Articles (a, an, the, Ø): More patterns of use

The article system in English is one of the most complicated and frustrating aspects of English grammar for many multilingual learners. For most teachers and learners, the introduction to articles will be sufficient in most situations. However, this chapter contains more detail for those who are interested (or required to learn this!).

There are entire books written about the English article system. One reason is that there are so many patterns (often called “rules”) that it is often difficult to know which one applies. Additionally, many uses of articles are entirely idiomatic: they’re just fixed phrases that are difficult or impossible to rationally explain. That said, here are some patterns you may find useful.

First Mention, Second Mention

Pattern: Use indefinite reference (a, an, or nothing) the first time you mention something, and then the or this for the second and future references.

Examples: I read a good book. The book contained recipes. The recipes made delicious meals.

Superlatives, Ordinals, and Positions

Pattern: Use the with a noun modified by any kind superlative (the most tickets, the best drink, the least expensive computer), ordinal (the first reason, the second finisher, the third house), and position words (the next time, the last train).

Special Five

Pattern: You’ve learned that generic reference (that is, referring to a category things not any one thing in particular) usually calls for a, an, or no article (tigers are … a portfolio is … a geologist studies … language learners are …). However, there is a curious except for five special types of nouns: plants, animals, groups of people, parts of the body, and complex inventions. For these, we can use the + singular noun for generic reference.

Examples: The lion is the king of the jungle. The bee balm plant is native to the mid-Atlantic region. The appendix is an organ with no known function. The internet connects the world.

Modes of Transportation

Pattern: Use no article when when using by + a mode of transportation rather than a specific vehicle.

Examples: I go to school by bus. We went on vacation by plane. I prefer to travel by train.

Musical Instruments

Pattern: Use the + singular noun to talk about playing music rather than a specific instrument (i.e. the one you are holding).

Example: I used to play the piano. (But we have a grand piano in the front room.)

Exception: My son is learning to play the drums (plural!).

Meals, Customs, and Institutions

Pattern: We use no article with nouns referring to meals, certain customs, and some institutions. We do use articles to refer to a specific meal, place, or activity!

Examples: The students eat lunch in the cafeteria. The lunch today is fish sticks.
My elder brother is in college / in jail.

Exception: Oddly, in American English, the institutional nouns hospital, government, and university (but not college!) require an article. In British English, they do not. So, “she’s in hospital” sounds perfectly OK in British English, but most speakers of American English prefer “she’s in the hospital.”

Diseases

Patterns: Diseases follow so many patterns that they can be hard to predict (grammatically).

Examples:

• the flu, the plague
• a cold, a migraine, a stroke, a headache, an earache, a stomachache (but a toothache and a backache in American English don’t need an article in British English!)
• measles or the measles; mumps or the mumps (this tends to be used for “folk” names for diseases)
• influenza, malaria, cancer, COVID-19, asthma, diabetes (OK, most diseases with a medical name will not take an article)

Months, Days, Seasons

Pattern: Days and months rarely take articles. With seasons, two patterns exist (in summer, in the summer).

Example: I have a class on Tuesday in November in (the) spring.

Proper Nouns Containing Common Nouns

Pattern: Proper nouns that contain common nouns typically require the (even though names don’t usually take articles): e.g, the White House, the Supreme Court, the Great Lakes.

Exceptions: Why do we say the University of Delaware but Delaware State University? With universities, it seems that the first word counts: when it’s the common noun university, we need an article; when it’s a place name, we don’t. The exception to the exception of course is the Ohio State University, which has even trade-marked the definite article THE as part of its brand!

Geography

Pattern: Although the default rule is that proper nouns do not use any articles, there are quite a lot of geographical names that take the.

Examples:

• Some countries that have multiple parts, such as states: the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates; or when the name explicitly contain nouns like kingdom or republic (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia; the People’s Republic of China, but China); and countries or places that are or sound plural (the Philippines, the Balkans, the West Indies).
• Some regions (the Mid West, the Caucasus, the North)
• Lakes and mountains usually don’t need an article except if they’re in a group or chain: the Great Lakes (but Lake Michigan), the Himalayas (but Mount Everest)
• Bodies of water generally need the: the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Mississippi River, the Erie Canal
• Deserts (the Sahara Desert)
• Flat places, like plains, plateaus, and peninsulas (even if they’re not flat – or maybe this pattern is just geographical features beginning with ‘p’?): the Great Plains, the Korean Peninsula

Most place names don’t take articles, including city names, most countries, all continents, and most bays, capes, points, parks, islands, streets, roads, and squares.

Media

Pattern: Most newspapers and some magazines (the New York Times, the Economist, the Chicago Tribune) and the BBC take a definite article.

Speeds and other ratios

Pattern: We don’t use articles with the (Latin) preposition per, as in miles per hour, pounds per square feet, times per week).

But fractions and frequencies …

Pattern: Use a with fractions and frequencies.

Examples: twice a day, half a teaspoon, a sixth, a quarter

Idiomatic article uses

After all those patterns, we still can’t explain every use of articles. Sometimes there appears to be no good reason at all, except a phrase sounds better with or without an article. The technical term for this is an idiomatic usage. The non-technical explanation is “it just is.”

• from time to time
• kept in the dark
• water under the bridge
• in a rush
• on cloud nine
• under pressure
• in trouble
• in deep water

Sources

Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book (2nd edition). Heinle/Cengage.

Cowan, The Teacher’s Grammar of English. Cambridge