English Articles - 3 Simple Rules To Fix

Common Grammar Mistakes & Errors

Hello, I'm Emma from English. And in this lesson. We're working on your English
grammar. And 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 are really important
part. They give information about the noun that they come before.
Using articles incorrectly and 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 notice them even though you'll probably be understood if you
make mistakes with article. Using the incorrect article is one of the most common
errors that English learners make.
If you've ever emailed me or message me on Facebook, I’ve probably seen it in your
writing too, these mistakes happen all the time without you even realizing it, but
there's a reason why these kinds 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 affect 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.
 English Articles - 3 Simple Rules To Fix
Common Grammar Mistakes & Errors

When a noun is plural, so when there is more than one of that nouns, the definite
article “the”, can be used. And though we can't use the indefinite singular articles “a”
and “an”.
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 “the strawberry”, I'm being specific if I'm using the plural form
of that now 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 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 define 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
 English Articles - 3 Simple Rules To Fix
Common Grammar Mistakes & Errors

the definite article every time you use 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 things. That’s when we use the
definite article, the definite article is “the”.

The sun
The president
The Queen of England
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 “.

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 three 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 meet

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.
 English Articles - 3 Simple Rules To Fix
Common Grammar Mistakes & Errors

Paul es taller than Steve and Greg but Tom is taller than Paul and Adam are 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, they become unique. So,
for example,

The Himalayas
The Amazon River
The Indian Ocean
The United Nations
The Eiffel Tower
The 806 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 on Lake Victoria, except when these nouns are
plural, like The Great Lates 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, first, are used
as adjectives. For example, “The second time” or the fourth person to call, so in other
words 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 articles.
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 ours. 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 one’s 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.
 English Articles - 3 Simple Rules To Fix
Common Grammar Mistakes & Errors

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. Australian 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 es available at the counter and that is specific
information, something that we’re already been talking about Information is available
at the counter is a very general stamen.
General information. OK I know that that was a big lesson and a look to take in You
should probably watch it again to really let all of the information sink in. I’ve made a
cheer sheet and a worksheet that’s going to help you to practice 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 “and” 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 mmm English worksheets are great
because I’ll also send you bonus audio guide of me explaining the answer for you.
So, if you do get any of them wrong, you’ll know exactly why. To keep practicing
English grammar, check out this lesson here. And to improve your pronunciation and
 English Articles - 3 Simple Rules To Fix
Common Grammar Mistakes & Errors

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.