2. What is Article?
Article can be taken as one of the ‘Determiners’ or
a subclass of the Determiners which determines
noun. They are also known as Demonstrative
Adjectives.
It is often taken to be a separate part of speech also.
2
3. Kinds of Articles
In English language, there are total three articles. (A, An
and The). These three articles are divided into two
types.
1. Definite: The (is used to refer any particular person,
place or thing.)
2. Indefinite: A & An (does not refer particular noun)
3
4. The Selection of Articles (a / an)
• Articles ‘a’ ‘an’ or ‘the’ are not used arbitrarily.
• There are definite rules to use these articles and
these rules are strictly followed while speaking
or writing English.
• It is important to note that if articles are not used
appropriately, the meaning may change or be
misunderstood.
• Therefore, it is must to understand and follow
these rules to learn correct English.
4
5. Omission of Articles
There are certain situations when certain nouns do
not follow articles (whether definite the or indefinite
a/an)
It is also called ‘zero article’ situation.
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6. Rule 1
Indefinite articles (a/an)
are generally not used
with proper nouns.
Ex.
He is Suresh
He is a Suresh
She is Sarita
She is a Sarita
But Indefinite ‘a’ or ‘an’
article is used to convert
proper noun into a
common noun.
Ex.
He is a Gandhi.
She is a P T Usha
6
7. Rule 2
Articles are not used with abstract nouns such as
honesty, love, hatred, beauty, sincerity, poverty,
wisdom, strength, sanitation, knowledge etc..
Ex.
Honesty is the best policy. (The honesty )
BUT
The honesty which he showed was praiseworthy.
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8. Rule 3
The names / nouns of
games do not follow any
articles
Ex.
I play cricket
I play the cricket
She plays tennis
She plays the tennis
We watch football
We watch the football
Amir plays chess
Amir plays the chess
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9. Rule 4
Names of subjects and language do not follow
article
Ex.
He teaches English (NOT the English )
They study History (NOT the History )
We like to study Biology (NOT the Biology )
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10. Rule 5
With words such as school, college, university,
church, temple, mosque etc. when these places are
visited for the purpose for which they have been
made, no article is needed.
Ex.
I go to school daily in the morning.
I go to the school to pick up my younger brother.
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11. Rule 5 continues
1. We are going to
university.
2. She goes to hospital to
get her reports checked.
3. I am going to college
everyday.
4. They are going to
mosque for chatting
prayer.
1. He goes to the
university to meet Mr.
Mehta.
2. He goes to the hospital
to make furniture.
3. I am going to the
college to pick up my
younger brother.
4. They are going to the
mosque to water the
plants.
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12. Rule 6
Indefinite articles (a/an)
are not used with plural
noun/s.
Ex.
These are chairs.
Here are leaves.
Those are students.
But definite article (the)
can be used with plural
nouns to indicate some
definiteness of the
mentioned noun/s
Ex.
The chairs which are
white are ours.
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13. Rule 7
Names / nouns of meals do not follow definite
articles.
Ex.
I feel sleepy after dinner. (NOT the dinner )
She takes lunch at 12:30 (NOT the lunch )
But definite article (the) is used with such nouns in
certain cases
Ex.
The lunch hosted by my friend was delicious.
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14. Rule 8
Time of day and night do not follow articles
Ex.
These birds are mostly active at dawn. (the dawn
)
We arrived late at night. (the night )
Also: after daybreak, by sunrise, before sunset, at
midnight, at twilight, at noon etc….
[BUT article after in and during: in the afternoon,
during the night etc…] (Page no 251) (2)
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15. Rule 9
Parallel phrases never follow article
Ex.
They walked arm in arm (the arm in arm )
We walked hand in hand (the hand in hand )
They are husband and wife (the husband and wife
)
We met face to face (the face to face )
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16. Rule 10
Before proper, material and abstract nouns used in a
general sense
Ex. London, France, Tom, gold, rice, honesty, virtue
Paris is the capital of France. (NOT The Paris)
Gold is a precious metal. (NOT The gold)
Honesty is the best policy. (NOT The honesty)
But we say, the United States, the United Arab
Emirates etc.
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17. Rule 11
We don’t use any article before names of continents
and countries.
Ex.
Asia, Norway, Sri Lanka etc…
Note : We use (the) before the names of countries or
States which include words like republic, union,
kingdom, states etc…
Ex.
The United Kingdom, The United States of America
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18. Rule 12
Articles are not used with nouns like Man and
Woman are used in general or widest sense.
Ex.
Man is mortal. (NOT The Man )
Woman is cleverer than man. (NOT The Woman )
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19. Rule 13
In certain
phrases made up
of a preposition
+ noun.
Ex.
on foot
at school
at home
in bed
by train
by car
in debt
in hand
on earth
at noon
on board
in jest
at best
from top to
bottom
at worst etc.
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20. Rule 13 continues
Ex.
He is in debt. (NOT He is in the debt.)
He is at school. (NOT He is at the school.)
He spent the whole day in bed. (NOT in the bed)
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21. Rule 14
In certain phrases consisting of a transitive verb and
its object, articles are not used.
Ex.
Give ear, set sail, take heart, send word, catch fire,
take offence, leave office, leave home, leave office
etc.
He took offence at my words. (NOT the offence)
She left home in the morning. (NOT the home)
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22. Rule 15
Before the names of continents, countries, cities,
towns, days, months, arts, sciences, some diseases
etc.
Ex.
January, March, physics, English, Tokyo, Beijing,
Delhi, Tuesday, Friday, Asia, America etc.
December is a cold month. (The December )
Linguistics is tough. (The Linguistics )
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23. Rule 16
Articles are not use before plural nouns when they
are used to denote whole class.
Ex.
Apples are red. (NOT The apple)
Camels are useful animals. (NOT The camels)
Warm clothes are necessary during winter.
(NOT The warm clothes)
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24. Rule 17
Names of festivals do not follow any articles
Ex.
We celebrate holy in the month of March. (NOT
The holy)
They celebrate Christmas. (NOT The Christmas)
Eid is a festival of joy. (NOT The Eid)
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25. Rule 18
Before the words like father, mother, aunt or uncle,
no article is used….
Ex.
Father is not at home. (NOT The father)
Aunt has come to see me. (NOT The aunt)
Mother is always carrying (NOT The mother)
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26. Rule 19
Before a predictive noun denoting a position that is
normally held at one time by one person only.
Ex.
He was elected Chairman of the committee.
Mrs. Tripti Datta became Principal of the college in
1988.
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27. Rule 20
No article is used before a title used in apposition to
a proper name.
Ex.
Shreemati Anandi Ben Patel, Chief Minister of
Gujarat, is very honest and polite.
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apposition
28. Rule 21
No article is used before a common noun when it is
preceded by determiners like each, every, this, that ,
either, neither, some, any, many, much, one, another,
no, or, any other etc…
Ex.
Each time (NOT Each the time )
Every Monday (NOT Each the Monday )
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29. Some special points
Compare the pairs of sentences given below:
I have a black and white cow. (Only one cow)
I have a black and a white cow. (Two cows)
The secretary and accountant is present. (Here the
nouns secretary and accountant refer to the same
person.)
The secretary and the accountant were present.
(Here the repetition of the articles implies that the
secretary and the accountant are different persons.)
29
30. Works Cited
1. Almas Juneja, Vaseem Qureshi. Active English. New Delhi:
Macmillan Publishers India Ltd, 2013.
2. Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik. A Communicative Grammar of
English. South Asia: Pearson Education Ltd., 2009.
3. Gupta, Anjani A. English Grammar. New Delhi: O P Gupta ,
2009.
4. Murthy, Jayanthi Dakshina. Contemporay English Grammar.
New Delhi: Book Palace, 2013.
5. http://www.englishpractice.com/improve/omission-articles-
cases-articles/
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Imran Khan M.
still a learner
