Everything about Indefinite Article totally explained
An
article is a
word that combines with a
noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. The three main articles in the English language are
the,
an and
a. An article is sometimes called a
noun marker, although this is generally considered to be an archaic term.
It is sometimes wondered which
part of speech articles belong to. Despite much speculation, articles are not adjectives because they don't describe nouns; they just agree with them. Linguists place them in a different category, that of
determiners.
Articles can have various functions:
- A definite article (English the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group. » :The cat is on the black mat.
- An indefinite article (English a, an) is used before singular nouns that refer to any member of a group. » :A cat is a mammal.
- A partitive article indicates an indefinite quantity of a mass noun; there's no partitive article in English, though the words some or any often have that function. » :French: Voulez-vous du café ? ("Do you want some coffee?" or "Do you want coffee?")
- A zero article is the absence of an article (for example English indefinite plural), used in some languages in contrast with the presence of one. Linguists hypothesize the absence as a zero article based on the X-bar theory. » :Cats are mammals.
Logic of definite articles
In
English, a definite article is mostly used to refer to an object or person who has been previously introduced. For example:
» At last they came to a piece of rising ground, from which they plainly distinguished, sleeping on a distant mountain, a mammoth bear. . . . Then they requested the eldest to try and slip the belt over the bear's head. . . .
:—
Mark Twain,
Life on the Mississippi, appendix D
In this example, a bear becomes
the bear because a "mammoth bear" had been previously introduced into the narrative, and no other bear was involved in the story. Only previously introduced subjects like "the bear" or unique subjects, where the speaker can assume that the audience is aware of the identity of the referent (
The heart has its reasons. . . ) typically take definite articles in English.
By contrast, the indefinite article is used in situations where a new subject is being introduced, and the speaker assumes that the hearer isn't yet familiar with the subject:
» There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. . .
: — A traditional
nursery rhyme
Reflecting its historical derivation from the number word
one, the English indefinite article can only be used with singular
count nouns. For
mass nouns, or for plurals, adjectives or adjective phrases like
some or
a few substitute for it. In English,
pronouns, nouns already having another non-number
determiner, and
proper nouns usually don't use articles. Otherwise in English, unlike many other languages, singular count nouns take an article; either
a,
an, or
the. Also in English word order, articles precede any
adjectives which modify the applicable noun.
In French, the masculine definite article
le (meaning
the) is contracted with a following word if that word begins with a vowel sound. When the French words
de and
le are to be used sequentially (meaning
of the), the word
du is used instead, in addition to the above mentioned use of
du as a partitive article.
In various languages other than English, masculine and feminine forms of articles differ. Singular and plural forms of articles can also differ in other languages. Many languages don't use articles at all, and may use other ways of indicating old vs. new information, such as
topic-comment constructions.
The
The word
the is the only
definite article of the
English language.
The is the most common word in the English language.
The article
the is used in
English as the very first part of a
noun phrase. For example:
» The end of time begins now.
Here "the end of time" is a noun phrase. The use of
the signals that the reference is to a specific and unique instance of the concept (such as person, object, or idea) expressed in the noun phrase. Here, the implication is that there's one end of time, and that it has arrived.
» The time is 3:29 PM.
There are many times, but the meaning here's the time
now, of which (at the moment the sentence was produced) there's only one.
Etymology
Linguists believe that the common ancestor of the
Indo-European languages (for example, the
Proto-Indo-European language) didn't have a definite article. Most of the languages in this family don't have definite or indefinite articles; there's no article in
Latin,
Sanskrit,
Persian or in some modern Indo-European languages, especially in Slavic languages -
Russian,
Slovak and
Czech, etc (the only Slavic languages that have articles are
Bulgarian and
Macedonian) and in the Baltic languages -
Latvian,
Lithuanian and
Latgalian. Errors with the use of
the and other determiners are common in people learning English (for example, native Czech-speaker
Ivana Trump, first wife of
Donald Trump, referring to him as "the Donald"). Classical
Greek has a definite article (which happens to be very similar to the definite article in
German, but with
t instead of German
d), but
Homeric Greek did not. In the etymologies of these and many other languages, the definite article arose by a demonstrative pronoun or adjective changing its usage; compare the fate of the Latin demonstrative "ille" (meaning "that") in the
Romance languages, becoming
French le,
la,
l’, and
les,
Spanish el,
la,
lo,
los, and
las,
Italian il,
la,
lo,
l’,
i,
gli, and
le, and
Portuguese o,
os,
a, and
as.
The and
that are common developments from the same
Old English system. Old English had a definite article
se, in the masculine
gender,
seo (
feminine), and
þæt (
neuter). In
Middle English these had all
merged into
þe, the ancestor of the
Modern English word
the.
In Middle English
the (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a
þ with a small
e above it, similar to the abbreviation for
that, which was a
þ with a small
t above it. During the latter
Middle English and
Early Modern English periods, the letter
Thorn (þ) in its common script, or
cursive, form came to resemble a
y shape. As such the use of a
y with an
e above it as an abbreviation became common. This can still be seen in reprints of the 1611 edition of the
King James Version of the Bible in places such as Romans 15:29, or in the
Mayflower Compact. Note that the article was never pronounced with a
y sound, even when so written.
Reduction and omission
The article is omitted in prepositional phrases that refer to traveling to places where a change in social behaviors is required. Hence the pattern "Mary had a little lamb. ... It followed her to school one day" (rather than "to the school") is standard, as is "I'll see you in court" (rather than "in the court"). American English has fewer of these than does the language of Britain. Such phrases as "went to hospital" or "went to university" (but not "went to college") seem to Americans to be missing something. Most English speakers say "in town" but "in the city". These phrases are a matter of custom rather than following clear rule.
In fact, there's continuing debate over the use and semantics of NPs with articles. It is more customary to consider the article as 'not used' rather than 'omitted' in these cases, as claiming that something is 'omitted' is to make wider claims about the grammatical system that are far from easy to substantiate. The reason for not using an article isn't so much that a change of behaviour is required, as claimed above, but more that the NP under the scope of the article is referred to as an institution as opposed to a particular place. "I'll see you in court" for a court case as opposed to "I'll see you in the court" because this is where we're meeting next. Also, I study "at university" (institution), but left my jacket "in the university" (location). Exceptions, as usual, seem to be the rule, as for example "I went to the police station" is used in both senses.
In news headlines and informal writing, such as notes or diaries, the definite article and some other particles are often omitted, for example, "
Must pick up prescription at pharmacy today."
In some Northern England
dialects of English,
the is pronounced as [tə] (with a
dental t) or as a
glottal stop, usually written in
eye dialect as
; in some dialects it reduces to nothing. This is known as definite article reduction; see that article for further details.
In dialects that don't have /ð/ (voiced dental fricative), the is pronounced with a voiced dental plosive, as in /d̪ə/ or /d̪iː/).
Country names
In English most countries never take the definite article, but there are many that do. It is commonly used with many country names which derive from names of island groups (the Philippines), mountain ranges (the Lebanon), deserts (the Sudan), and other geographic expressions (the Netherlands). Such use is declining, but for some countries it remains common. Since the independence of Ukraine, most style guides have advised dropping the article, in part because the Ukrainian government was concerned about a similar issue involving prepositions.
The U.S. Department of State (External Link
) and CIA World Factbook (External Link) show the definite article with only two countries: The Bahamas and The Gambia.
Further Information
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