Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Using the Right Article
- Indefinite articles
- "A" and "an" are indefinite articles
used before non-specific members
of a group or category of nouns.
- The article "a" appears before
singular nouns starting with a
consonant sound
- I ate a banana.
- The article "an" comes before singular
nouns beginning with a vowel sound.
- Give me an apple.
- Definite article
- "The" is called a definite article.
- "The" appears before nouns which are
specific members of a category.
- I want to see the movie George Clooney just made.
- "The" appears with previously
mentioned nouns.
- We went to a movie last night. The movie was called Spy.
- We use "The" with unique things.
- The sun.
- The front door.
- The tallest man in the world.
- The United States of America.
- The Human Kind.
- The zero article
- In some cases, there is no article before a
noun, this is called the "zero article."
- The zero article appears before proper nouns.
- Picasso
- Mars
- PUCE
- It also goes with names of places and institutions
which consist of a proper name and another noun.
- There is also no article before the names of
days, months, seasons and holidays.
- There is no article before geographical names like
Europe, Italy, Tokyo, and Lake Superior.
- The "zero article" applies to names of languages
and nationalities, as with Chinese or English.
- If you are describing the people of that
country, use the definite article.
- The zero article also goes with
names of sports and academic
subjects.
- The "a/the switch"
- This switch happen when we use the indefinite articles to
introduce something or someone into the context. When the
information becomes familiar, we can use the definite article.
- "Once upon a time, there was an old man and an old woman
who lived in a little cottage - first mention - in a vast open field."
- "The old woman and the old man were very hungry, so
the old woman decided to bake a gingerbread man."