1. Héctor Daniel Urrutia Díaz 201742021
2. Definition
2.1. An article is a word that goes before a noun, giving some basic information about the noun, such as if it is singular or plural, or if the object is specific or general. The English articles are a, an, some, and the.
3. Indefinite Articles
3.1. There are three indefinite articles in English – two for the singular form (a, an) and one for the plural form (some). We use an indefinite article in English when:
3.1.1. We refer to something for the first time
3.1.2. We refer to a general thing, and not something specific
3.1.3. We describe a person’s profession
3.2. A / An
3.2.1. We use both ‘a’ and ‘an’ in the same way but we use ‘a’ in front of a consonant, and ‘an’ in front of a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).
3.2.1.1. There’s a cat in the garden!
3.2.1.2. I need a stamp for this letter.
3.2.1.3. Sally is an accountant. She works for a multinational company.
3.2.1.4. We need an apple and an orange for the fruit salad
3.3. Some
3.3.1. We use ‘some’ for the plural form of all nouns and for uncountables. (An uncountable noun is a word that only has the singular form, ‘sugar’.)
3.3.1.1. Would you like some wine?
3.3.1.2. Here are some photos of our last holiday.
3.3.1.3. We need some milk. Can you get a carton when you go out?
3.3.1.4. Some people are sunbathing in the park.
3.3.1.5. There are some fun places to go in my town.
4. Definitive Articles
4.1. The definite article in English is ‘the’, and we can use it with singular and plural nouns. We use ‘the’ when:
4.1.1. We have already identified the noun we are referring to in a previous prhase.
4.1.2. There is only one of this thing (for example, ‘the station’ – there is only one in the city)
4.1.3. We use certain expressions, especially related to physical things such as ‘the weather’, ‘the sea’, ‘the environment’.
4.2. Examples
4.2.1. You can’t go to the post office now. It’s closed.
4.2.2. Can you turn on the television?
4.2.3. The shopping bags are still in the car. I’ll get them.
4.2.4. Where’s the bottle-opener?
5. No article
5.1. It can be difficult to know when not to use an article in English, especially when you translate from your native language which has different rules for articles. Here are the main cases when we don’t use an article:
5.1.1. Don’t use an article with possessive adjectives
5.1.2. Don’t use an article with a general topic.
5.1.3. Don’t put an article in front of country names except when they include ‘kingdom’, ‘states’ and ‘lands’.