to travel round the world.

Dont look directly at the sun.

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6.If you are talking about buildings, places, andorganizations as things which you often see or visit,use the. For example the bank, the theatre, thecinema etc.

I went to the theatre last week.

Shes at the gym.

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7. Use the with the following:

The top , the end, the middle, the left , themiddle of, the right, the left, the same

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Important point

Nouns such as church, hospital, school do not take anarticle if we think of their purpose, i.e. church as a place ofworship, or school as a place of learning:

Fewer people attend church regularly now than twentyyears ago.

Can children leave school at fourteen in your country?

If we think of the physical place or building, we use anarticle:

The collection for restoring the church has almost reachedits target.

Is there a school in the village or do the children have to goto the town?

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WHEN NOT TO USE A OR THE

1. If you want to use a countable noun in the pluralto talk in general about something, dont use the.

Tigers are very fierce animals.

Prices keep going up.

2. If you want to use an uncountable noun to talk ingeneral about something, dont use the.

There has been a big increase in crime. NOT Therehas been a big increase in the crime.

It takes patience and skill to be a teacher. NOT Ittakes the patience and the skill to be a teacher.

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Most names of places or people that begin with a

capital letter do not have thebefore them. Dontuse the with these names.

Theyre visiting Belgium and Holland. NOT Theyrevisiting the Belgium and the

Holland.

However, there are some names that always havethe in them, for example the United States, the Nile(="the" big river in Egypt) etc. Dont forget to put

the in these names.

Hes from the United States. NOT Hes from UnitedStates.

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Do we have to mention sth to

be known? We do not always have to mention something for it

to be known to the listener.

1. something is unique

E.g. We are in danger of permanently damaging the

Earth.

2. Superlatives

E.g.Muhammad Ali is the greatest heavyweight boxer

ever. 3. the context makes it 'known

E.g. Has Edward arrived yet? Yes, hes in the dining

room. (= the dining room of the house we are in)

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There are also many common nouns and phrases which do notuse a or the. This is especially true when talking about meals,illnesses, ways of travelling, times and periods of time.

Will you have lunch with me? NOT Will you have thelunch with me?

Her mother has cancer. NOT Her mother has thecancer.

I travel to work by bus. NOT I travel to work by thebus.

In winter we get a lot of snow. NOT In winter we get a lotof the snow.

Its time to go to bed. NOT Its time to go to the bed.

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No Articles proper names: James, Chris Graham, Mr Jones

names of most countries, mountains, lakes: Japan, Mount

Everest, Lake Victoria

substances, liquids and gases: Cooking oil is simply liquid

fat.

materials: This blouse is made of silk. political or business roles: Lagos became President of

Chile in 2000.

transport: We're going by rail to London, then by plane.

times and seasons: at night, in summer, at dusk4 meal(time)s: Have you had breakfast? See you at lunch.

sports: She plays both tennis and squash very well.

illnesses: He's got lung cancer. She's had German

measles.

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THE some geographical names: plurals (the United

States, the US), areas (the West), mountain ranges(the Pyrenees), oceans or seas (the PacificOcean, the Black Sea), rivers (the Rhone)

musical instruments: She plays the violin.

the media: All our family work in the theatre. We often use television, cinema, etc. without an

article to refer to the art or entertainment form: Sheworks in television. Im studying film in my finalyear.

If we refer to a specific item we use the article:

Dont put flowers on the television.

Have you seen the new film by Ridley Scott?

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in some comparative phrases: the more the

merrier, all the better in front of superlatives and first, last, only,

same, right, wrong: the most dangerousprofession, the last time, the only one

in measurements: You can buy saffron by thegram.

physical environments: I prefer the town tothe country.

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Singular and Plural

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Nouns can be countable or uncountable ,and

concrete (table, child, station, food, storm) orabstract(hope, responsibility, anger, efficiency, consternation).

noun

countable uncountable concrete abstract

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Nouns: singular and plural

Most countable nouns have both a singularand a plural form, showing the difference

between one and more than one.

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REGULAR PLURALS1.The regular way of changing a noun from singular to

plural is to add -s at the end. This is true of nouns whichend in most consonants

dog - dogs, chair - chairs, difference - differences

2.For nouns ending in -y, you drop the -y and add -ies toform the plural.

dictionary - dictionaries, opportunity - opportunities

3.For nouns ending in -o, you add -es to form the plural.

tomato - tomatoes, potato - potatoes

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IRREGULAR PLURALS

There are also several irregular ways of forming a plural.

1. With seven nouns you change the vowel. They are:

man - men woman - women

foot - feet goose - geese

mouse - mice tooth - teeth

louse - lice

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IRREGULAR PLURALS

2. With a few nouns you change the final -f to -vbefore adding the -s ending.

They include:knife - knives leaf - leaves

wife - wives half - halves

Some nouns in this group have a regular plural aswell:

scarfs and scarves, hoofs and hooves. Bothpossibilities are correct.

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IRREGULAR PLURALS

3. With three nouns you add -en. They are:ox - oxen, child - children, brother-brethren (only inthe religious sense)

4. A few nouns have no plural ending, but you canstill use them in a singular or plural way: they includethe names of some animals (such as sheep, deer,fish)

The sheep was making a noise.The sheep were making a noise.

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NOUNS WHICH ARE ONLY PLURALSeveral nouns are used only in the plural.

1.A few nouns are related to things consisting of twojoined parts. They include jeans, binoculars, trousers,glasses, scissors, pajamas etc. To talk about these inthe singular, you use a pair of.

Your jeans are in the wash. NOT Your jeans is in thewash.

I need to buy anotherpair of jeans. NOT I need tobuy another jeans. NOT I need to buy another jean.

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NOUNS WHICH ARE ONLY PLURAL2. A few nouns express the idea of groups ofpeople. They include people, police.

The police are outside.NOT The police is outside.

NOT The polices are outside.

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NOUNS WHICH ARE ONLY SINGULARSeveral nouns are used only in the singular.

1. Proper names - names of particular people,places, times, occasions, events, and so on.

John, Robinson, Christmas, TuesdayYou can use these in the plural only if you think ofthem in a countable way. This is especiallycommon with proper nouns expressing time.

On Tuesdays I go swimming.Are the Robinsons coming to the party?

We stayed with Mary three Christmasses ago.