Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
39 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
I have two cars: a Ford and an Audi.
The Ford is white and the Audi is silver. |
The indefinite article a/an is placed in front of a countable noun that is being mentioned for the very first time. Once introduced, all further references to it can be preceded by the definite article the.
|
|
|
She is an architect and he is a doctor.
|
In English, an indefinite article is needed in front of professions.
|
|
|
He earns $200 a day.
She swims twice a week. He drove at 60 miles an hour. |
The indefinite article can also be used instead of per when giving the rate or pace of something.
|
|
|
She has a little money and a few friends,
so she'll probably get by. Compare: She has little money and few friends, so I doubt if she'll get by. |
Note too that little and few become a whole lot more positive when preceded by the indefinite article!
|
|
|
I have two cars: a Ford and an Audi.
The Ford is white and the Audi is silver. |
The definite article the is used in front of any noun the listener or reader already knows about.
|
|
|
Last week a fighter plane crashed into a field but the pilot managed to eject safely.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon at home. I put my clothes into the washing machine and went outside to sit in the garden. |
The is also used when the existence of something is common knowledge or comes as no surprise because of the context in which it is mentioned.
|
|
|
The sun, the moon, the sea, the sky, the Arctic Circle, the environment, the capital, the air, the ground, etc.
|
The definite article is used in front of things generally regarded as unique.
|
|
|
It was the worst day of my life!
The captain was the first person to leave the burning tanker. AmE: June twenty-first. BrE: June the twenty-first / The twenty-first (day) of June. |
Because nouns preceded by superlative adjectives and ordinal numbers are by their very nature unique, they too require the definite article.
Irregularity: Spoken American English drops the in dates. |
|
|
The computer has changed our lives.
It is left up to the consumer to decide which one to buy. We all have a responsibility to look after the old and infirm. The whale is the largest mammal. |
The definite article is used in front of countable nouns representing a whole class or category of something.
|
|
|
The Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Amazon, the West Indies, the Rockies, the Sahara, the Netherlands, the Far East, etc.
|
The is used in front of oceans, seas, rivers, island and mountain chains, deserts, countries with plural names, and noun forms of points of the compass.
|
|
|
It is unlikely the Queen of Denmark has ever swum in the Bay of Bengal.
Margrethe II is (the) Queen of Denmark. Donald was elected chairman of the board. |
The is used in place names and titles including of.
In the case of official job titles, the is usually dropped if there is only one such incumbent at any given time. |
|
|
The Empire State Building, the English Channel, the White House, the Festival Hall, the Rolling Stones, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the British Museum, etc.
|
The is also used in proper names consisting of noun(s) and/or adjective(s) + noun.
|
|
|
The Hilton Hotel, the Savoy, the Sheraton
|
The is used in hotel names.
|
|
|
The Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Daily Mail
|
The is used for newspapers.
|
|
|
The Commonwealth, the Fed, the EU, the WHO, the BBC, the FDA, the IAEA, etc.
Compare: OPEC, NATO, ICANN, etc. |
The is used for many larger organizations and
institutions (not commercial enterprises), including those with initials that are normally spelled out. Acronyms (initials read as whole words) are treated in the same way as regular names (proper nouns) and so do not require any article. If you are uncertain, please monitor usage in the media or consult a dictionary. |
|
|
The U.S. dollar has risen against the yen but fallen against the euro.
|
The is used for currencies.
|
|
|
I'm the David Appleyard that lives in Japan.
|
In front of people's names, however, the is only used to avoid confusion.
|
|
|
Richard Clayderman plays the piano.
|
The is used with the names of musical instruments.
|
|
|
She was hit on the head by a snowball
(= a snowball hit her head). Joe grabbed the youth by the collar (= Joe grabbed the youth's collar). |
The can be used instead of a possessive form when referring to parts of the body and items of clothing.
|
|
|
I go to the cinema/movies, the theatre, the circus, the ballet and the opera.
In the daytime I listen to the radio, but in the evenings I like to watch television. |
Many forms of entertainment are preceded by the definite article the, but not the medium of television.
|
|
|
Love is all you need.
Crime is a growing problem in the inner cities. |
No article is needed before abstract nouns used in a general sense.
|
|
|
Harrods, Macys, McDonald's, Lloyds Bank, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Kennedy Airport, Waterloo Station, Cambridge University, etc.
|
No article is needed for most places consisting of just the name of a person, or the name of a person/place followed by a noun.
|
|
|
Cisco Systems, Microsoft, CBS, EMI, Hitachi, Lufthansa, etc
|
No article is usually needed in front of company names.
|
|
|
Alistair Darling is (the) Chancellor of
the Exchequer. Compare: Alistair Darling is a cabinet minister. |
An article is unnecessary in official job titles, if there is only one person holding this position at any given time.
|
|
|
Queen's Road, Oxford Street, Central Park, Times Square, Tower Bridge, etc.
|
No article is needed in front of most roads, streets, parks, squares or bridges.
|
|
|
While in New Zealand I climbed Mount Cook.
|
No article is needed in the names of single mountains.
|
|
|
Roger had breakfast in his hotel room.
Compare: I attended a dinner at the Rotary Club. |
No article is needed before the names of meals, unless it is a formal occasion.
|
|
|
Anna Kournikova plays tennis to keep in shape.
|
No article is needed for the names of games or sports.
|
|
|
She stayed in bed on Sunday instead of going to church.
The dissatisfied customer threatened to take him to court. The dissident was released from prison. After graduating from high school he went to university. Compare: She sat on the bed while she changed her socks. He entered the church to photograph its interior. The decorators forgot a ladder in the prison and the place was empty when they came back for it. |
No article is needed before bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school, college, university, etc. when these are used for their primary purpose.
If, however, they are used for any other purposes, the is required. |
|
|
He used to spend months at sea.
I go to work every day. Jack's been out of work for almost a year. What's on in town (= my local town) this weekend? Julie's out of town (= the town she lives in) until Thursday. This government has been in office for a year now. Compare: I went to the sea/seaside to swim. I stayed by the sea/seaside all day. What's on in the town (= a particular town, not necessarily my own) this weekend? How do I get out of the town? Sally spent all day in the office (= her workplace). She didn't get out of the office much before 7 o'clock. |
Articles are not needed in more abstract expressions of situation like to/at sea, to/at/out of work, in/out of town, in/out of office, etc.
If, however, you start talking about somewhere concrete or some place in particular, then the definite article the is required. |
|
|
Carol saw her brother on television.
Compare: She had an indoor antenna on the television. |
No article is needed before television as a medium,
only as an appliance. |
|
|
The students have just read section C.
The Chicago train is about to depart from track 5. Her flight leaves from gate 32. He fell asleep on page 816 of "War and Peace". She is staying in room 689. |
There is no article before a noun followed by a categorizing letter or number.
|
|
|
"Journey into Hell" sounds even more exciting than "The Journey into Hell".
"Have you read 'Lord of the Rings'?" |
To give added punch, articles are often dropped in the titles of books, movies, music and other works of art.
Even if an article exists in the original title, as in J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings', people tend to omit this when making reference to it in everyday speech or writing. |
|
|
"Iraqi Head Seeks Arms"
"Stolen Painting Found by Tree" "Police Confirm Shotgun Attack on Bullet Train" |
In order to save space, articles are usually dropped in headlines.
|
|
|
You have a nice house.
That's a very expensive car! A cat is an animal a bus is a vehicle. |
We use a / an to say what kind of person or thing someone or something is (often with an adjective, or to say it belongs to a particular group.
|
|
|
I always give money to the homeless.
The unemployed receive money from the government. The French produce good wine. |
We use the + adjective to talk about a group of people (including nationalities).
|
|
|
Greece is in the south of Europe.
Spain is south of France. Compare: Greece is in southern Europe |
We use the with north, south, east and west to talk about the location of a place within another place, but no article to compare the location of two places.
We use no article with northern, southern, eastern and western: |
|
|
The Smiths, The Netherlands, The United States, The Bahamas, The Alps (also The Caribbean)
|
We use the with plural names of people and places.
|
|
|
She took the glass of water.
I have to see the doctor tomorrow. How many people have walked on the moon? The best film I've ever seen is Top Gun. Compare: She took a glass of water. I need to see a doctor. Top Gun is a good film. |
We use the when we are talking about a specific person or thing, or if there is only one, or if it is clear which one we are talking about.
|
