English Articles (2)
- Nouns modified by attributes can be used with either article.
Give me a pen, please. Give me a red pen, please. (an individual object, no matter which one, out of the whole class known as “pens”/ “red pens”).
Give me the pen, please. Give me the red pen, please. (one individual and definite representative of the whole class known as “pens”/ “red pens”).
Give me a pen that will last long. Give me the pen that is on the table.
- Nouns modified by adjectives in the comparative degree can be used with both articles.
The younger woman opened the door. (the woman who was younger than the other; both have already been mentioned).
A younger woman opened the door (new woman who was younger than the one already mentioned).
Let me have the better pair of shoes.
Let me have a better pair of shoes.
- Some adverbs in the comparative degree may appear with the definite article.
So much the better.
He is none the worse for it now.
Most in the sense of “the greater part of”, “the majority” is used without an article.
Most children like animals.
Most of the guests he had invited were his wife’s colleagues.(a specific referent)
Most in the sense of “very” is used with the indefinite article before singular countables.
He is a most intelligent boy.
Least is used in some expressions either with or without the article.
He is not in the least drunk. (not at all)
He is a miser least of all. (anything but a miser)
He is a miser to say the least. (a lot of other worse things besides being a miser)
Best is used without an article in the phrase best of all and very often in at best.
I like music best of all.
Translation is at best an echo.
- Nouns modified by attributes expressed by ordinals are most often used with the definite article.
It is the first time in his life that he has told a lie.
The third soldier was walking behind.
But if the speaker wants to emphasize that the order is not completed, the ordinal acquires descriptive force and the noun is to be used with the indefinite article.
The first battle was fought and finished. But there will be a second battle, and a third battle, and battles to the end of time. (Jack London)
With dates ordinals are usually specified by the definite article: the 6th of September, the 24th of May.
- Times of day and night: There is usually no article after at, by, after and before.
At dawn/daybreak but watch the dawn
At sunrise/at subset but The sunrise was splendid. We admired the sunset.
At dusk/twilight but He could see nothing in the dusk.
At/by night but She woke up in the night.
Before morning/evening came but in the morning/evening
- Special attention should be paid to the use of some nouns denoting time with the attributes last and next.
He stayed in England four weeks. The last week (of these four) he spent in Oxford.
He came back from England three weeks ago, but I only saw him last week.
He leaves for the USA next week.
He will stay there for about a month and will be back about the first of June, but I won’t see him before the next week (after June 1).
- Seasons: The article is usually, but not always, omitted when referring to seasons generally, as distinct from referring from a particular part of a particular year.
(The) winter is coming, in (the) spring/summer/autumn.
The spring of last year was cold. The winter of 1963 was an exciting time.
- Institutions, means of transport and communication: The is sometimes used in reference to an institution of human society: the theatre, the cinema
take the bus/ the train but travel by bus/car/train
communicate by radio/ post/ telephone/ telex but a talk on the radio/ He sent it through the mail/ Jill is on the phone; the ten o’clock news, on the radio, on (the) TV
- Meals: There is usually no article, but the definite article can be used when meals need to be singled out.
Where are we having dinner tonight?
The dinner after his retirement party was quite lavish.
have breakfast
stay for brunch, cocktails
before tea
after lunch
at dinner
for supper
The indefinite article is used for a particular meal (the noun is modified by an adjective).
We had a nice dinner, just the two of us.
- With reference to parts of the body and following a preposition, the is often used instead of possessive pronouns my, your, her, etc.
Mary slapped herself on the forehead.
They pulled her by the hair.
Everyone gave us a pat on the back.
Parallel structures: There is a tendency to omit the article, even with single count nouns, where two nouns are placed together in a parallel structure:
arm in arm face to face mile upon mile day by day
hand in hand eye to eye back to back side by side
from father to son husband and wife
Fixed phrases: at home, on foot, in turn, by hand