Transcript of SOS Grammar – Lesson 8: Articles

SOS Grammar lesson number 8: Articles.

In today’s lesson, we are going to summarise and recap articles, although articles are a part of learning English that learners cover as a beginner, they are also quite often the one that I correct the most frequently.

We’ll go back to basics. I’ll give you some concrete examples. And I’ll also cover some of the most common mistakes.

In summary, articles are words that define a noun as either ‘specific’ or ‘unspecific’.

Let’s consider the following examples:

After the terrible sleep I just had, the cup of coffee was particularly great.

By using the article that we demonstrate that it was one specific, terrible sleep and the specific coffee that was great.

Now, consider this example:

After a terrible sleep, a cup of coffee tastes particularly good.

By using the article ‘a’ we’re creating a general statement implying that any cup of coffee would be good after a terrible sleep.

We also refer to these differences as ‘definite’ and ‘indefinite’.

So let’s discuss them now in more detail.

The definite article is ‘the’.

Normally we pronounce that with the short sound like ‘thuh’. But when ‘the’ comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long ‘thee’.

For example: the apple, the egg, the ice cream, the orange.

Listen to the difference: the book, the Apple, the book, the Apple.

The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns. So listen to these examples:

Can you pass me the pen? (Singular noun).

Can you pass me the pens? (Plural noun).

Can you pass me the water. (Uncountable noun).

In contrast, we have the ‘indefinite article’, and the indefinite article takes two forms.

We use ‘a’ when it precedes a word that begins with a consonant: a book.

We use ‘an’ when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel: an apple.

The indefinite article indicates that the noun refers to a general idea rather than a particular thing. And it only appears with singular nouns.

For example, you might ask someone at the shop:

I’m looking for a book, but I’m not sure of the name of it.

I’m looking for an autobiography about a sports person. Do you have any recommendations?

The other important thing to remember is that sometimes we use the indefinite article when we first talk about something, so a noun, but then we change it to the definite article.

For example, listen to this example.

I’m looking for a book. I think it was the number one bestseller last year.

Or I’m looking for a book. The book was the number one bestseller last year, but I can’t remember the name.

So when we first introduced the noun, we use the indefinite article, and then we change it to the definite article because the person we’re speaking to understands what we are talking about.

With indefinite articles, there are a few exceptions to the rule.

So we normally use ‘a’ before words that start with a consonant and ‘an’ before words that begin with a vowel. However, if the first letter of a word starts with a consonant but it’s pronounced like a vowel, then we use ‘an’, for example:

Honest. He’s an honest man.

Hour. I’ll see you in an hour.

X-Ray. I need to get an x-ray.

MRI. I had to have an MRI on my knee.

Another exception to that rule is when the word has a vowel, but it’s pronounced with a consonant sound, we use ‘a’.

So, for example:

She is a United States senator.

Because the U sound, although it’s a vowel, it sounds like a consonant.

Many of my students can have challenges with articles. And the problem with articles is that many learners omit the article or they forget to put it, and it’s usually because it either doesn’t exist in their own language or different rules apply in their native language.

And many learners will also put articles where articles don’t need to go, and in a moment, we’re going to speak about some of those examples.

With some of my students we often compare languages, for example, French and Italian students, we often see lots of similarities between English and articles in their own language.

However, my Thai students, Polish, Russian, and Czech students, for example, where articles don’t exist, they find it more challenging.

So, we have to try and compare their language with English. But also we try and compare different things and different ways that we refer to nouns in English.

And that could be, for example, you might study the difference between ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ and when you use them, we study the difference between ‘a’ and ‘an’. ‘A’ and ‘some’ is something that we also think about as well.

So, for example.

An unspecific singular:

Do you have a banana?

Or if you want to refer to plural nouns, we might say:

Do you have some bananas?

So, it’s not about learning the article in that case, but it’s about thinking about when is the difference and what does the difference mean?

Now, let’s have a look at when you don’t need an article. There are lots of rules for when you don’t need an article.

You don’t need an article when you talk about things in general. For example:

I love walking in nature.

I like listening to music.

I studied at university.

We don’t need an article for names of holidays, countries, companies, languages. They’re all proper nouns, so we don’t need to use an article with a proper noun. For example:

I visited Australia for Christmas.

I used to work for Apple.

I’m studying French.

We also think about not using the article with geography. They’re not used before countries, states, cities, towns, continents, single lakes, or single mountains. For example:

I want to climb Everest. – We don’t need to use an article.

However, if you’re talking about a mountain range: I want to visit the Andes. We do need to use an article.

We don’t use articles for places, locations or streets. For example:

Turn left at Canterbury Road.

However, if you were referring to a specific street, then you would use an article, for example:

He turned into the street over there, or, he turned into the street on the left.

There are some places where you do need to use an article. For example:

He turned left into the street.

I need to go to the bank.

He’s staying in the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Let’s go to the movies tonight.

I want to go to the gym to work out.

My dad is in the hospital. He’s really ill.

She works at the post office.

What time do we have to be at the airport?

Please drop me off at the bus stop.

I need to get the bus to go to school.

Or, she doesn’t like to go to the doctor or the dentist.

We don’t use articles for meals, so breakfast, lunch or dinner. For example:

We went out for breakfast yesterday.

I just ate lunch.

We don’t use articles for sports and other physical activities.

She plays hockey.

I went swimming.

I like to ski.

We don’t use it for noun plus a number. For example:

The train from Sydney to Melbourne leaves from Platform 2.

He’s staying in room 221.

If we were to give an example of a specific hotel and then say the room, we might say something like:

He’s staying at the Park Hyatt in room 221.

So, in that example, we need to have an article for the name of the hotel or the hotel, but we don’t need to have one for the room, so we don’t say “the room 221.”

We also don’t use articles for routine places in bed, at home, to school to work. For example:

I’m going to read in bed.

I want to go to school to study.

Tomorrow, I’m going to leave for work at 5AM.

And finally, let’s look at five common mistakes that I often hear and correct.

I’m going to give you the incorrect example and the correct example.

The first one is with job titles and statuses incorrect.

I am a police officer.

Number two. Adjectives followed by nouns.

Incorrect: She’s busy woman.

Correct: She’s a busy woman.

Incorrect: We had very big problem at work this week.

Correct: We had a very big problem at work this week.

Incorrect: That’s great idea.

Correct: That’s a great idea.

So as you can see, we need to use an article before we use an adjective, which is followed by a noun.

We must article before a singular count noun, even if there is an adjective or an adverb and an adjective before the noun.

Number three. Superlatives.

In most cases, you must use the definite article that before a superlative adjective.

Incorrect: She’s best employee on the team.

Correct: She’s the best employee on the team.

Incorrect: This is hottest day I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Correct: This is the hottest day I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Number four, general statements.

Incorrect: I like walking in the nature.

Correct: I like walking in nature.

And number five, proper nouns or common places.

Incorrect: I went to the bed because I was tired.

Correct: I went to bed because I was tired.

Incorrect: I need to go to supermarket to get groceries.

Correct: I need to go to the supermarket to get groceries.