Common expressions without articles

Articles are not used in these expressions:

to school     at school     from school     to/at/from university/college to/at/in/into/from church     to/in/into/out of bed/prison/hospital to/at/from work     to/at sea     to/in/from town     at/from home for/at/to breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper     at night by car/bus/bicycle/plane/train/tube/ boat on foot     go to sleep     watch television (TV)     on TV

Possessives

A noun that is used after a possessive (like John's, America's), has no article.

• John's coat (NOT the John's coat)
• America's economic problems (NOT the America's economic problems)

Article introduces a noun and indicates how specific the noun is.
English has two articles: the definite article "the" and the indefinite article "a" (or "an").

INDEFINITE ARTICLE (A, AN)

Use a (or an) only before singular count nouns.

A (or an) means, approximately, "one." "I saw a cat" and "i saw one cat" describe the same event, but "I saw one cat" emphasizes that there was only one cat, not two.

Use the indefinite article to introduce...

1. Nonspecific, unknown nouns:

• He entered a brown building. 
• There is an apple on the tree.

2. One of a general group:

• A computer can do many things.

A / an are determiners. Determiners are words we use before a noun to show whether the noun is specific or general, singular or plural, etc.

A/an

We use a or an with singular countable nouns only. A and an are indefinite articles. We use them to talk about one of something when we assume that the listener / reader doesn't know which specific thing:

• A car drove past. (= we don't know exactly which car)

The

We use the with countable nouns (singular or plural) and uncountable nouns:

• A man is coming round to fix the television.
• Let's sit on the grass over there.

The is the definite article. We use it to talk about a specific example of something we think is known to both ourselves and the listener / reader:

• The cars were parked illegally in the city centre. (= we know which cars and which city)

THE WITH NOUNS THAT ARE ALWAYS SINGULAR

We nearly always use the with some singular nouns because we consider there is only one in existence:

• the sun the moon the Earth the air
• the ozone layer the past the future the countryside
• the EU the UN the seaside the world
• the Vietnam War the presidency the Government

This category also includes superlatives because there is usually only one thing or group that is superlative:

• He's the best accountant in town.
• It's one of the noisiest bars in town.

Logic is not always a reliable guide. We talk about the atmosphere and the environment. But we usually think of nature in a general sense and so omit the. Although we talk about the universe, we consider space as infinite and we use it without the:

• The oldest man in the space was John Glenn

When do we say "the dog" and when do we say "a dog"? (On this page we talk only about singular, countable nouns.)

The and a/an are called "articles". We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" like this:

We use "definite" to mean sure, certain. "Definite" is particular.

We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is general.

1. What are articles?

Articles are small words that are often used at the beginning of noun phrases. There are two: the (the 'definite article') and a/an (the 'indefinite article'). They belong to a group of words called 'determiners'.

2. What are articles used for?

Articles can show whether we are talking about things that are known both to the speaker/writer and to the listener/reader (‘definite'), or that are not known to them both ('indefinite').

3. How much do articles matter?

The correct use of the articles is one of the most difficult points in English grammar. Fortunately, most article mistakes do not matter too much. Even if we leave all the articles out of a sentence, it can usually be understood.

Please can you lend me pound of butter till end of week?

However, it is better to use the articles correctly if possible.