English indefinite article

The articles in English are the definite article ''the'' and the indefinite articles '' a'' and ''an''. The definite article is used when the speaker believes that the listener knows the identity of the noun's referent (because it is obvious, because it is common knowledge, or because it was mentioned in the same sentence or an earlier sentence). The indefinite article is used when the speaker believes that the listener does not have to be told the identity of the referent. No article is used in some noun phrases.

English grammar requires that, in most cases, a singular, countable noun phrase start with a determiner. For example, ''I have a box'' is OK, but *''I have box'' is not. The most common determiners are the articles ''the'' and ''a''(''n''), which specify the presence or absence of definiteness of the noun. Other possible determiners include words like ''this'', ''my'', ''each'' and ''many''. There are also cases where no determiner is required, as in the sentence ''John likes fast cars'', where neither ''John'' nor ''fast cars'' includes a determiner.

The definite article ''the'' is used when the referent of the noun phrase is assumed to be unique or known from the context. For example, In the sentence ''The boy with glasses was looking at the moon'', it is assumed that in the context the reference can only be to one boy and one moon. However, the definite article is ''not'' used:
*with generic nouns ( plural or uncountable): ''cars have accelerators'', ''happiness is contagious'', referring to cars in general and happiness in general (compare ''the happiness I felt yesterday'', specifying particular happiness);
*with most proper names: ''John'', ''France'', ''London'', etc.

The indefinite article ''a'' (before a consonant sound) or ''an'' (before a vowel sound) is used only with singular, countable nouns. It indicates that the referent of the noun phrase is one unspecified member of a class. For example, the sentence ''An ugly man was smoking a pipe'' does not specify the identity of the ugly man or pipe.

When referring to a particular date, the definite article ''the'' is typically used.
*''He was born on the 10th of May.''
When referring to a day of the week, the indefinite article "a" or definite article "the" may be used, following the same guidelines of generality versus specificity.
*''He was born on a Thursday.''
*''He was born on the Monday before Thanksgiving.''

No article is used with plural or uncountable nouns when the referent is indefinite (just as in the generic definite case described above). However, in such situations, the determiner ''some'' is often added (or ''any'' in negative contexts and in many questions). For example:
*''There are apples in the kitchen'' or ''There are some apples in the kitchen'';
*''We do not have information'' or ''We do not have any information'';
*''Would you like tea?'' or ''Would you like some tea?'' and ''Would you like any tea?'' or ''Would you like some good tea?''

Additionally, articles are not normally used:
* in noun phrases that contain other determiners (''my house'', ''this cat'', ''America's history''), although one can combine articles with certain other determiners, as in ''the many issues'', ''such a child'' (see ).
* with pronouns (''he'', ''nobody''), although again certain combinations are possible (as ''the one'', ''the many'', ''the few'').
* preceding noun phrases consisting of a clause or infinitive phrase (''what you've done is very good'', ''to surrender is to die'').

If it is required to be concise, e.g. in headlines, signs, labels, and notes, articles are often omitted along with certain other function words. For example, rather than ''The mayor was attacked'', a newspaper headline might say just ''Mayor attacked''.

For more information on article usage, see the sections and below. For more cases where no article is used, see Zero article in English.

Word order

In most cases, the article is the first word of its noun phrase, preceding all other adjectives and modifiers.
* 'The little old red bag''''held'' 'a very big surprise''

There are a few exceptions, however:
*Certain determiners, such as ''all'', ''both'', ''half'', ''double'', precede the definite article when used in combination (''all the team'', ''both the girls'', ''half the time'', ''double the amount'').
*The determiner ''such'' and exclamative ''what'' precede the indefinite article (''such an idiot'', ''what a day!'').
*Adjectives qualified by ''too'', ''so'', ''as'' and ''how'' generally precede the indefinite article: ''too great a loss'', ''so hard a problem'', ''as delicious an apple as I have ever tasted'', ''I know how pretty a girl she is''.
*When adjectives are qualified by ''quite'' (particularly when it means "fairly"), the word ''quite'' (but not the adjective itself) often precedes the indefinite article: ''quite a long letter''.

See also and Determiners and adjectives.

Definite article

The only definite article in English is the word ''the'', denoting person(s) or thing(s) already mentioned, under discussion, implied, or otherwise presumed familiar to the listener or reader. ''The'' is the most commonly used word in the English language, accounting for 7% of all words used.

"The" can be used with both singular and plural nouns, with nouns of any gender, and with nouns that start with any letter. This is different from many other languages which have different articles for different genders and/or numbers.

Abbreviations for "the" and "that"

Since "the" is one of the most frequently used words in English, at various times short abbreviations for it have been found:

*Barred thorn: the earliest abbreviation, it is used in manuscripts in the Old English language. It is the letter þ, with a bold horizontal stroke through the ascender, and it represents the word ''þæt'', meaning "the" or "that" (neuter nom. / acc.)
*þͤ and þͭ (þ with a superscript ''e'' or ''t'') appear in Middle English manuscripts for "þe" and "þat" respectively.
*yͤ and yͭ are developed from ''þͤ'' and ''þͭ'' and appear in Early Modern manuscripts and in print (see ''Ye'' form below).

Occasional proposals have been made by individuals for an abbreviation. In 1916, Legros & Grant included in their classic printers' handbook ''Typographical Printing-Surfaces'', a proposal for a letter similar to Ħ to represent "Th", thus abbreviating "the" to ħe. Why they did not propose reintroducing to the English language "''þ''", for which blocks were already available for use in Icelandic texts, or the ''yͤ'' form is unknown.

''Ye'' form

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. With the arrival of movable type printing, the substitution of for became ubiquitous, leading to the common "''ye''", as in ' Ye Olde Curiositie Shoppe'. One major reason for this was that existed in the printer's types that William Caxton and his contemporaries imported from Belgium and the Netherlands, while did not. As a result, the use of a ''y'' with an ''e'' above it () as an abbreviation became common. It 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. Historically, the article was never pronounced with a ''y'' sound even when it was so written.

Indefinite article

The indefinite article of English takes the two forms: ''a'' and ''an''. Semantically, they can be regarded as meaning "one", usually without emphasis. They can be used only with singular countable nouns; for the possible use of ''some'' (or ''any'') as an equivalent with plural and uncountable nouns, see Use of ''some'' below.

Etymology

''An'' is the older form (related to ''one'', which it also predates, cognate to Dutch een, German '' ein'', Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (), Old Norse '' einn'', etc.). The Old English word ''ān'' was derived from Proto-West Germanic ''*ain'', which was derived from Proto-Germanic ''*ainaz''. All of these words descended from Proto-Indo-European ''*óynos'', meaning "single".

Distinction between ''a'' and ''an''

The of the original Old English indefinite article ''ān'' got gradually assimilated before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century. Before vowels, the survived into Modern English.

Currently, the form ''an'' is used before words starting with a vowel sound, regardless of whether the word begins with a vowel letter.How to Use Articles (a/an/the) – The OWL at Purdue
/ref> Where the next word begins with a consonant sound, ''a'' is used. Examples: ''a box''; ''an apple''; ''an SSO'' (pronounced "es-es-oh"); ''an MP3'' (pronounced "em-pee-three"); ''a HEPA filter'' (here, HEPA is an acronym, a series of letters pronounced as a word rather than as individual letters); ''an hour'' (the ''h'' is silent); ''a one-armed bandit'' (pronounced "won..."); ''an $80 fee'' (read "an eighty-dollar fee"); ''an herb'' in American English (where the ''h'' is silent), but ''a herb'' in British English; ''a unionized worker'' but ''an un-ionized particle''. Before words beginning with , ''an'' was formerly widespread, e.g. ''an unicorn'', ''an eulogy'', but has largely been superseded by ''a'' since the 19th century.

In older loan words of Latin or Greek provenance, initial ''h'' used to be silent in general, thus the use of ''an'' before such words was common and has survived to some extent to recent times even when the ''h'' has been restored in pronunciation. Some speakers and writers use ''an'' before a word beginning with the sound in an unstressed syllable: ''an historical novel'', ''an hotel''. However, this usage is now less common.

Some dialects, particularly in England (such as Cockney), silence many or all initial ''h'' sounds ( h-dropping), and so employ ''an'' in situations where it would not be used in the standard language, like ''an 'elmet'' (standard English: ''a helmet'').

There used to be a distinction analogous to that between ''a'' and ''an'' for the possessive determiners ''my'' and ''thy'', which became ''mine'' and ''thine'' before a vowel, as in ''mine eyes''.

In other languages

Other more or less analogous cases in different languages include the Yiddish articles "a" () and "an" () (used in essentially the same manner as the English ones), the Hungarian articles ''a'' and ''az'' (used the same way, except that they are definite articles; juncture loss, as described below, has occurred in that language too), and the privative ''a-'' and ''an-'' prefixes, meaning "not" or "without", in Greek and Sanskrit.

Pronunciation

Both ''a'' and ''an'' are usually pronounced with a schwa: , . However, when stressed (which is rare in ordinary speech), they are normally pronounced respectively as (to rhyme with ''day'') and or (to rhyme with ''pan''). See Weak and strong forms in English.

Usage

The principles for use of the indefinite article are given above under .

In addition to serving as an article, ''a'' and ''an'' are also used to express a proportional relationship, such as "a dollar a day" or "$150 an ounce" or "A sweet a day helps you work, rest and play", although historically this use of "a" and "an" does not come from the same word as the articles.

Juncture loss

In a process called juncture loss, the ''n'' has wandered back and forth between the indefinite article and words beginning with vowels over the history of the language, where for example what was once ''a nuncle'' is now ''an uncle''. One example is the text "smot hym on the hede with ''a nege'' tool" from 1448 in the '' Paston Letters'', meaning "smote him on the head with ''an edge'' tool". Other examples include ''a nox'' for ''an ox'' and ''a napple'' for ''an apple''. Sometimes the change has been permanent. For example, ''a newt'' was once ''an ewt'', ''a nickname'' was once ''an ekename'', where ''eke'' means "extra" (as in ''eke out'' meaning "add to"), and in the other direction, ''a napron'' (meaning a little tablecloth, related to the word ''napkin'') became ''an apron'', and ''a nadder'' became ''an adder''. The initial ''n'' in orange was also dropped through juncture loss, but this happened before the word was borrowed into English.

Use of ''some''

The existential determinative (or determiner) ''some'' is sometimes used as a functional equivalent of ''a(n)'' with plural and uncountable nouns (also called a partitive). For example, ''Give me some apples'', ''Give me some water'' (equivalent to the singular countable forms ''an apple'' and ''a glass of water''). Grammatically this ''some'' is not required; it is also possible to use zero article: ''Give me apples'', ''Give me water''. The use of ''some'' in such cases implies some limited quantity. (Compare the forms ''unos/unas'' in Spanish, which are the plural of the indefinite article ''un/una''.)
Like the articles, ''some'' belongs to the class of "central determiners", which are mutually exclusive (so "the some boys" is ungrammatical).

The contrasting use of ''any'' in negative clauses proves that ''some'' is polarity-sensitive, and occurs in positive clauses: "I have ''some'' objections to make", vs. "I don't have ''any'' objections to make"; "I have ''any'' objections to make" and "I don't have ''some'' objections to make" are ungrammatical.

''Some'' can also have a more emphatic meaning: "some but not others" or "some but not many". For example, ''some people like football, while others prefer rugby'', or ''I've got some money, but not enough to lend you any''. It can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, not qualifying a noun at all (''Give me some!'') or followed by a prepositional phrase (''I want some of your vodka''); the same applies to ''any''.

''Some'' can also be used with singular countable nouns, as in ''There is some person on the porch'', which implies that the identity of the person is unknown to the speaker (which is not necessarily the case when ''a(n)'' is used). This usage is fairly informal, although singular countable ''some'' can also be found in formal contexts: ''We seek some value of x such that...''

When ''some'' is used just as an indefinite article, it is normally pronounced weakly, as . In other meanings, it is pronounced .

Effect on alphabetical order

In sorting titles and phrases alphabetically, articles are usually excluded from consideration, since being so common makes them more of a hindrance than a help in finding the desired item. For example, ''The Comedy of Errors'' is alphabetized before ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', because ''the'' and ''a'' are ignored and ''comedy'' alphabetizes before ''midsummer''. In an index, the former work might be written "Comedy of Errors, The", with the article moved to the end.

In West Country English

Speakers of West Country English may use articles in certain environments where speakers of Standard English would not. Non-standard uses occur for example with diseases (''the chicken pox'', ''the arthritis''), quantifying expressions (''the both'', ''the most''), holidays (''the Christmas''), geographical units and institutions (''the church'', ''the county Devon''), etc. The indefinite article, on the other hand, often occurs as ''a'' also before vowels.

See also

* False title

References

External links

Vietnamese learners mastering english articles"The Definite Article: Acknowledging 'The' in Index Entries"
Glenda Browne, The Indexer, vol. 22, no. 3 April 2001, pp. 119–22.
Low MH 2005: "The Phenomenon of the Word THE in English — discourse functions and distribution patterns"
— a dissertation that surveys the use of the word 'the' in English text.

When Do You Use Articles: A, An, The

articles web training tool
{{in lang, en

Etymology of the word ''the'' on the Online Etymology Dictionary

Mastering A, An, The: English Articles Solved

Exercise to practice ''a'', ''an'' and ''the'' on texts taken from the corpus of English novels
Articles