How to Use Articles in English 2
June 27, 2014 Leave a comment
In our last post, How to Use Articles in English 1, we learned 3 grammar rules about articles:
Rule 1: We use a/an when referring to someone’s job or occupation.
Rule 2: We use a, an or the (or another determiner like my, your, our etc.) for singular countable things.
Rule 3: We do NOT need an article to talk about things in general, that are usually true all the time.
In this post, we look at 3 new rules NOT talked about in the last post.
Rule 4: We do not use articles for certain special places.
Examples:
- I want to go home.
- I am at university right now.
- I do not want to go to jail / prison.
- I am in bed; call me later please.
Note: Other special places include work, church & hospital, plus others.
Rule 5: We do not use articles for modes of transportation.
Examples:
- I came by bus.
- I will go by train.
- You can get there by foot.
- I went by motorcycle.
Rule 6: We do not use articles with country names, unless if the country name includes a common noun.
Examples:
- Country without common noun in name: America
- Country with common noun in name: The United States of America
- Country without common noun in name: China
- Country with common noun in name: The People’s Republic of China
For additional explanation of this rule reference our blog: Using Articles with Country Names.
Lastly,
Here is a quick summary of today’s post:
Rule 4: We do not use articles for certain special places.
Rule 5: We do not use articles for modes of transportation.
Rule 6: We do not use articles with country names, unless if the country name includes a common noun.
Like I said, there are many rules about articles, but try to remember the rules from parts 1 & 2 of How to Use Articles and you will have far fewer mistakes. That is for sure.
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By Luke
ETO American English teacher