Articles — Fine-tuning
There are three articles in English — a/an, the and zero — and we use each one in different ways. For each article, study the table of uses and examples, then test yourself by looking away and remembering as many as you can, and an example of each. How many can you remember?
A / An
| When we use it | Example |
|---|---|
| Jobs | He's a doctor. |
| Quantities | a litre of milk a lot of money a few birds a couple of books a pair of pants a hundred dollars once a day |
The
| When we use it | Example |
|---|---|
| When there's only one of them, and we both know which one. |
Answer the phone. Explanation: There's only one phone and it's ringing now, so we both know which one we're talking about. Other examples: the sun the moon the government the Queen |
| Rivers | The Amazon River's in Brazil. |
| Hotels | The Empress Hotel is downtown. |
| Newspapers | The New York Times is well-known. |
| Oceans | the Atlantic Ocean |
| Superlatives | He's the most intelligent guy I know. |
Zero Article
| When we use it | Example |
|---|---|
| Certain locations | He left for school. (Not “for the school”) I'm going to work now. (Not “to the work”) Let's stay at home tonight. (Not “at the home”) She's in bed. (Not “in the bed”) |
| Certain types of transport | I went by car. (Not “by the car”) We can get there by foot. (Not “by the foot”) |
| Countries | I study in Canada. |
| Mountains | Mount Fuji is really beautiful. |
| Cities | She was born in Rome. |
| Street names | Government Street is full of tourists. |
| Meals | What did you have for breakfast? |
| Languages | I speak Dutch too. |
When you are sure that you understand the lesson, you can continue with the exercises.