ARTICLES AND DETERMINERS

 

ARTICLES AND DETERMINERS

Articles

Articles are the shortest and most commonly used adjectives. In English, we have two kinds of articles -Definite and Indefinite.

1.     Indefinite Articles: ‘A’ and ‘an’

‘A’ and ‘an’ indicate that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. These indefinite articles are used with singular nouns when the noun is general; the corresponding indefinite quantity word ‘some’ is used for plural general nouns. The rules are as follows:

1.       A + singular noun beginning with a consonant e.g. a rat

2.       An + singular noun beginning with a vowel e.g. an elephant

3.       A + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound e.g. a user (sounds like ‘yoo zer,’ but begins with a consonant ‘y’ sound, so ‘a’ is used)

4.       Some + plural noun: some refrigerators

It is also important to note that indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a profession, nation, or religion.

Examples:

I am a teacher.

Bushra is an Indian.

Sadhna is a practicing Buddhist.

 

2. Definite Article: the

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is particular or specific. This signifies that the noun is definite and that it refers to a particular member of a group. However, 'the' is not used with uncountable nouns referring to something in a general sense:

Butter milk is a popular drink.

Tamil was his native language.

Intelligence is difficult to quantify.

“The’ is used with uncountable nouns that are made more specific by a limiting modifying phrase or clause. Examples: The coffee in my cup is too hot to drink. (That particular coffee, which is in my cup) The Tamil he speaks is often heard in the countryside. (Particular Tamil that he speaks) The intelligence of animals is variable but undeniable. (Intelligence of animals)

The is also used when a noun refers to something unique such as, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the theory of relativity, the Dandi March etc.

 

ARTICLES

	Indefinite	Definite
Singular Form	a doctor (any doctor)   an award (any award)	the cat (that specific cat)   the award (that specific award)
Plural form	some friends (any friends)   some apples (any apples)	the dogs (those specific dogs)   the oranges (those specific oranges)

 

'Do not use 'the' before:

·         names of countries except some of them such as the Netherlands, the US, the United Kingdom, etc

·         names of cities, towns, states and streets (The Hague is an exception)

·         names of lakes and bays (Lake Chilka, Lake Mahakam) except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes

·         names of mountains (Mount Everest, Mount Fuji) except with ranges of mountains like the Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the Wular.

·         names of continents (Asia, Europe)

·         names of islands except with island chains like the Andamans.

‘Do’ use ‘the’ before:

·         names of rivers, oceans and seas (the Nile, the Pacific)

·         points on the globe (the Equator, the North Pole)

·         geographical areas (the Middle East, the East)

·         Deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas (the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest)

In addition, use of a, an, and the also depends on whether the noun following the article possesses one of these paired qualities:

1.       Countable vs. non-countable

2.       First vs. subsequent mention

3.       General vs. specific

Countable vs. Non-countable nouns

1.       A and an are used if the noun can be counted. Example: I drank a glass of water. (We can count the number of glasses.)

2.       I dived into the water. (How many waters can you dive into? The question doesn’t make any sense because water cannot be counted. Therefore, the is used.)

First vs. Subsequent Mention

A or an is used to introduce a noun when it is mentioned for the first time in a piece of writing. The is used afterward each time you mention that same noun.

Example:

An awards ceremony at the IIT would not normally have attracted so much attention. But when it was leaked that Sushmita Sen would be presenting medals to three students, interest in the ceremony intensified.

However, there is’ and ‘there are’ can be used to introduce an indefinite noun at the beginning of a paragraph or essay.

Example: There is a girl in Udaipur. She used to make beautiful paintings. But the girl often remains sad.

General vs. Specific

‘A’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ can all be used to indicate that a noun refers to the whole class to which individual countable nouns belong. This use of articles is called generic, derived from the Latin word meaning “class.”

A tiger is a dangerous animal.

The tiger is a dangerous animal. (all tigers: tiger Representing a class)

The difference between the indefinite a and an and the generic a and an is that the former means any one member of a class while the latter means all of the members of a class.

The omission of articles also expresses a generic (or general) meaning:

No article with a plural noun: Tigers are dangerous Animals. (all tigers)

No article with a non-countable noun: Anger is n destructive emotion.

Usage notes:

Definite article is used

·         When we talk about a particular person or thing (something specific).

·         When a singular noun represents the whole Genre.

·         Before the names of some countries such as the UK, the US, the Irish Republic, etc. (names that include words like republic or kingdom.) Also, the Ukraine. Names of great books and epics such as the Ramayana, the Illiad.

·         Before names of things unique of their kind such as the sun, the moon, etc. Before a common noun to give it the meaning of an abstract noun e.g., But the father in him always cared for his debauched son.

·         Before a proper noun when it is by an adjective e.g., The beautiful Cleopatra Before ordinals such as, the first king of Delhi.

·         As an adverb with comparatives. E.g. The bigger, the better.

·         Before a noun to give it the force of a superlative. Shyam is the brave man of Chandni Chowk. (i.e, Shyam is the bravest person of Chandni Chowk area.)

•         Before superlatives and musical instruments.

Indefinite article is used

·         In its numerical sense of one e.g., A pear (one pear)

·         In the vague of a certain e.g., A Rajnikant was declared the winner of the contest (a certain person named Rajnikant, not the famous actor)

·         In the sense of any, to single out an individual as the representative of a class e.g., A child should listen to his parents.

Repetition of an article

When two or more adjectives qualify the same noun, the article is used before the first adjective only, but when they qualify different nouns, expressed or understood, the article is used before each adjective. Now look at the sentences given below.

Examples:

1.       I have a black and white car. This means that I have a car that is partly black and partly white.

2.       I have a black and a white car. Now it means that I have two cars, one black and the other white.

3.       The writer and the publisher are not here. The writer and publisher is not here. Hence, we see that when two or more connected nouns refer to the same person or thing, the article is ordinarily used before the first one only; but when two or more connected nouns refer to different persons or things, the article is used before each.

4.       In expressing a comparison, if two nouns refer to the same person or thing, the article is used before the first noun only such as, Sagar is a great actor and director; Shravan is a better poet than novelist, etc. But if they refer to different persons or things the article must be used with each noun e.g., Maradona is a better footballer than an A League player.

Omission of Articles

The article is omitted in the following cases:

1. Before names of substance and abstract nouns used in a general sense, such as; Sugar is bad for your teeth; Honesty is the highest virtue.

 2. Before plural countable nouns used in general sense, such as; Girls like chocolates.

3. Before names of meals used in general sense, such as; What time do you usually have lunch?

4. Before languages

5. Before words like schools, colleges, universities, prisons, etc, i.e, places that are used for primary purposes, such as; People go to church on Sundays.

6. Before names of relations, like father, mother, brother, etc.

Determiners

A determiner is a noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase in the context, including quantity, rather than attributes expressed by adjectives. Determiners include articles, demonstratives, possessive determiners, and quantifiers. Broadly, determiners can be divided into three categories:

1. Articles, both definite and Indefinite

2. Demonstratives that are used directly to indicate a referent's spatial, temporal, or discourse location

       Examples: these, those, this and that

3. Possessives. Example my, his, her, their and Rahul's.

4. Numerical determiners or Quantifiers that include ordinals, cardinals and fraction numbers

Examples: All, five, tenth, approximately 2/3rd of the bottle, over 100 guests, etc.

Note: An article is always a determiner but it's not always necessary that a determiner is an article.

Examples: The blue pen is Sneha's. Whose pen is this?

In the first sentence 'the', which is an article is also a determiner but in the second sentence, whose is a determiner and not an article.

 

Demonstratives

Demonstratives can be used as adjectives to modify a noun.

For example, this cake is excellent; those paintings look beautiful; these girls are excellent, etc.

Demonstratives are used to state if something or someone is far or close. They have two forms singular and plural. While that and these are used to show nearness this and those signals things that are far or not near.

 

 

Quantifiers

Like articles, quantifiers are also little words that precede and modify nouns. They tell us about the quantity, how many or how much. Selecting the correct quantifier depends on the distinction between countable and non-countable nouns. Examples: many trees (count nouns)

A few trees (count nouns) little dancing (non-count nouns) a good deal of enjoying (non-count nouns)

In formal academic writing, it is to use many and much rather than phrases such as a lot of, lots of and plenty of.

There is an important difference between "a little" and "little" (used with non-countable words) and between "a few" and "few" (used with countable words).

For example, if I say that Trisha has a little experience in management.

It means that although Trisha is no great expert she does have some experience and that experience might well be enough for our purposes. But if I say that Trisha has little experience in management that means that she doesn't have enough experience.

Similarly, if I say that Simran owns a few books on Spanish literature.

That means that she has some books-not a lot of books, but probably enough for our purposes. If I say that Simran owns few books on Spanish literature, that means she doesn’t have enough for our purposes and we’d better go to the library.

Unless it is combined with of, the quantifier “much is reserved for questions and negative statements: Much of the blood was lost during the surgery.

             How much blood was lost? Not much.

Note that the quantifier “most of the must include the definite article the when it modifies a specific noun, whether it’s a count or a non-count noun: “most of the students at this college have a car”; “most of the milk has become sour.”

With a general plural noun, however (when you are not referring to a specific entity), the “of the” is dropped:

Most students apply to more than one college.