Using Articles

Articles are a kind of determiners. They go in front of nouns or noun phrases. There are two types of articles – definite article (the) and indefinite article (a/an)

Generally speaking, a singular countable noun always takes an article with it. Plural and uncountable nouns do not normally take articles unless we are talking about people or things in general.

Study the examples given below.

• I have adopted a cat. (Here the singular countable noun cat takes the article a with it.)
• Cats are adorable creatures. (No article is used because we are talking about cats in general.)

• I adopted the kittens that I found in my backyard. (We used the article the with the plural noun kittens here because we are talking about particular kittens.)

Worksheet

Fill in the blanks with an appropriate article. In some cases, no article is needed.

1. She works in ……………………. Canada.
2. She works in ………………. country in ……………….. Middle East.
3. I am tired of listening to his ………………… complaints.
4. She is ………………. chatterbox.
5. I don’t want anyone to give me ……………….. advice.
6. ……………….. parents of …………… missing boy looked distraught.
7. I want to talk to ………………….. principal.
8. She doesn’t have ……………….. job.
9. ………… age brings ……………..
10. You should see ……………… doctor.
11. What did you do with …………………. money you borrowed from me?
12. Does …………… money buy …………… happiness?
13. I am ………………. happiest person in …………….. world.
14. I went to ……………… nice restaurant yesterday.
15. …………….. restaurant where we had dinner yesterday was not very expensive.
16. I want to buy ………………….. larger house.
17. ………………… house where I live is very small.
18. I have invited all …………….. friends I have.
19. We are throwing ……………… party next week.
20. It is ………………… complicated situation to be in.

Answers

1. No article (We do normally use articles before the names of countries. There are some exceptions. Examples are: the USA, the UK and the UAE.)
2. a, the (We do not mention which country it is. Hence, we use the indefinite article (a) with it.)
3. No article (We do not normally use articles with plural nouns.)
4. a
5. No article (Advice is uncountable; we cannot use a/an with it.)
6. the, the (We are talking about particular people here.)
7. the
8. a
9. No articles
10. a
11. the (particular money)
12. No articles (We are talking about money and happiness in general.)
13. the, the (We use the with superlative adjectives.)
14. a
15. the (We are talking about a particular restaurant; hence, we use the with it.)
16. a
17. the (particular house)
18. the (particular friends)
19. a
20. a

See also

Using articles