In English, we've
got these little words, the, a, they're called articles. We use them all the time.
But sometimes we don't use them. That's called
the zero article. Here are nine things you need to remember about the zero article.
Knowing when not to use articles is really important. Let's take a look at number one.
Number one, don't use articles with companies. She works at Google. She works at Hyundai. she
works at Canon. So I work at E2, I don't work at the E2. Number two, don't use articles with
names of universities. He studies at Harvard. He studies at Oxford, he studies at UCLA.
Now, there are some exceptions here. We have a lot of universities like the University of Texas,
the University of Melbourne, or the University of British Columbia. So if you've got the word
University at the beginning of the name, then yes, you will include 'the'. Number three,
don't use articles with religions. She practices Islam. She practices Buddhism,
she practices Christianity. Now, I know what you're thinking, how am I going to remember
all these rules? Well, you will have to practice. And to help with that. We're
providing you with a downloadable that you can get down below. The downloadable PDF
covers everything we talked about in this video, and gives you some practice activities as well.
Number four, don't use articles with languages. I want to learn English.
I want to learn French. I want to learn Swahili. Now, I know some of you might be thinking,
Well, I'm sure I've heard 'the' with languages before. Yes, there are exceptions. There are
always exceptions. The rules are not 100%. So as an example, the English spoken in
Canada is different from the English spoken in South Africa. The main rule that we're looking at
here is that if you make a general statement about something, don't use an article, for example,
books are interesting. I like history books. Have you read books about Japanese history?
Or snow is cold. I don't like snow. I don't know why some people like snow.
So here we're using the article to talk about broad general statements about things. Books
are interesting. I like reading books, not 'the book I'm reading now', or the book I read
last month. Number five, don't use articles with the names of countries or continents.
I went to England, I want to visit Asia. There are exceptions here. We do say the Netherlands, the
United States and the Philippines, for example. Number six, don't use articles with streets,
suburbs, cities and states. Sunset Boulevard is in West Hollywood, in Los Angeles in California.
Cool, but what about mountains and lakes. These are places with names too. Well, they also don't
take articles. Number seven. Don't use articles with names of mountains, lakes, or islands.
Mount Everest is located near Lake gokyo, which is very far from Fraser Island. Let's take a look at
number eight. Number eight. Don't use articles with medical conditions. My uncle has diabetes.
I have asthma. He has heart disease. Now of course I know some of you are already thinking
what about the flu or a cold? And that is correct. We use articles when we say he has the flu
or she has a cold. Number nine. Don't use articles with some times. Meet me on Sunday
at 8pm. I'll see you Next Wednesday. Now if you're going to use specific dates,
you might say something like the 16th of October or the 22nd of April. So let's recap.
We don't use articles with companies, universities,
religions, languages, countries and continents, streets, suburbs, cities and states,
mountains, lakes and islands, medical conditions and some times.
Thanks, everybody. That's all for today. Please keep an eye out for more videos from E2 to and
don't forget to grab the downloadable PDF in the description below and we'll see you next time.