ARTICLES
Перед исчисляемым существительным ед.ч. обязательно должен стоять определитель: числительное (one pen),
притяжательное прилагательное (your pen), указательное местоимение (this pen, another pen) или артикль
a/an (какой-то один)
Singular countable nouns when
we don’t know what it refers to
There is a cat on the street
When it doesn’t matter which
one because:
- It is one of many;
- We mention it for the first time
I saw a beautiful beaver
yesterday
With a predicate noun (when we
describe something)
It was a nice trip!
To talk about frequency (per),
instead of ‘every’
Three times a week
Instead of ‘one’
the (тот самый)
Singular and plural, countable
and uncountable when both
speakers know what they’re
talking about
The book you told me about
was really nice
For second-time mention
Plural, abstract and
uncountable nouns to make
general statements
Love is all you need
We bought bread and milk
I like pop music
I saw a dog, the dog was nice
If it’s defined by the words that
follow
The hotel I told you about…
Part of a whole
General groups
A hundred, wait a minute
With ‘few’, and ‘little’ in the
meaning ‘some at least’
The water is boiling (not all
water)
Superlative degree
Dolphins are mammals
Water boils at C100
but most (majority)
The biggest
Most people like apples
Something unique
When names of institutions
include people’s names
A few friends
With piece/bar/bottle/cup/loaf/
glass of an uncountable noun
A piece of cheese, a bar of
chocolate, a cup of tea
Jobs and beliefs
A teacher, a Christian
The Eiffel tower, the sun, the air
Families
The Gaponenko
Ordinal numbers
The first time
Decades, centuries
Tinkoff’s Bank, St Paul’s
Cathedral
Names of people
Shirsh
Years, Months, days of the
week, seasons
The 1920’s, in the nineties
Winter, in December, on Friday
Services of a country or city
The police, the army
With adjectives to refer to a
whole group of people
The poor and the rich
Animal species
The giant panda
National titles
The Queen, The president
But when there is a name and
when it refers to a position
within a company
Musical instruments (with play)
President Putin, President of
the Company
Names of sports and plays
Play the guitar
With ‘only’ in the meaning of
(only one), first, last
Tennis, football, billiards
He’s the only child in the family
He was the first to solve the
task
Names of holidays
Christmas
Names of papers
The New York Times
Names of meals
Breakfast, dinner
Names of languages with word
‘language’
Names of languages or science
Russian, English, history
the English language
National groups
Names of nationalities
The Blacks, The Russians
Historical periods
He is Russian
but World war II
The Second World War
Institutions (the building itself)
His mother is in the school right
now (in the building itself, she’s
not a pupil)
Parts of the day/night
In the morning, in the evening
Institutions (not the building,
but the function)
Church, hospital, prison, school,
college, class
Parts of the day/night
At midnight, at night, at noon,
at midday, at dawn
Transport
Transport
be on the plane / on the bus
But he’s got (the) flu / (the)
measles / (the) mumps etc.
By car / by train
But he’s got pneumonia /
toothache etc.
With some words
Home, work, mother/father
Mum is at home now
In some expressions
The theater / cinema / circus /
library / restaurant / beach /
shop / station / country /
seaside / jungle / ground /
weather / radio
In some expressions
Half an hour
It’s a pity
It’s a shame
As a result
Have a good time
In a hurry
For a long time
To take a walk
To go for a walk
At the moment
At the weekend
By the way
On the whole
On the one hand
On the other hand
On the right / on the left
On the radio
On the street
In case of
On foot
From time to time
In fact
At hand
At school
At work
At home
At weekends
Go to bed
Go home
With some illnesses
He’s got a cold / a cough / a
temperature / a fever / a
headache / a stomach ache etc.
In some expressions
On TV
Geography
The
Something with water (oceans, seas,
rivers, channels, bay, gulfs) but not
lakes
Groups of islands and mountain
ranges
Deserts
With country names that include
‘states’, ‘union’, ‘kingdom’,
‘federation’
With countries in plural
Points on the compass (cardinal
points)
Names of hotels, cinemas, theaters,
museums
Continents, countries, states, cities,
towns, squares, streets
Lakes, Islands, single mountains
Names of airports, castles, stations,
universities, most bridges
The Black sea, The Don river
The Caribbean Islands, the Alpes
The Sahara
The USA, the Russian Federation
The Netherlands
The North, the South, the West, the
East
The Hilton, the National Gallery
Europe, Russia, Aksay, Gulaeva
Baikal lake (but The Baikal), Elbrus
Heathrow Airport
Oxford University
When the first word is the name of
place
London Bridge (but the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge)
but the Palace of Westminster
Moscow University