ENGLISH ARTICLE CHART
|
Specific (This one, that one) (This/that group) Which one? Which ones? |
Non-Specific Any one Any group One of many One of many groups |
Generic In general | ||||
|
Count Singular |
The apple The bird The child |
An apple A bird A child |
* * | |||
|
Count Plural |
The apples The birds The children |
Some apples Some birds Some children |
Apples Birds Children | |||
|
Non-count |
The water The information |
Some water Some information |
Water Information |
Notes:
Specific articles are used with nouns which have been identified previously. [The speaker and listener both know which thing/person/substance/idea is being referred to.]
The teacher is coming up the stairs.
[Both speaker and listener know which teacher and which stairs.]
Give me the red shirt.
[You know which one I am talking about]
Non-specific articles are used with nouns that have not been identified previously by either the speaker or the listener. They are used with items that have not yet to be singled-out.
[As soon as the items are identified they will require a specific article.]
Examples:
I want a chocolate bar.
[Any chocolate bar will do.]
Which one do you want?
[Asking for a specification.]
The one on the right.
[I choose that one over there]
Give me some milk.
[Any type of milk, any amount will do.]
I need some new shoes.
[I have yet to decide which ones I want to buy.]
I bought some new shoes at Harvey Nichols.
[I know which shoes I bought, but you do not.]
These are the shoes.
[We both know which shoes we are discussing.]
NON-COUNT and PLURAL nouns are used without articles in the generic sense.
Examples:
Cats are afraid of dogs.
[In general, this is believed to be true.]
Water is necessary for survival.
[An un-arguable truth.]
However, singular count nouns cannot stand alone in a sentence, so an article [usually "a" or "an"] is used.
Oranges contain Vitamin C.
An orange contains Vitamin C.
Orange contains Vitamin C. [Incorrect]
["Orange", singular and without either the article "the" or "an" refers to the colour, not the fruit - "Orange contains yellow and red".]
Exercise:
Write and imaginary conversation with a friend in which you talk about something you want, something you have and something you had, and assign the correct articles to count and non-count or plural nouns.
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