____________________________________________________________________________
"A," "An," and "The"
An Overview of English Article Usage
for Speakers of English as a Second Language
John R. Kohl
The Writing Center
4508 Sage Laboratory
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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The articles "a," "an," and "the" are difficult for many non-native speakers
of English to learn to use properly. Some of the rules that govern article
usage are very subtle; only years of experience with the language will enable
you to understand and apply these rules. However, Table 3 will help you
eliminate many errors in article usage from your writing.
In order to use Table 3, however, you have to understand two concepts:
"countability" and "definiteness." These concepts are explained in detail
below.
The last part of this handout discusses article usage with proper nouns
as well as the difference between "a" and "an." At the very end of the
handout is an exercise that you can do to test your understanding.
COUNTABILITY
Countable nouns refer to people, places, or things that can be counted
(one dollar/two dollars, one house, two houses). They [these countable
nouns] can always be made plural--usually by adding "s" or some other
variation of the plural ending (student(s), countri(es), child(ren).
A few words are the same in both the singular and plural forms
(deer, sheep).
Uncountable nouns often refer to food, beverages, substances, or
abstractions (meat, tea, steel, information); some uncountable nouns
(but not the abstract ones) can be made countable by adding a "count
frame" in front of them (two gallons of milk, six blocks of ice, a bar
of soap, a bunch of celery).
Unfortunately, there is not clear-cut distinction between countable and
uncountable nouns. Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable
even without adding count frames. For example, as an uncountable noun,
experience refers to abstract knowledge or skill that can be gained by
observing or participating in events. As a singular or plural countable
noun (experience/experiences), the word "experience" refers to a particular
instance (or instances) of participation in events. Similarly, the uncountable
noun "glass" is a substance made from silicates; "a glass" (singular) is
something you drink from; and "glasses" (plural) are frames containing lenses
that correct imperfect vision.
There are other exceptions to the countable/uncountable distinction as well.
Moreover, a noun that is countable in your native language may be uncountable
in English, and vice-versa. For example, "soap" is countable in Spanish but
uncountable in English. However, as long as you are aware of these
differences they probably will not cause you much difficulty.
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LEARNING HINT #1: The best thing to do is to memorize some of the
most frequently occurring uncountable nouns (shown in Table 1 below), and
to look up other nouns in a dictionary if you are not sure whether they are
countable or uncountable. If your dictionary does not indicate whether
nouns are countable or uncountable, then you should consult another
dictionary, such as _The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary_. This
dictionary is available for you to use at the Writing Center.
In the _Oxford_ dictionary, nouns are countable unless they are designated
by the letter "u." If a noun can be either countable or uncountable (with
different definitions, as in the examples given above), then the uncountable
definitions are preceded by "u," and the countable definitions are preceded by
"c," as in the following example:
ad-ven-ture n. 1 [c] a strange or unusual
happening (The explorer told the boys about his
adventures in the Arctic). 2 [u] risk; danger
(Robin Hood lived a life of adventure).
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TABLE 1: SOME COMMON UNCOUNTABLE ENGLISH NOUNS
1. Food and Drink: bacon, beef, beer, bread, broccoli, butter, cabbage,
candy, cauliflower, celery, cereal, cheese, chicken, chocolate,
coffee, corn, cream, fish, flour, fruit, ice cream, lettuce, meat, milk,
oil, pasta, rice, salt, spinach, sugar, tea, water, wine, and yogurt
2. Nonfood Substances: air ,cement, coal, dirt, gasoline, gold, ice,
leather, paper, petroleum, plastic, rain, rubber, silver, snow, soap,
steel, wood and wool.
3. Abstract nouns: advice, anger, beauty, confidence, courage, employment,
fun, happiness, health, honesty, information, intelligence, knowledge,
love, poverty, satisfaction, truth, and wealth
4. Others: biology, clothing, equipment, furniture, homework, jewelry,
luggage, lumber, machinery, mail, money, news, poetry, pollution,
research, scenery, traffic, transportation, violence, weather, and work
DEFINITENESS
A noun is "definite" if it refers to something specific that is known to both
the writer/speaker and the reader/listener. (Note: You should memorize this
definition!) For example, if Jane needs to drive somewhere, she might ask
her father, "May I use the car?" She uses the definite article "the" because
both she and her father know which car Jane is referring to (the family car).
But later Jane might say to her friend Bill, "I saw a funny-looking dog today."
She uses the indefinite article "a" because she knows which dog she saw, but
Bill doesn't.
Table 2 below illustrates that there are four possible conditions involved in
this decision, but only one results in a noun that is definite.
TABLE 2: MATRIX OF DEFINITENESS/INDEFINITENESS *
Knows specifically what is being referred to?
Writer/speaker Reader/listener
Definite: Can I use THE car? Yes No
Indefinite: I saw A funny-looking
dog today. Yes No
Indefinite: I heard that you once
wrote A book about
ecology. No Yes
Indefinite: I need to buy a new belt. No No
* adapted from Brown, R., _A First Language_, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1973.
FIVE SOURCES OF DEFINITENESS:
There are five principal ways in which a reader/listener can know
specifically what a noun is referring to (that is, five reasons a noun
might be considered definite):
1. The noun has been previously mentioned.
I saw A funny-looking DOG yesterday [first mention, indefinite].
It looked like a cross between a Pekinese and a German shepherd.
When it saw my cat, THE DOG ran away [second mention, definite].
2. A superlative or ranking adjective makes the noun's identity specific.
- THE tallest girl in the class is 6'2" tall. [There can be only
one girl who is the tallest.]
- Please read THE fourth paragraph on page 3. [There can be
only one fourth paragraph.]
- Today is THE most important day of my life. [There can be only
one day that is the most important.]
3. The noun describes a unique person, place, or thing.
THE earth revolves around THE sun once every 365 days. [There is
only one earth and only one sun--in our solar system, that is!]
4. A modifying word, phrase, or clause FOLLOWS the noun and makes it
clear which specific person or thing you are referring to. But not
every noun that is modified in this way is definite; it depends largely
on the situation and on what you can reasonably expect your listener/
reader to know about.
Do you remember THE girl who went camping with us? [Using "the"
here implies that there was only one girl who went camping with you;
otherwise the clause "who went camping with us" would not be sufficient
to identify the particular girl that you are referring to. If there
were two girls, then you would have to be more specific, saying perhaps
"Do you remember THE girl from Iowa who went camping with us last May?"]
John is reading A book about quantum physics. [Here the noun "book"
is modified by the phrase "about quantum physics." But there is
undoubtedly more than one book about quantum physics. Therefore,
to make "book" definite, we would have to add more information: "THE
book about quantum physics that was assigned by Professor Jackson
last week."]
5. The context or situation makes the noun's identity clear. For example,
you might ask someone to "Close THE door." You would use "the"
because it would undoubtedly be clear to both of you which door you
were referring to. Similarly, if you tell someone that you are going
to THE library, that person will assume that you are talking about
whichever library is most familiar to both of you--RPI's Folsom
Library, for example.
Again, you have to be sure that your reader or listener has the same
context or situation in mind that you are thinking of; otherwise, he
or she will be confused by your use of "the." For example, one student
wrote the following sentence:
This magazine helps women analyze THE problematic situation
and offers possible remedies.
But this was the first time she had mentioned a problematic situation.
Her readers were therefore confused because her use of the word "the"
implied that they were already supposed to know which problematic
situation she was referring to.
CHOOSING THE APPROPRIATE ARTICLE
In order to choose the appropriate article for a noun, you first need to decide
whether the noun is singular. One way to determine this is to ask yourself
whether you could put the number "one" in front of it. For example, you can
say "one experiment," but not "one knowledge" or "one examples;" therefore,
"experiment" is singular, whereas "knowledge" is uncountable and "examples"
is plural.
Table 3 below shows that if the noun is singular, you must use either "the" or
"a"/"an" in front of the noun, depending on whether it is definite (known to
both you and your readers) or not.
If the noun is not singular, then it must be either plural or uncountable.
Table 3 below shows that article usage is the same for both plural and
uncountable nouns will use either "the" or "0" (no article) in front of the
noun. Again, the decision depends on whether the noun is definite or not.
Table 3: Choosing the Appropriate Article
1. Singular noun (one of something that is countable)
Is the noun definite?
YES: Use "the"
a) The painting in the living room was given to me by an old friend.
- "Painting" and "living room" are singular because we are
referring to only one painting and one living room.
- "Painting" is definite because the following phrase, "in the
living room," makes it clear which painting we are referring
to (reason 4, above). (However, it could be indefinite
if there is more than one painting in the living room that
the speaker could be referring to; in that case, the
speaker would say "A painting...."
- "Living room" is definite because it is clear from the context
of the situation that the speaker is referring to the living
room closest to where he and the listener are standing (reason
5 above).
NO: Use "a" or "an"
b) Eugene's lunch consisted of a sandwich, two cookies, and a can
of soda.
- "Sandwich" and "can" are both singular (there is only one of
each). They could be definite if the listener/reader had seen
Eugene's sandwich and can of soda, or if they had been
mentioned before. However, the speaker/writer's choice of the
indefinite article "a" for both nouns tells us that they are
unknown to the listener/reader.
2. Plural or uncountable noun
Is the noun definite?
YES: Use "the"
c) The technical reports that I gave you are top secret. (plural and
definite)
- "Reports" is plural (note that it ends in -s) because we are
talking about more than one report. It is definite because
the following phrase, "that I gave you," makes it clear to
the reader/listener which reports you are referring to
(reason 4, above).
d) The wool that is produced in Scotland is used to make sweaters and
other garments. (uncountable and definite)
- "Wool" is uncountable (you cannot say "one wool"). It is
definite because the following clause, that is produced in
Scotland, makes it clear which wool you are referring to
(reason 4, above).
NO: Use 0 (no article)
e) Long reports are difficult to write. (plural and indefinite)
- "Reports" is plural (note that it ends in -s). The lack of an
article in front of it means that the speaker/writer is
talking not about particular reports that are known to the
listener/reader, but about all long reports in general.
f) Scotland's major exports are wool and oil. (uncountable and
indefinite).
- "Wool" and "oil" are both uncountable nouns (you cannot
say "one wool" or "one oil" in this context). They are
indefinite because they refer to these two substances in
general, not to particular shipments of wool and oil that are
known to the reader/listener.
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LEARNING HINT #2: One of the most common mistakes that non-native
speakers make with articles is using "a" or "an" with plural or uncountable
nouns (a students and a research would be incorrect). But consider that the
articles "a" and "an" are derived from the word "one." Thus, it is illogical
to use "a" or "an" with a plural noun, isn't it? It is also illogical to use
"a" or "an" with an uncountable noun--After all, how can you have "one" of
something that is uncountable?
An easy way to eliminate a lot of mistakes is to look through your writing for
every occurrence of "a" and "an." Then examine the noun that follows each "a"
or "an." If the noun is either plural or uncountable, then you have made a
mistake, and you should refer to Table 3 to determine whether to use "the" or
"0" instead.
_____________________________________________________________________________
LEARNING HINT #3: Often mistakes occur not because a writer has used
the wrong article (e.g., "a" or "an" instead of "the"), but because the writer
has used no article at all for a singular noun. Notice in Table 3 that every
singular noun must have an article in front of it.
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LEARNING HINT #4: Notice that every definite noun takes the article "the,"
regardless of whether it is singular, plural, or uncountable. Therefore, if
you cannot decide whether a noun is singular, plural, or uncountable, go on
to the next step and ask yourself whether it is definite (known to both the
writer/speaker and the reader/listener) or not. If it is definite, then use
"the."
_____________________________________________________________________________
USING ARTICLES WITH PROPER NOUNS
So far we have been talking only about using articles with common nouns.
The rules for proper nouns are more complex.
Proper nouns are names of particular people, places, and things (John F.
Kennedy, New York City, Notre Dame Cathedral), and for that reason they are
inherently definite. Nevertheless, the definite article is not used with most
SINGULAR proper nouns. For example, if you are referring to your friend
George, you wouldn't say "THE George and I went to a movie last night."
The only times "the" is used with a name like this are: a) when you want to be
emphatic, as in "THE Elizabeth Taylor" (to emphasize that you are talking about
the famous actress, and not about another woman with the same name), and b)
when you are actually using the name as a common noun, as in "THE George
that I introduced you to last night" (the real meaning of this phrase is THE
man named George..."). PLURAL names, on the other hand, are always preceded
by "the": the Johnsons, the Bahamas, etc.
Singular geographical names are very irregular with respect to article usage.
For example, singular names of continents (Asia, Africa), mountains
(Mount Fuji), and bays (San Francisco Bay) do not take the article "the,"
but regions (the Crimea), deserts (the Sahara), and other geographical
entities do.
Indeed, the use of articles with singular proper nouns is complex and hence
difficult to learn, as indicated by the examples below. For this reason, the
best thing to do is to memorize whether the proper nouns that you use
frequently are used with or without "the."
EXAMPLES:
State Street
the Empire State Building
Delaware County
Great Britain
the Soviet Union
the University of Virginia
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
the United Nations (the U.N.)
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(but "OPEC," not "the OPEC")
"A" VERSUS "AN"
This last topic is undoubtedly the easiest, because most non-native speakers
already know about the difference between "a" and "an." They are simply two
variations of the indefinite article. "A" is used before words that begin with
consonant sounds (a rock, a large park) and "an" is used before vowel sounds
(an interesting subject, an apple).
However, note that the choice of "a" or "an" depends on pronunciation, not
spelling. Many words that begin with the vowel -u- are preceded by "a" instead
of "an" because the -u- spelling is often pronounce -yu-, as in useful ("a
usefule idea"), and uranium ("a uranium isotope"). In addition, in a few words
borrowed from French, the initial consonant -h- is not pronounced: an heir
to the throne, an hour-long lecture, an honorable agreement, etc.
A STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS
Keep in mind that native speakers of English seldom use articles incorrectly;
therefore, any errors that you make are very noticeable and distracting to
them. That is why you should make an effort to use articles correctly.
Study this handout--particularly the "Five Sources of Definiteness," Table 3,
and the learning hints. Memorize the definition of definiteness ("known to
both the writer/speaker and the reader/listener"). Then try the Exercise
toward the end of this handout; the correct answers are provided on the
following page so you can check your work.
In the future, whenever you write in English, you will need to proofread your
writing carefully and to apply the rules for article usage very deliberately.
Then come to the Writing Center and ask a tutor specifically to correct any
remaining errors in your article usage. With practice, you can learn to use
articles correctly--not only in writing, but also in speech!
REFERENCES
Brown, Roger. _A First Language: The Early Stages_. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1973. (Folsom library P136 .B7)
Celce-Murcia, Marianne, and Larsen-Freeman, Diane. _The Grammar Book:
An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course_. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1983.
171-202.
Hacker, Diana. _The Bedford Handbook for Writers_. Boston: St. Martin's,
1991. 312-17. (Available at the Writing Center)
Hornby, A.S. _The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current
English_. 3rd ed. London: Oxford U P, 1974. (Available at the Writing
Center)
Master, Peter A. "Teaching the English Article to Foreign Technical Writing
Students." _The Technical Writing Teacher_ 13.3 (1986): 203-10. (Folsom
library reserve 808 .T49)
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik.
_A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language_. New York:
Longman, 1985. (Folsom library PE1106 .C65 1985)
______________________________________________________________________________
EXERCISE
Instructions: Fill in each blank with the appropriate article. If no article
is required, put a "0" in the blank. The nouns that the articles go with are
in italics.
1. _______ Decline and Fall of ______ Roman Empire
(a) (b)
2. ________ complexity of _______ problem of ______ decline and fall of the
(a) (b) (c)
Roman Empire is made evident by _______ wide variety of causes that are
(d)
emphasized in varying degrees by _______ different authors.
(e)
3. Fortunately, ________concise formulation of Edward Gibbon serves as
(a)
_________ widely accepted basis for _______ modern discussion of
(b) (c)
_________ problem.
(d)
4. According to Gibbon, _________ empire reached its peak during _______
(a) (b)
administration of ________ two Antonines.
(c)
5. After that, however, ________ extent of ________ Roman conquest
(a) (b)
became too great to be managed by _______ Roman government,
(c)
and _______ decline began.
(d)
6. ______ military government was weakened and finally dissolved as ______
(a) (b)
barbarians were allowed to constitute ______ ever-growing percentage of
(c)
______ Roman legions.
(d)
7. ______ victorious legions began to dominate and corrupt _______ government,
(a) (b)
weakening it at ______ time when it most needed ______ strength to overcome
(c) (d)
_______ other problems.
(e)
_____________________________________________________________________________
ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS TO THE EXERCISES
NOTE: The explanations refer to reasons given in the section on "Five Sources
of Definiteness."
1. a) The -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modification: "of the Roman Empire").
b) the -- singular; definite because of the preceding adjective:
Roman. This is not one of the five principal sources of definiteness,
but in this case, "Roman empire" is very specific (especially since
"Roman" is derived from the proper noun, "Rome"), and the reader would
be expected to know that there was only one empire that is known as
the Roman empire in English.
2. a) The -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modification: "of the problem...").
b) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modification "of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire").
c) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modfication: "of the Roman Empire").
d) the or a -- singular; could be either definite or indefinite.
Even though a long string of modifiers follows the noun, the reader
still might not be familiar with the variety of causes that the
writer is referring to.
e) 0 -- plural; indefinite because the reader has no way of knowing
which different authors the writer is referring to.
3. a) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modification: "of Edward Gibbon").
b) a -- singular; indefinite because there could be more than one
"widely accepted basis for modern discussion of the problem" (the
modification is not sufficient to make the noun unique).
c) 0 -- uncountable; indefinite. "Discussion" can be either countable
or uncountable; here it is being used in the abstract, uncountable
sense. It is indefinite because there could be more than one "modern
discussion of the problem" (the modification is not sufficient to
make the noun unique).
d) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).
4. a) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).
b) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modification: "of the two Antonines").
c) the or 0 -- plural; could be either definite or indefinite. The
writer's use of "the" indicates that there were two and only two
two Antonine emperors. Use of 0 would indicate that there were more
than two Antonine emperors.
5. a) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following
modification: "of the Roman conquest").
b) the -- "Conquest" in this context is uncountable, meaning "the area
or territory which was conquered." Because the preceding adjective,
"Roman," is derived from a proper name (Rome), it makes the following
noun unique in this context.
c) the -- singular; definite. As in 5b, the preceding adjective,
"Roman," makes it clear which government is referred to in this
context. However, note that in another context, it might be necessary
to add a following modification in order to make the noun definite
(e.g., "the Roman government of the third century A.D.")
d) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).
6. a) The -- singular; definite because of reasons 1 and 5 ("Roman
government" was previously mentioned, and it is clear from the context
that "military government" is also referring to the Roman government).
b) 0 -- plural; indefinite (not previously mentioned, nor is there any
other source of definiteness).
c) an -- singular; indefinite. There could be more than one group,
other than the barbarians, who constituted "ever-growing percentages
of the Roman legions"; thus, modification is not sufficient to make
the noun definite.
d) the -- plural; definite. As in 5b and 5c, the preceding adjective,
"Roman," is sufficient to make it clear which legions are being
referred to in this context. In another context, additional
modification might be required to make the noun definite (e.g., "the
Roman legions that invaded Britian in 6 B.C.")
7. a) 0 -- plural; probably indefinite. The author is not necessarily
referring to any particular group of victorious legions; moreover,
even though "legions" have been mentioned before, "victorious
legions have not; thus, the criterion of previous mention does not
apply.
b) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).
c) a or the -- singular; If we interpret "when it most needed..." as
modifying "time," then "time" is definite because of reason 4.
However, most native speakers interpret both "at a time" and "when
it most needed..." as adverbial modifiers modifying "weakening," so the
the noun would be interpreted as being indefinite.
d) the or 0 -- "Strength" can be either uncountable (the abstract
quality of strength) or singular (a particular instance of that
abstract quality). So it is either singular and definite because of
reason 4 (following modification: "to overcome other problems"), or
uncountable and indefinite. Both would be equally acceptable, so it
just depends on how the writer is thinking.
e) 0 -- plural; indefinite ("other problems" have not been mentioned
previously, and there is no other source of definiteness).
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A, an and the
http://www.rensselaer.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/ascii/esl.txt
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