Hello and welcome back to love English, I'm Leila and today I want to help you
Understand articles today. We are looking at the definite and indefinite
article the and
And if you didn't realize there's actually a fourth article
This is called zero article. That's right. There is an article for nothing
So why is it we would say the Queen went to the moon to have a lovely tea?
She got there in a Ferrari the Ferrari
Was rent quite a strange picture to paint but a really good illustration of the rules of particles
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an and
0
Article right then articles the rules now in order to help you understand the rules
I'm breaking them down into
Specific sections first we'll look at countable and uncountable nouns
Then we will look at articles in daily life
geographical features
hobbies and other
things that we use articles with now to understand the main rule for a and an the indefinite
Article you need to know what a vowel and a consonant is so in the English language, we have 26 letters
And we break those letters into two categories
vowels and consonants
now a vowel is nice and easy to remember AEIOU
AEIOU say a fast repeat it and you will remember that. Those are the vowels in English
Now, although there are five vowels. We actually have 20 bowel sounds in English
so that can get a little bit confusing but
essentially every other letter in the English language
PT are
L n
Q these are all called consonants and rule number one of articles aa
Goes with a consonant
sounds
Okay words that begin with a consonant sound but an goes with words that start with a vowel
Sound now I keep emphasizing
Sound it is not about the letter. It is about the sound it makes
Because unfortunately in English just to confuse you
There are a few words that although the letter is a vowel. The sound is actually a consonant
so, for example, we would say an umbrella an
umbrella, but
we would say a
university a university
then we have a
Umbrella, but yeah, yeah
University and in this case the year is a consonant why is not a vowel?
Sound so the reverse is also true
sometimes in English
we may have a consonant at the beginning of a word but that consonant is silent for example an
honest man not honest but honest and
Honest, man. So when you are choosing whether to use a or an
Make sure you listen carefully for the beginning sound in that word. Is it a vowel sound or is it a consonant sound?
So let's have a look at the countable and uncountable nouns because that's one of the biggest differences
Let's go through some of those rules use the indefinite a skort for a single countable noun
Mentioned for the first time then use the definite article when it is mentioned again
For example, the queen went to the moon in a Ferrari the Ferrari was read next
use the zero article for uncountable nouns
General ideas and plurals which haven't already been mentioned and are not followed by a descriptive phrase
for example
Friendship is an important part of life. Love is a complex thing. I love cats
She ate a lot of chocolate. How much water did you drink?
I drank a lot of water remember to understand the difference between countable and uncountable nouns
Remember an uncountable noun is essentially a noun that you can't count
It might be an abstract idea. It could be a liquid or
Particles that are very very floor like rice or sand
Which in English we would not try and count and if you're not sure which nouns are countable and uncountable
Make sure that you do click that subscribe button because I'll be giving you more information about that in a new lesson very soon
Next use the definite article the with a noun that is followed by a descriptive phrase
The pub that we went to was very old
I like the cats at her house. In this case. We are referring to something specific
But it is definite we know which item which thing which cats which purr but we are talking about and we give a description
of that noun to clarify
So the Queen went to the moon this is another basic rule of articles
We use as a definite article when there is only one of something when it's unique and there are no others
now, of course
we have many queens around the world but most of the time when you use the
You would understand that you are referring to the Queen in that country in which you live
so when I talk about the Queen
I am referring to Queen Elizabeth and then we use the zero article for names of people and
Races so we wouldn't say I went to the London with the Sally
You could say I went to London with a friend. We don't know which friend that is yet
So you'd use the indefinite article moving on?
using articles in daily life
Now this is one that you often get incorrect. I had a lunch I had a dinner
No, we would not use an article with lunch breakfast and dinner
Unless an adjective precedes it so an adjective comes before
The meal you could say I had a lovely lunch. I had an amazing dinner an
Amazing dinner pay attention to the vowel and consonant sounds there
But normally it is zero article before lunch breakfast and dinner unless you have an adjective before
Use zero article for general forms of transport. So with boat
Train plane. I went by plane. I went by car. I use
Trains to go to work I commute by train
We would use a zero article
But you could potentially say I took a taxi. I took a bus to work
You're not referring in general there
You're referring to one specific bus, but we don't know which bus you took I took a bus to town the bus
I took was in the number 27 use that the definite article four forms of media. I listened to the radio
I went to the cinema. We watched an amazing play at the theater. The next one is a little bit complex
Use the zero a score for an educational building a church hospital
Prison when however you are referring to the activity, which usually happens there
For example, she went to hospital when she was feeling unwell. He went to prison for committing a crime
But be careful when we are talking about these places and were actually referring to an activity happening there
That is not the normal activity not normally associated with that building then we would use
So, for example, I went to the prison to visit him
I went up the hospital to see how she was feeling
So there we've visited the places. I'm not going to prison because I've committed a crime
I'm going to visit someone I'm not going to hospital because I need an operation or I'm sick again
I'm visiting someone but otherwise, we would normally use a zero article. I went to church to pray
I went to the church to look for my friend
Use the indefinite article for jobs
I am a teacher he is an astronaut she is a secretary
He's a firefighter. These are jobs and remember again
vowel and consonant
Sounds now did you know you can take an adjective and make it a noun with the definite?
Article in this case, we would be referring to groups of people
For example the rich the poor the educated
We're taking adjectives here. And in this case, we are talking about all the people that are rich all the people that are poor
The rich are so lucky. They have everything they want whilst the poor have to suffer
So there we have a specific class or group of people now
Geographical features. Let's understand the differences here because it is a little bit confusing
We use the zero article for countries
Right all countries wrong whilst we would say England zero article
Spain zero article France zero article we don't say the Spain the England the France
when we have a collection, we would use the definite article the
USA the United States of America the UAE the United Arab Emirates the Netherlands
Plural the Maldives a group of islands or a Republic the Republic of China
But we'd say China
Hopefully you can remember that one because it's often one that people make mistakes with we use zero article
for single mountains Mount Everest Mount Kilimanjaro
But for mountain ranges we would use the the out
The Andes pay attention to my pronunciation there a quick tip for you
That is with consonants
The cat's butt thee is with vowels the Andes the animals
Oh my goodness. We're learning a lot today, aren't we? There are obviously a few exceptions that we would say at the Matterhorn
There's always an exception. Sorry guys use the definite articles for seas and oceans
the Mediterranean the Pacific the Atlantic
But for lakes, it's zero Lake Taupo, for example
and with rivers we would use over the Nile the
Amazon River the river born now and
deserts the Sahara the
something desert
deserts now for hobbies we use the definite article, but only when we are talking about musical instruments
I play the piano. He plays the guitar for sports. We use zero I play basketball
I play
golf I
Play what do I play? I'm not very good with sports actually
Football there we go. Zero article zero for sports the four musical instruments now as well
We of course use articles in grammar so that the definite article is used with superlatives
the most beautiful the best person the worst
student none of you are the worst student and
double comparatives where there is a correlation between two things
The harder you work the better
Your English will be the more you practice and the better
your pronunciation will be and we use the indefinite article when it means per
So, for example, I drove 100 miles per hour
actually more commonly we would say I drove 100 miles and
So there we have it. Those are some of the most essential rules to understand when it comes to learning articles. Ah
And the and a zero
Article now remember the most important thing to do here is to practice
So if you go down to the comment section below I have put an activity a practice activity
will you rise to complete and
fill in the gaps
Make sure that you checked the rules that you review this grammar
Because believe me you will need to do it to make sure that you understand when to use articles correctly
So click down in the comment section below
copy and paste the exercise and
When you have completed it paste it back into your comment, and I will correct your answers there. Thank you
So much for watching. I really hope this grammar lesson is going to be of some help to you and
Remember and remember the more you watch loved English the faster you will improve