English Articles 3 Simple Rules To Fix Common Grammar Mistakes Errors
Hello! I’m Emma from mmmEnglish and in this lesson we’re working on your English
grammar, specifically on how to use
articles. Now I know this is a lesson that
you need to watch. There are three
English articles, “a”, “an” and “the”.
It is possible to have no article and using
one or the other changes the meaning of
your English sentences.
But more on that later!
Articles are a challenging part of
speaking English but they’re a really
important part. They give information
about the noun that they come before.
Using articles incorrectly can make your
sentences confusing or sound strange.
And mistakes with articles are quite obvious
to native speakers. They probably won’t
correct you, but they’ll notice them - even
though you’ll probably be understood if
you make mistakes with articles. Using
the incorrect article is one of the most
common errors that English learners make.
If you’ve ever emailed me or messaged me
on Facebook, I’ve probably seen it in
your writing too. These mistakes happen all the time
without you even realising it!
But there is a reason why these kind of
mistakes are so common! There are lots of
different rules about how to use
articles and lots of exceptions too!
So to make articles a little easier for you,
I’ve broken this lesson down into three
main rules that you need to know about
using English articles. Now, I’m not going
to teach you every rule about English articles.
I don’t want to scare you away
so much that you never come back!
I’m going to teach you some
principles that will help you to use
articles better. Remember, that articles
are used with English nouns.
So, nouns play an important part in your decision
to use an article. The type of noun is important.
There are two types of
articles in English, definite and indefinite.
And it’s probably easier for
me to show you how they work.
This table will help to make it a little
clearer. Thinking about English nouns, we
know that there are countable and
uncountable nouns. Countable nouns can be
singular or plural. So there’s a lot to
think about
and it really affects how you use
articles. If a noun is singular and countable,
then you can use the
indefinite article “a” or “an”. The definite
article, “the”, can be used with countable
or uncountable nouns.
When a noun is plural, so when there is more than one of
that noun, the definite article, “the”, can
be used. And though we can’t use the
indefinite singular articles “a” and “and”,
we can use “some” when we’re not being
specific.
Now, this technically is not an article
but if you’re using a plural noun and
you’re not being specific, “some” is the
perfect choice. So for the singular
countable noun, strawberry, I can say “A
strawberry”, I can say “The strawberry” when
I’m being specific. If I’m using the
plural form of that noun, strawberries,
then I can use “some” if I’m not being
specific.
“I would like some strawberries please” or
I can use “the”, the definite article with
my plural noun. “Could you pass me the
strawberries?”
The difference between the definite and the indefinite articles is the difference between talking about a
specific pen, a unique pen, or any pen at
all - it doesn’t matter!
Like I said, we’re going to focus on
three main rules today. Learn these rules
and you will choose the correct article
most of the time. The first rule explains
when we use “the”, the definite article and
when we use “a” or “an”, the indefinite article.
The second rule deals with
unique nouns, which usually require the
definite article. And the third rule
explains why we sometimes leave articles out.
If you do need an article, when
should you use an indefinite article and
when should you use the definite article?
Great question!
Let’s talk about rule number one.
Indefinite articles, “a” and “an” are used
when you first introduce someone to a
noun. It doesn’t matter if you’re
speaking or writing. When you first
introduce a countable noun, you need to
use “a” or “an”, then you can use the definite
article, after you have introduced the noun.
I want to demonstrate this for you
with a very simple story.
I saw a person yesterday. The person was sitting under a tree. The tree was very tall.
The person stood up when they saw a cat. The cat jumped on a wall to try and catch a bird
but the bird flew off the wall.
In this example, the nouns
person, tree, wall, cat and bird, all take
the indefinite article but only when
they’re first introduced. After that, we
use the definite article every time.
This rule is about ensuring that the reader
or the listener knows which specific
noun you’re talking about. As soon as
you’ve made this clear to the person, you
can use the definite article every time
you use it.
Now we know which bird, of all of the
possible birds in the world that it
could be, we know which specific bird
you’re talking about. So, we can use the
definite article. The second rule. When a
noun is unique, use the definite article.
When something is unique, there is only
one of that thing. That’s when we use the
definite article. The definite article is
“the”. “The sun”, “The president”, “The Queen
of England” and “The capital city” are all
examples of this. There is only one of
these nouns. They’re unique. This is especially true for nouns that are
well-known by most people. But it’s even true
when the listener might not know the noun.
“Who’s he?” “He’s the president of the
United States. He’s the CEO. He’s the mayor.”
Compare it to “Who’s she?” “She’s a
member of parliament. She’s an accountant.
She’s an engineer.” There is more than one
of these nouns, so that noun is not unique.
Now, I’m going to keep giving some
more examples to rule number two.
And remember, for rule two, we’re thinking
about nouns that are unique. There’s only
one of these nouns. But this uniqueness,
it doesn’t need to
be really obvious, it can come through
the context. So for example, “A truck
crashed into a tree. The driver was not
injured.” Once we introduce the car, we
know, by association, that there could
only be one driver because there was
only one car or one truck mentioned. So
the driver is unique in the story.
There’s only one driver that we could
possibly be talking about. Keep thinking
about this idea of a unique noun as we
continue. When you’re using superlative
adjectives, “the best place”, “the worst
thing”, “the fastest runner”, “the tallest mountain”,
“the most interesting person
I’ve met”, you need to use the definite article
because there can only be one
person, place or thing that can be the
fastest or the most expensive.
Paul is taller than Steve and Greg but Tom is
taller than Paul. And Adam is the tallest.
There are many boys who are taller than
Greg but only one person can be the
tallest, that’s Adam.
Also, use the definite article for named things. By naming them, they become unique.
So for example, “The Himalayas”, “The Amazon River”, “The Indian Ocean”, “The United Nations”,
“The Eiffel Tower”, “The 8:06 bus”. All of these
nouns are unique but there are some
exceptions, like the names of people - we
don’t usually use an article.
The names of lakes and islands don’t usually use articles,
Phi Phi Island or Lake Victoria, except
when these nouns are plural, like The
Great Lakes or The Galapagos Islands.
These exceptions are what make articles
very frustrating in English but don’t
give up! When you’re ordering things,
so when ordinal numbers like second, fifth, are used as adjectives. For example, “The
second time” or “The third example” or “The
fourth person to call”. So in other words
once you place an order on an object,
they hold a unique position in that
order and so you can use the definite
article. OK lastly, why do we use an
article with a noun
sometimes and at other times we don’t
use an article at all? This is the third
rule. When we’re speaking about a noun in
general, we’re not being specific about
which particular noun, we usually leave
the article out. And if it’s countable,
you need to use the plural form.
Let’s use a countable noun, this pen, as an
example. When we’re talking about an
actual pen or pens that really exist, we
use an article, definite or indefinite.
In the following examples we’re speaking of
specific or actual or real pens that exist.
“Can I borrow the pen?” That’s a
specific pen. “The pen that’s on your desk.”
Singular and specific. “The pens are in
your bag.” That’s a plural noun, right?
And with the definite article. But we can
also make general statements about pens
and when we do, we speak generally,
this is when we can leave the article out.
For example, “I prefer to use black
pens”, “I never have pens when I need them”
“I bought pens for you to use” It is
absolutely possible to use an article or
leave it out but the meaning will be
different in each case. “I really like
eating cake” This is a general statement
about cake - could be any cake but compare it to
“I really like the cake you made”.
It’s a statement about a specific cake,
a cake that I’ve actually eaten. When
speaking generally about a countable
noun, you need to use the plural form. So
for example, “I’m allergic to strawberries”.
So strawberries in general.
“Australians like to eat eggs for breakfast” Just eggs in general, not specific eggs.
If you’re talking about something that is
uncountable like information or
knowledge or equipment, then just use the
noun in its original form because
obviously it doesn’t have a plural form.
So for example, “The information is
available at the counter” and that’s
specific information, something that
we’ve already been talking about.
“Information is available at the counter”
is a very general statement. General
information. OK I know that that was a
big lesson and a lot to take in. You
should probably watch it again to really
let all of the information sink in. I’ve
made a cheat sheet and a worksheet
that’s going to help you to practise
using what you learned in this lesson.
You can download it right here. But
before you do go there, let’s just go
over those three important
rules again just to make sure you
remember them. The first rule explains
when we use “the”, and when we use “a” or “an”,
the definite and the indefinite
articles. Remember the story about the
person and the cat and the bird? When you’re introducing something that is
probably unknown to the listener or the
reader, you need to use “a” and “an” or “an”
Then any time after that, you can use “the”.
The second rule deals with unique nouns
which usually use the definite article.
Now I gave you lots of different
examples about how nouns can be unique
and we also talked about how “the” should
usually be used with ordinal numbers,
when they’re adjectives. The third rule
explains why we sometimes leave articles
out - that’s when we’re talking generally
about something. Now remember, that these
three rules are great but they’re general
rules. They work most of the time. Unfortunately, there will always be some
exceptions with articles, but don’t lose
hope! These three rules are going to help
you make better choices about using
English articles, so that you can really
improve your English grammar. Don’t
forget to download the worksheet, up here!
The mmmEnglish worksheets are great
because I’ll also send you a bonus audio guide
of me explaining the answers for
you. So if you do get any of them wrong,
you’ll know exactly why. To keep
practising English grammar, check out
this lesson here. And to improve your
pronunciation and your speaking skills,
try my imitation lessons right here. I
hope that you enjoyed this lesson
and I will see you again next week for
the next lesson.
Bye for now!