Use of Articles “a”, “an”, “the”
Posted: 16 October 2008 05:29 AM   [ Ignore ]  
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The Persian language doesn’t have articles, so making the transition to English poses problems.

Here are some articles on articles for your reference:

Wikipedia on Indefinite Articles:

A summary: 

Old/New information dichotomy:
“a” and “an” refer to a topic that is just now being introduced (new information), while “the” refers to something we already know about or were told about (old information).  E.g.,:  There once was a bear.  The bear was nice.

Noun type

Reflecting its historical derivation from the number word one, the English indefinite article can only be used with singular count nouns.

For mass nouns, or for plurals, adjectives or adjective phrases like some or a few substitute for it.

In English, pronouns, nouns already having another non-number determiner, and proper nouns usually do not use articles.

Otherwise in English, unlike many other languages, singular count nouns take an article; either a, an, or the.[4]

Also in English word order, articles precede any adjectives which modify the applicable noun

Additional distinctions:
Institutional vs. locational use.

I’ll see you in court.

vs.

I left my jacket in the court.

Geographical use:

In English most cities and countries never take the definite article, but there are many that do. It is commonly used with many country names which derive from names of island groups (the Philippines), island groups, mountain ranges (the Lebanon), deserts (the Sudan), seas, rivers and geographic regions (the Middle East)

[ Edited: 16 October 2008 05:31 AM by Rezwan]
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Posted: 16 October 2008 05:38 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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Here’s another article on articles that I found useful: 

Articles

“a” and “an”

A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before:-

For example:
“I saw an elephant this morning.”
“I ate a banana for lunch.”

A and an are also used when talking about your profession:-

For example:
“I am an English teacher.”
“I am a builder.”

Check out the article for tips on the use of “the”.

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