(Articles) Omission of the Articles: Cases Where Articles are Not Used

The articles are not used:

1. Before proper, material and abstract nouns used in a general sense:
London, France, Ahmed, gold, rice, honesty, virtue
Paris is the capital of France. (NOT The Paris is )
Gold is a precious metal. (NOT The gold is a )
Honesty is the best policy.
But we say, the United States, the United Arab Emirates etc.
2. Before a common noun used in its commonest sense:
Man is mortal.
Iron is a useful metal.
3. In certain phrases made up of a preposition + noun:
Examples are: on foot, at school, from top to bottom, at home, in bed, by train, by car, in debt, in hand, on
earth, at noon, on board, at best, at worst etc.
He is in debt. (NOT He is in the debt.)
He is at school. (NOT He is at the school.)
He spent the whole day in bed.
She left home in the morning. (BUT NOT She left the home in the morning.)
4. Before the names of continents, countries, cities, towns, days, months, arts, languages, sciences, some diseases etc.
January, March, Physics, English, Tokyo, Beijing, Karachi, Friday, Asia, America etc.
December is a cold month.
English is spoken all over the world.
5. Before common nouns when they go in pairs:
Both husband and wife received serious injuries.
6. Before plural nouns used to denote a class:
Apples are red.
Camels are useful animals.
Warm clothes are necessary in cold climates.
7. Before the nouns following kind of:
What kind of flower is it? (NOT What kind of a flower is it?)
8. Before meal-time
He was at dinner.
Breakfast was served at night. (BUT NOT The breakfast was served at night.)
Some special points
Compare the pairs of sentences given below:
I have a black and white cow. (Only one cow)
I have a black and a white cow. (Two cows)
The secretary and accountant is present. (Here the nouns secretary and accountant refer to the same person.)
The secretary and the accountant were present. (Here the repetition of the articles implies that the secretary and
the accountant are different persons.)
9. Do not use any article before the names of metals.
Examples :
Iron and coal are found in England. Gold is very costly.
10. Do not use any article before the names of languages.
Examples : 1. Hindi is a difficult language 2. We are studying Arabic.
11. Do not use any article before the abstract nouns.
Examples :
i. Truth prevails. Ii. Knowledge is power. Iii. Honesty is the best policy. Iv .Poverty is the worst crisis.
v. Wisdom will win. Vi. Absence is not tolerated. Vii. Strength never fails. Viii. Wisdom is the gift of heaven.
12. Do not use any article before the common nouns.
Examples : i. Cats like mice. Ii. Apples are cheap in Kashmir.
13. Do not use any article before the names of games.
Examples : i. I play Tennis. Ii. They play football. iii. Baseball is famous in the USA.
14. Do not use any article before the names of relatives.
Examples : i. Father has gone out. ii. Mother is the symbol of love. iii. Sister means affection.
Note : We use the, before the names of countries or States which include words like republic, union, kingdom, states
Examples : The United Kingdom, The United States of America
15. When we want to mentions about the buildings which are for School, hospital, court, mosque, church, prison, market,
Examples :
i. The injured man was taken to hospital. Ii. The Minister visited the hospital. Iii. The murderer was sent to prison.
16. Do not use any article before the names of foods and festivals.
Examples :
Breakfast is at eight Oclock.
He takes sugar with his tea.
Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr after the month of Ramazan.
17. We use the definite article with a superlative adjective:
He is the tallest boy in the class.
It is the oldest building in the town.