Article Usage
Explanation and Practice
Nouns: Count or Non-Count?
• Determine if the noun is countable or not.
Cat -C
Water - NC
Oil - NC
Fire - C
Fires
Boy -C
Countable Nouns:
Singular or Plural?
• Determine if the noun is singular or plural.
Cat -S
Fires - P
Boy -S
• If the noun is singular, it must have an article
in front of it!
Countable Nouns –
General or Specific?
• Determine if the countable noun is specific
or not.
• To make this decision, is the noun known to
both the writer/speaker and the
reader/listener?
• If it is known to both, use “the” (for singular
or plural).
The
___cat
cat that
thatlives
livesunder
underour
ourfront
frontporch
porchisisskinny.
skinny.
A boy
____boy
is walking
is walking
along
along
the street.
the street.
Countable Nouns –
General or Specific?
• If it is in general or unknown to both and
SINGULAR, use an indefinite article (a or an).
• If it is in general or unknown to both and
PLURAL, no article is necessary.
Countable Nouns –
General or Specific?
• Examples:
___cat
The
catthat
thatlives
livesunder
underour
ourfront
frontporch
porchisisskinny.
skinny.
____boy
A
boy is walking
is walking
along
along
the
the
street.
street.
____cats
Cats
make
make
good
good
companions.
companions.
____boys
The
boysthat
thatlive
livenext
nextdoor
doorare
arerambunctious.
rambunctious.
Non-Count Nouns –
General or Specific?
• If the non-count noun is general, no article is
necessary.
• If the non-count noun is specific (known),
use “the”
___
water
covers
earth.
Water
covers
thethe
earth.
____water in the tea kettle is hot.
The water in the tea kettle is hot.
____traffic on my way home is annoying.
The traffic isonannoying.
my ride home is annoying.
____traffic
Traffic is annoying.
Geographical Uses of The
• Do not use the before:
– names of countries (Italy, Mexico, Bolivia) except the Netherlands and the
US
– names of cities, towns, or states (Seoul, Manitoba, Miami)
– names of streets (Washington Blvd., Main St.)
– names of lakes and bays (Lake Titicaca, Lake Erie) except with a group of
lakes like the Great Lakes
– names of mountains (Mount Everest, Mount Fuji) except with ranges of
mountains like the Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the
Matterhorn
– names of continents (Asia, Europe)
– names of islands (Easter Island, Maui, Key West) except with island chains
like the Aleutians, the Hebrides, or the Canary Islands
• Do use the before:
–
–
–
–
names of rivers, oceans and seas (the Nile, the Pacific)
points on the globe (the Equator, the North Pole)
geographical areas (the Middle East, the West)
deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas (the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the
Black Forest, the Iberian Peninsula)
From the OWL at Perduehttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/esl/eslartEX1.html
Practice Exercises
Directions: Fill in the blank with the appropriate article, a, an, or the, or leave the space
blank if no article is needed.
• 1. I want ____ apple from that basket.
• 2. ____ church on the corner is progressive.
• 3. Miss Lin speaks ____ Chinese.
• 4. I borrowed ____ pencil from your pile of pencils and pens.
• 5. One of the students said, "____ professor is late today."
• 6 Eli likes to play ____ volleyball.
• 7. I bought ____ umbrella to go out in the rain.
• 8. My daughter is learning to play ____ violin at her school.
• 9. Please give me ____ cake that is on the counter.
• 10. I lived on ____ Main Street when I first came to town.
• 11. Albany is the capital of ____ New York State.
• 12. My husband's family speaks ____ Polish.
• 13. ____ apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• 14. ____ ink in my pen is red.
• 15. Our neighbors have ____ cat and ____ dog.
From the OWL at Perduehttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/esl/eslartEX1.html