The Use of Articles

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The Use of Articles

The definite article

With nouns used in a generic sense.

The pine grows in the North.

When the noun denotes a thing unique.

The sun was gettin warmer.

When the situation itself makes the object definite.

The wedding looked sad.The bride was too old and the bridegroom was too young.

When the speaker uses an attribute pointing out a particular object.

This is the house that Jack Built.

When the speaker and the listener know what particular object is meant.

Where is the key?

The zero article

In front of most proper nouns.

Tolstoy is my favourite writer.

In front of uncountable nouns.

I like ice-cream.

In front of plural countable nounse used in general statements.

Men are fond of hunting.

The indefinite article (a/an)

When the noun is used in a general sense and has the meaning of "every".

A child can understand it.

A/an preserves its old original meaning of "one"

A week or two passed.

With a predicative noun, then we say that the object belongs to a certain class.

He is a doctor.

When a person or a thing is introduced for the first time.

I watched a car as it came up our road. The car stopped outside our house and a man got out.

When the speaker presents the object expressed by the noun as belonging to a certain class.

It happened in a small town.