An Article on Articles

Something I always took lightly while growing up in the United States was the concept of articles — a, an, & the, in particular.  It seemed obvious when to use what, and I never worried much about it.   As an adult now, and as host to our (currently) fifth exchange student from South Korea, it has become apparent to me that the concept of articles is very difficult for someone from a country whose language does not have articles (or at least the same kinds of articles) that we have in English.

I have also realized this, to some extent, while learning Mandarin Chinese the past few years.  The Chinese language does not have articles as such (in fact, Mandarin doesn’t have verb conjugation, nor do they have the concept of gender in the language). I’m continually amazed at the number of people I meet who grew up in Asia and who are doing very well with English.  English is a tough language!

The problem with a, an, and the is that there is no simple rule that covers everything.  It is also not a sentence-independent concept.  That is, there are other determining factors that help dictate which article (if any) to use.

If we boil it down to three basic rules, the exceptions may still get lost but the speaker / writer will get it right most of the time.  Let’s start with that.

1.  The first time something is introduced, use an indefinite article (e.g., “a” or “an”).  Then, in subsequent references to it, use a definite article (e.g., “the”) for that same thing.

I saw a flower while I was on a walk this morning.  The flower was red.  In fact, the flower was so beautiful, I bent down to smell it.  I saw a bee on the flower.  The bee was busy, flying back and forth.  A cat walked up to me.  The cat wanted me to pet it. I didn’t pet the cat, because it’s not a good idea to try to pet strange animals.  The cat seemed friendly though.  Anyway, the flower had no odor to it.  I reached out to touch the flower, and I discovered that the flower was plastic.  Perhaps that is why the bee was so busy; the bee was trying to find pollen, but there was none.  Dejected, I reached down to pet the cat.  The cat was startled and it scratched me.  Now my hand had a wound.  The wound wasn’t bad, though.  I enjoyed the walk this morning.

In other words, sentence order may determine whether you use an indefinite article or a definite article for a particular sentence.

I saw a cow in the field. The cow was eating grass.

Compare that with the following:

A cow was eating grass.  I saw the cow in the field.

2.  When referring to something in general, the article is normally omitted.

Dogs are loyal and usually friendly.  I didn’t use an article here because I am referring to dogs in general.  Dogs come in all shapes and sizes.  I like dogs.

I have a dog.  I used “a” because I am introducing my dog.  My dog can speak Latin.  That dog is pretty amazing.  Here I am using articles because I am talking about a specific dog — my  dog — and not dogs in general.

Aunt Ruth has two dogs.  The dogs cannot speak Latin.  In fact, they can barely speak passable English.  Again, I am referring to specific dogs, not dogs in general.  Thus, I am using articles for these dogs.

3. Use a definite article (e.g., “the”) when referring to a unique thing.

The president of the neighborhood garden club, Mrs. Ditherspoon, is trying to grow a tuba in her backyard.  (Note that I referred to her as “the president” because the garden club has only one president.  I am also referring to a specific garden club.  She is not trying to grow a specific tuba; if she were, we would say “the tuba” instead of “a tuba.”)  A member of our orchestra told Mrs. Ditherspoon that she is crazy for trying to grow a tuba in her garden. (Note that I referred to this person as “a member” because the orchestra has more than one member.)

Of course, there are exceptions to these, but if the student who is struggling with articles can go from 0% right to 75% right, that’s a nice starting point.