Articles

What are articles?

Articles are words that define a noun as specific or unspecific. Consider the following examples:
| After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good.
By using the article the weve shown that it was one specific day that was long and one specific
cup of tea that tasted good.

| After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good.

By using the article a, weve created a general statement, implying that any cup of tea would taste
good after any long day.

Determiners in English

Definite article: The definite article refers to a noun, either in the singular or plural. It can be
used with uncountable nouns. The refers to a specific thing or quantity. It should be placed
before the noun, or before the adjective which directly modifies the noun.

| Please give me the hammer.

Please give me the red hammer; the blue one is too small.
Please give me the nail.
Please give me the large nail; its the only one strong enough to hold up this
painting.
Please give me the hammer and the nail.

Indefinite articles: Indefinite articles are used when we are referring to an unspecified thing
or quantity. We use them when we dont know (or dont care) which thing were talking about.

| There once was a sheep.

Since I dont know which sheep it wasthat is, I dont know its name, where its from, or anything
about itI cant say the sheep.
 The two indefinite articles in English are a and an. The indefinite article an is used to make
pronunciation easier when reading a text aloud. The general rule is to use a when the
indefinite article precedes a word beginning with a consonant sound and an when it precedes a
word starting with a vowel sound.

Use a when the indefinite article comes before a word beginning with a consonant
sound:

| a toy a book a house.

Use an when the indefinite article comes before a word beginning with a vowel
sound:

| an operation an idea an apple.

Demonstratives: The words this, that, these and those are demonstratives. In spoken and
written English, demonstratives are generally used to point to something in a situation. The
demonstrative pronouns this and these usually refer to something which is near to the
speaker, and that and those refer to something further away, e.g.
| Do you like this scarf? It matches my coat.
Its nice, but I prefer those ones over there.
This and that are used when referring to a single thing, i.e. with singular countable nouns,
e.g. this box, that book, or uncountable nouns, e.g. this music.

These and those are used when the speaker is talking about more than one thing, i.e. with
plural countable nouns, e.g. these flowers, those magazines.
Demonstratives can occur either as determiners or pronouns. When they are used as
determiners they come before a noun, or the words one or ones, e.g.
| Do you like this dress/one?
I like those chocolates/ones best.

In this use, they are sometimes referred to as demonstrative adjectives. When the meaning
of the sentence is clear without the noun, demonstratives are often used as pronouns, e.g.
| Do you like this?
I like those best.
 Pronouns and possessive determiners: Pronouns replace nouns. A different pronoun is
required depending on two elements: the noun being replaced and the function that noun has
in the sentence. In English, pronouns only take the gender of the noun they replace in the 3rd
person singular form. The 2nd person plural pronouns are identical to the 2nd person singular
pronouns except for the reflexive pronoun.

Possessive Reflexive or
Subject Object Possessive
Adjective Intensive
Pronoun Pronoun Pronoun
(Determiner) Pronoun

1st person
I me my mine myself
singular

2nd person
you you your yours yourself
singular

3rd person
he him his his himself
singular, male

3rd person
singular, she her her hers herself
female

3rd person
singular, it it its itself
neutral

1st person
we us our ours ourselves
plural

2nd person
you you your yours yourselves
plural

3rd person
they them their theirs themselves
plural

Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns replace nouns that are the subject of their clause. In the 3rd person,
subject pronouns are often used to avoid repetition of the subject's name.

| I am 16.
You seem lost.
Jim is angry, and he wants Sally to apologize.
This table is old. It needs to be repainted.
We aren't coming.
They don't like pancakes.
Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are used to replace nouns that are the direct or indirect object of a clause.

| Give the book to me.

The teacher wants to talk to you.
Jake is hurt because Bill hit him.
Rachid recieved a letter from her last week.
Mark can't find it.
Don't be angry with us.
Tell them to hurry up!

Possessive Adjectives (Determiners)

Possessive adjectives are not pronouns, but rather determiners. It is useful to learn them
at the same time as pronouns, however, because they are similar in form to the possessive
pronouns. Possessive adjectives function as adjectives, so they appear before the noun they
modify. They do not replace a noun as pronouns do.

| Did mother find my shoes?

Mrs. Baker wants to see your homework.
Can Jake bring over his baseball cards?
Samantha will fix her bike tomorrow.
The cat broke its leg.
This is our house.
Where is their school?

Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns replace possessive nouns as either the subject or the object of a
clause. Because the noun being replaced doesn't appear in the sentence, it must be clear
from the context.

| This bag is mine.

Yours is not blue.
That bag looks like his.
These shoes are not hers.
That car is ours.
Theirs Is parked in the garage.

Reflexive & Intensive Pronouns

Reflexive and intensive pronouns are the same set of words but they have different
functions in a sentence.
Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the clause because the subject of the action
is also the direct or indirect object. Only certain types of verbs can be reflexive. You
cannot remove a reflexive pronoun from a sentence because the remaining sentence would
be grammatically incorrect.
 | I told myself to calm down.
You cut yourself on this nail?
He hurt himself on the stairs.
She found herself in a dangerous part of town.
The cat threw itself under my car!
We blame ourselves for the fire.
The children can take care of themselves.

Intensive pronouns emphasize the subject of a clause. They are not the object of the action.
The intensive pronoun can always be removed from a sentence without changing the
meaning significantly, although the emphasis on the subject will be removed. Intensive
pronouns can be placed immediately after the subject of the clause, or at the end of the
clause.

| I made these cookies myself.

You yourself asked Jake to come.
The Pope himself pardoned Mr. Brown.
My teacher didn't know the answer herself.
The test itself wasn't scary, but my teacher certainly is.
We would like to finish the renovation before Christmas ourselves.
They themselves told me the lost shoe wasn't a problem.

Quantifiers: A quantifier is a word or phrase which is used before a noun to indicate the
amount or quantity:
'Some', 'many', 'a lot of' and 'a few' are examples of quantifiers.
Quantifiers can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

| There are some books on the desk

He's got only a few dollars.
How much money have you got?
There is a large quantity of fish in this river.
He's got more friends than his sister.

With Uncountable With Both With Countable Nouns

Nouns
all many
much
enough a few/few/very
a little/little/very few **
little * more/most
a number (of)
a bit (of) less/least
several
a great deal of no/none
a large number of
a large amount of not any
a great number of
a large quantity of some
a majority of
any
 Numbers: The cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) are adjectives referring to quantity,
and the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) refer to distribution.

| There are twenty-five people in the room.

He was the fourteenth person to win the award.
Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake.
I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.
He went to Israel for the third time this year.

Distributives: Distributive determiners refer to a group of people or things, and to individual

members of the group. They show different ways of looking at the individuals within a group,
and they express how something is distributed, shared, or divided.

| "Each" and "every" to talk about the members of a group as individuals

"All" to talk about the whole group
"Half" to talk about a divided group
"Both", "either", and "neither" to talk about pairs of people or things

Difference words: The determiners other and another refer to something different,
remaining, or additional. They are placed before a noun. The other is treated separately
because it's usage is slightly different.

Other Plural countable nouns and all uncountable nouns

Another Singular countable nouns

The other Any noun that can take the definite article "the"

Using "Other"

Other can come after the determiners some, any, and no.

| Do you have other shoes?

There are other jobs you could try.
Is there any other bread?
I have some other sugar we could use.
We have no other ideas.

If used with a plural countable noun and one of these determiners, the noun may be
omitted when it is understood from the context. In that case, other becomes plural. This
can also happen with other used by itself, but it is less common.

| Do you have any others?

I know some others who might like to come.
 There are no others in this box.
I know others like vanilla, but I prefer chocolate.
She doesn't have to wear that dress. She has others.

Using "Another"

Another is used with singular countable nouns. For uncountable nouns, another is often
used with measure words that are singular.

| Have another cookie.

Would you like another cup of tea?
He has another brother.
I don't have another car.
I'll come by another time.

Using "The Other"

If the other is modifying a plural countable noun, the noun may be omitted when it is
understood from the context. In that case, other will become plural.

| Where is the other box of cereal?

I work on the weekend and go to school on the other days of the week.
May I use the other honey for my recipe?
I enjoyed the first book but I didn't read the other books in the series.
Have you seen the others?

Pre-determiners: Pre-determiners are normally placed before an indefinite article + adjective

+ noun to express an opinion about the noun they modify. Such and what are used to express
surprise or other emotions.

| What a lovely day!

She's such a beautiful woman.
You can't imagine what an incredible meal I just ate.
I've had such a good time today!

Rather and quite are commenting words, referring to the degree of a particular quality as
expressed by the adjective that modifies the noun. They can express disappointment, pleasure,
or other emotions depending on the adjective in question. In British English, rather is used as
a pre-determiner. In American English it is only used as an adverb. The examples given below
are British English.

| It was quite a nice day.

He's had quite a bad accident.
It's rather a small car.
I've just met rather a nice man.