ABONE OL
English Grammar: The three articles in English are a, an and the. The learner has to decide noun-by-noun which one of the articles to use. In fact, there are four choices to make, because sometimes no article is necessary. Please note that the first step in choosing the correct article is to categorize the noun as countable or uncountable in its context.
English Grammar: Countable and Uncountable
A noun can be countable or uncountable:
Countable
- I eat a banana everyday.
- I like bananas.
Banana is a countable noun. A countable noun can be singular (banana) or plural (bananas). We can use numbers with countable nouns. So we can say ‘one banana’, ‘two bananas’ etc. Examples of nouns usually countable:
- Kate was singing a song.
- There’s a nice beach near here.
- Do yu have a ten-pound note?
- It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident.
- There are no batteries in the radio.
- We haven’t got enough cups.
Uncountable
- I eat rice everyday.
- I like rice.
Rice is an uncountable noun. An uncountable noun has only one form (rice). We cannot use numbers with uncountable nouns. We cannot say ‘one rice’, ‘two rice’ etc. Examples of nouns usually uncountable:
- Kate was listening to (some) music.
- There’s sand in my shoes.
- Do you have any money?
- It wasn’t your fault. It was bad luck.
- There is no electricity in this house.
- We haven’t got enough water.
A/an and the
Study this example:
- Joe: I had a sandwich and an apple for lunch. -> Joe says ‘a sandwich’, ‘an apple’ because this is the first time he talks about them.
- Joe: The sandwich wasn’t very good, but the apple was nice. -> Joe now says ‘the sandwich’, ‘the apple’ because Karen knows which sandwich and which apple he means – the sandwich and the apple that he had for lunch.
Compare a and the in these examples.
- A man and a woman were sitting opposite me. The man was American , but I think the woman was British.
- When we were on holiday, we stayed at a hotel. Sometimes we ate at the hotel and sometimes we went to a restaurant.