ARTICLES

DEFINITE
INDEFINITE
ZERO
 Articles: A, AN or THE

Articles

Definite Indefinite
the a, an
 Articles: A, AN or THE??
We use "definite" to mean sure, certain.
"Definite" is particular.
When we are talking about one thing in particular,
we use the.

We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not

certain. "Indefinite" is general.
When we are talking about one thing in general,
we use a or an.
 Generic use
Tigers are wild animals.
(ALL the representatives of the species)

A tiger is a wild animal.

(an individual representative of the species; ANY)

The tiger is a wild animal.

(the species as a whole class, general/typical of the
whole class)
 Definite article THE

When do we use it?

When do we ignore it?

 ZERO article

We don’t use THE in the

following examples...
 Proper Nouns without THE
We do not use "the" with names of people. For example:

first names Bill (not *the Bill)

Hilary

surnames Clinton

Gates

full names Hilary Gates

We do not use "the" with "President/Doctor/Mr etc
+ Name":
the president, the king = President Obama
(not *the President Obama)
the captain, the detective = Captain Kirk,
Detective Colombo
the doctor, the professor = Doctor Well,
Professor Doolittle
my uncle, your aunt = Uncle Jack, Aunt Jill 
Mr Gates (not *the Mr Gates), Mrs Clinton,
Miss Black
 Look at these example sentences:

I wanted to speak to the doctor.

I wanted to speak to Doctor Brown.

Who was the president before

President Kennedy?
 We do not normally use "the" with
names of companies.

For example:

Renault, Ford, Sony, EnglishClub.com

General Motors, Air France, British Airways

Warner Brothers, Brown & Son Ltd

 Tip of the Day!!!
If the full (registered) name of a company starts with
"The", then we use "The" if we use the full name.

For example:

The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd

 We do not normally use "the" for shops, banks, hotels
etc. named after a founder or other person (with -'s
or -s).

For example:
Shops = Harrods, Marks & Spencer, Maceys
Banks = Barclays Bank
Hotels, restaurants = Steve's Hotel, Joe's Cafe,

McDonalds
Churches, cathedrals = St John's Church,
St Peter's Cathedral
 We do not normally use "the" with
names of places.
For example:
Towns = Washington (not *the Washington),
Paris, Tokyo
States, regions = Texas, Kent, Eastern Europe
Countries = England, Italy, Brazil
Continents = Asia, Europe, North America
Islands = Corsica
Mountains = Everest
 Exception!
If a country name includes "States", "Kingdom", "Republic“
etc, we use "the":

States = the United States, the US, the

United States of America, the USA

Kingdom = the United Kingdom, the UK

Republic = the French Republic

 Exception!
We don’t normally use THE with neigbourhoods, cities, and
countries but...

THE Hague
THE Bronx
THE Ukraine
We do not use "the" with "Lake/Mount + Name":

the lake = Lake Victoria

the mount = Mount Everest

Example sentence:

We live beside Lake Victoria.

We have a fantastic view across the lake.
We do not normally use "the" for roads, streets, squares,
parks, bridges

Streets, etc. = Oxford Street, Trenholme Road,

Fifth Avenue
Squares, etc. = Trafalgar Square, Oundle Place,
Piccadilly Circus
Parks, etc. = Central Park, Kew Gardens
Bridges = Tower Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge
Stations, buildings = Waterloo (station),
Buckingham Palace
 Many big, important buildings have names made of
two words (ie. Kennedy Airport).

If the first word is the name of a person or place, we

do not normally use "the":

People = Kennedy Airport, Alexander Palace,

St Paul's Cathedral

Places = Heathrow Airport, Waterloo

Station, Edinburgh Castle
 ZERO ARTICLE is used with:
Before plural/uncountable nouns (abstract/mass nouns)
used in general sense: Men fear death.
(But: The death of the Prime Minister...)
Languages, school subjects: German, English, art, music
Colours: Ms Brown was dressed in black.
Games/sports: He plays golf.
The names of diseases: He suffers from malaria.
(But: a headache, (a) tootache)
The names of relationships: father, mother
Superlatives (adverbs): Who pronounces English best?
In exclamations with uncountable nouns/plural nouns:
What lovely weather we’re having! What beautiful eyes!
 ZERO ARTICLE is used with:
Years, seasons, months: I was born in 1983.
We go on holiday in August.
(But: in the year 1958, in the winter of 1983)
Special times of the year: We go away at Christmas.
(But: We had a wonderful Christmas.)
The days of the week: Yes, Friday will be convenient.
(But: The storm was on the Friday of that week.)
A part of the day and night: at sunset, at night, by day
(But: it was a beautiful sunset., in/during the day/night)
Means of transports: by car/bus/train/tram/plane
(But: on the bus, in the car, on a plane,...)
 THE or NO THE?
What did you have for the breakfast?
What did you have for breakfast?

We had the lunch in a very nice restaurant.

We had lunch in a very nice restaurant.

What time is the dinner?

What time is dinner?
NO THE with BREAKFAST, LUNCH and
DINNER (meals)
What did you have for breakfast?

We had lunch in a very nice

restaurant.

What time is dinner?

 THE or NO THE?
Our train leaves from the platform 5.
Our train leaves from platform 5.

Have you got these shoes in the size

36?
Have you got these shoes in size 36?
 NO THE = NOUN + number
Our train leaves from platform 5.

NOUN
+ NUMBER
= NO THE
Have you got these shoes in size 36?
 THE or NO THE
I often go to the cinema, but I haven’t been to the
theatre in ages.
I often go to cinema, but I haven’t been to theatre
in ages.

I often listen to the radio.

I often listen to radio.

I often watch television.

I often watch the television.
THE with RADIO, CINEMA, THEATRE, PUB

I often go to the cinema, but I haven’t

been to the theatre in ages.

I often listen to the radio.

I often watch television.

 What’s the difference?

I often watch television.

Could you turn off the television?

 PROGRAMME vs TV SET
I often watch television.

PROGRAMME
THE TV SET

Could you turn off the television?

 Definite article THE

We use it in the following

cases...
 THE DEFINITE ARTICLE THE
Before a noun which has become definite because it has
already been mentioned, or when the reference is
obvious:
His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on the
tree. He turned on the lights.
Before nouns which are defined by a phrase or a clause:
The men with the guns were police officers.
Where’s the milk I bought?
When the object/group is unique: the earth, the
moon, the sun, the sky (But, other planets have zero
article)
With the possessive case: the butcher’s shop
 THE DEFINITE ARTICLE THE
With superlatives (adjectives): the tallest building
With ordinal numbers: the second day
With musical instruments: the piano, the violin
With certain adjectives to refer to general classes of
people: the rich, the poor, the unemployed
With names of nations in plural:
the English, the French
With names of the points of the compass:
the east, the west, the south, the north
With parts of the day: in the morning, in the evening
 Uniqueness or the only one

What is the longest river in the

world?
The earth goes around the sun and
the moon goes around the earth.
Paris is the capital of France.
 In phrases such as...

We looked up at all the stars in the sky.

Would you rather live in a town or in the
country?
We must do more to protect the
environment.
I tried to park my car but the space was too
small.
 What is the difference?

There are millions of stars in space.

I tried to park my car but the space

was too small.
 Space = universe = NO THE

There are millions of stars in space.

I tried to park my car but the space

was too small.
SCHOOL, PRISON, UNIVERSITY and CHURCH =
NO THE when it’s GENERAL
Ken’s brother is in prison for robbery. BUT
Ken went to THE prison to visit his brother.

Jack had an accident last week and was taken to a hospital.

He’s still in hospital now. BUT
Jill has gone to THE hospital to visit Jack. She’s at THE
hospital now.
 Exception!
We don’t normally use THE with neigbourhoods, cities, and
countries but...

THE Hague
THE Bronx
THE Ukraine
 We normally use "the" for names of canals,
rivers, seas and oceans:

Canals = the Suez Canal

Rivers = the River Nile, the Nile
Seas = the Mediterranean Sea,
the Mediterranean
Oceans = the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific
 We normally use "the" for
plural names of people and places:

People (families) = the Clintons

Countries = the Philippines, the United States

island groups = the Virgin Islands,

the British Isles
mountain ranges = the Himalayas, the Alps
 We normally use "the" for
plural names of people and places:

 I saw the Clintons today. It was Bill's

birthday.

 Trinidad is the largest island in the West

Indies.

 Mount Everest is in
the Himalayas.
We normally use "the" with the following sorts
of names:
Hotels, restaurants = the Ritz Hotel,
the Peking Restaurant
Banks = the National Westminster Bank
Cinemas, theatres = the Royal Theatre,
the ABC Cinema
Museums = the British Museum, the National Gallery
Buildings = the White House, the Crystal Palace
Newspapers = the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Post
Organisations = the United Nations, the BBC,
the European Union
 We normally use "the" for
names made with "of":

the Tower of London

the Gulf of Siam
the Tropic of Cancer
the London School of Economics
the Bank of France
the Statue of Liberty
We normally use "the" when it’s clear what we
mean:

Can you turn off the light, please?

I took a taxi to the station.

I’d like to speak to the principal,

please.
 We normally use "the" when we say

I have to go to the bank to get some

money.
I don’t feel so well, I’ll have to go to the
doctor.
I hate going to the dentist.
Shall we go to the city centre?
My brother is in the army.
 BED, WORK, HOME ?
It’s time to go to bed.
It’s time to go to THE bed.

Ann didn’t go to work yesterday.

Ann didn’t go to THE work yesterday.

Will you be at home later?

Will you be at THE home later?
 BED, WORK, HOME = NO THE
It’s time to go to bed.

Ann didn’t go to work yesterday.

Will you be at home later?

 Articles: A, AN or THE??

When do we say "the dog"

and
when do we say
"a dog"?
THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE: A, AN
With a singular, countable noun mentioned for the first
time
(They live in a flat.)
With a noun complement / including names of
professions
(It was an earthquake. / He is a doctor.)
In certain numerical expressions
(sixty miles an hour; 50p a kilo)
In certain expressions of quantity
(a lot of, a great deal of, a dozen)
With certain numbers
(a hundred, a thousand, a million)
 Countables with A and AN

I’m an optimist.
Tim’s father is a doctor.
What a lovely bag!
Are you a good driver?
A dog is an animal.
She has got a long nose.
 Countables with A and AN

I’m an optimist. characteristics

Tim’s father is a doctor. jobs
What a lovely bag! description
Are you a good driver? type
A dog is an animal. permanent
description
She has got a long nose. unique
 A, AN in phrases such as:
How often do you go to the cinema?
About once a month.

How much are those potatoes?

$1.20 a kilo.

She works eight hours a day, six days a

week.
 Articles: A, AN or THE??

Think of the sky at night.

In the sky we see 1 moon and millions of stars.

So normally we would say:

I saw the moon last night.

I saw a star last night.
Often we can use the or a/an for the same word.
It depends on the situation, not the word.

Look at these examples:

We want to buy an umbrella.

Where is the umbrella?

 Often we can use the or a/an for the same
word. It depends on the situation, not the
word.

We want to buy an umbrella.

(Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)

Where is the umbrella?

(We already have an umbrella. We are looking for
our umbrella, a particular umbrella.)
 This little story should help you understand the
difference between the and a, an:

A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street.

The woman saw a dress that she liked in a shop.

She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her.

He said: "Do you think the shop will accept a cheque?

I don't have a credit card."
Determiners quiz: a/an, the, some / any, each/every, anybody/anyone

1. Lisa saw _____ shooting star yesterday.

2. Don't look directly at _______ sun.
3. Is there ______ milk left in ____ fridge?
4. I need to pack _____ apple for my lunch.
5. The dogs were _______ given a bone.
6. The police spoke separately to ____ suspect.
7. She was wearing ___ bracelet on _____ wrist.
8. She got her license without ____ problem.
9. I don't think ______ is coming to the party, except Judy
and Stan.
10. I always keep _____ money in my wallet for
emergencies.
Determiners quiz: a/an, the, some / any, each/every, anybody/anyone

1. Lisa saw A shooting star yesterday.

2. Don't look directly at THE sun.
3. Is there ANY milk left in THE fridge?
4. I need to pack AN apple for my lunch.
5. The dogs were EACH given a bone.
6. The police spoke separately to EACH suspect.
7. She was wearing A bracelet on EACH wrist.
8. She got her license without A problem.
9. I don't think ANYBODY is coming to the party, except
Judy and Stan.
10. I always keep SOME money in my wallet for
emergencies.
 THANK YOU!!
QUESTIONS???