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What and why?

In English, an article is a little word that goes before a noun1. There are two kinds:

  • Definite: the

  • Indefinite: a / an

In English, articles tell the reader whether or not they already know about a thing. If you’re writing about an alien, does your reader know which alien you’re referring to? Is the alien you’ve been describing for the last six paragraphs, or some new alien that they’re going to learn about now?

Articles answer that question.

Most skilled English speakers use articles instinctively, having internalized a complex set of rules and exceptions. But they can rarely explain those rules, which is a problem if you don’t already know them. You can learn by experience, but it’s a slow process.

This lesson will start from zero and teach you some rules for using articles. They’re not complete or perfect rules, but they can help you improve your writing.

1. A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing.

A bit of history

English is an Indo-European language, one of a family that includes many languages originating in (surprisingly) India and Europe.

Very few non Indo-European languages use articles. Even within the Indo-European family, articles are not universal. The common parent language didn’t have them. Many of the child languages developed articles after the family drifted apart, but some didn’t.

But those languages that did end up with articles didn’t just make them up. They adapted other words to this new purpose. And knowing what words turned into articles can help you to understand them.

Definite: the

Images of Julius Caesar and Choleric the Goth from the Asterix series of comics

Generally speaking, languages turned words for this and that into their versions of the definite article the:

  • Latin-based languages adapted that/those (ille, illa, illum)

  • Descendants of proto-Germanic used this/these (se, seo, þæt)

This/these and that/those are called demonstratives. Demonstratives tell the audience three things:

  • That the speaker is referring to a specific thing (or several specific things).

  • What quantitiy the speaker is talking about: one thing or more than one.

  • What the location of the specific thing(s) is relative to the speaker (near or far).

Turning a demonstrative into the strips away information about location and (in English) quantity. All that’s left is that there’s something (or things) specific, something the speaker can point to, at least metaphorically.

Indefinite: a and an

Image of the card game 'Uno and friends'.

If the definite article the is this/these or that/those minus location, then a and an are the without specificity. This is why they’re called indefinite articles.

OK, you ask, but what’s left?

First of all, there’s quantity: a and an are always singular. But more significanty, the indefinite article tells you that the speaker can’t point at what they’re talking about, and you’re not expected to either.

Fittingly, many European languages use an unstressed version of the word one to mean a.

Fake it till you make it

Flowchart for using the, a, an, and none of them at all in English.

Instead of the complex interplay of subtle rules, this lesson uses a flowchart to guide you to the appropriate article: the, a, an, or nothing at all. The text that follows discusses each decision point in turn.

This is an imperfect solution, but it’s more usable than an instinct that you don’t have or rules you can’t understand.

Note that although MyTh? PLANS? is at the top, the discussion of that decision point comes last. These are exceptions to the rules, and they’ll make more sense once you know the rules themselves.

Specific?

Flowchart, highlighting 'Specific?'.

The first test is specificity. Something is specific when the audience knows which one you’re talking about. To put it another way, can the reader point to it? If they can, and if it doesn’t fall into the exceptions at the top of the flowchart, you can use the.

OK, but you’re not a mind reader! How do you know what your audience knows?

Like everything in language, specificity is a shared understanding between the writer and the reader. You can use a few tests to determine whether your reader should be able to point to what you’re writing about.

There’s only one

A picture of outer space.

Your audience will be able to point to something if there’s only one of it. If it’s unique, it’s definitely specific. But very few things are completely unique in the entire universe.

That’s OK, because for writing, uniqueness depends on scope. The question isn’t what’s unique in the entire universe. It’s just what’s unique in the context within which you’re writing.

So to understand specificity, you have to think about scope. A few notes:

  • The English language actually assumes a scope of the world rather than the universe. When the language evolved, people didn’t know there were other planets. So it’s assumed that there’s only one sky and one ground, unless you’re being poetic or explicitly writing about other worlds.

  • Geography and culture create their own scopes. If were to say "the king" in Amsterdam, I probably mean Willem-Alexander. If I say it in London, people will assume I mean Charles III. And if say it in in Las Vegas, it’s Elvis. Each place has its own king who needs no explanation.

  • Writing creates its own scopes:

    • The whole body of work is a scope.

    • The whole document is a scope.

    • Each individual section is a scope.

  • Every thing you write about has its own inherent scope. So you have to think about uniqueness within the scope of that item.

    • For example, a car has only one speed at any given time. So if you know what car we’re talking about (scope), and we assume we’re talking about the present (more scope), its speed is unique. Specific.

    • Likewise, if a function call takes only one string, that string is specific in the scope of the call. If your readers know which function you’re discussing, they can point to the only string it takes.

There are many, but this is mine

Dog with a rock on its nose and the caption 'This is my rock. There are many like it but this one is mine.'

Sometimes there’s more than one of the same thing in scope. But then you choose one and point it out to your audience. It’s like walking up to a car in a parking lot and saying "this is my car".

Once it’s been introduced, it becomes specific, because it’s the one that’s been pointed out.

Common ways that things go from nonspecific to specific in writing:

  • Referring to them with a immediately beforehand: A man walked down the street. No the audience knows which man, so you can go on with The man doesn’t speak the local language.

  • Starting the discussion of them with phrases such as there is or there are: There is a house in New Orleans. The house has a bad reputation.

It’s a specific group

Dark and light Lewis chessmen

A group of things can also be specific.

You can determine if a group is specific by thinking about what’s in them and what’s out of it. Instead of pointing at one thing, you’re drawing a circle around a defined group of things. If your reader can tell the difference between what’s in and what’s out of the group, then the group as a whole is specific.

She set up her chess pieces. The figurines felt cool in her hands. The coffin contained dirt from Dracula’s castle. The dirt smelled like bitter almonds.

Ask yourself whether your readers can identify:

  • What is in the group you’re talking about:

    • Her chess pieces

    • Dirt from Dracula’s castle

  • What otherwise similar items are not in the group:

    • Her opponent’s chess pieces

    • Dirt from the garden center

If your readers can, then it’s a specific group and you can use the about the items in it.

Specific: the

Part of 'The Creation of Man' by Michelangelo.

If it’s specific, if your audience can point to it, draw a circle around it, or identify what is and isn’t included, use the.

If it’s not specific, keep testing.

Non-specific

'The Son of Man' painting by René Magritte.

What does it mean if something is not specific?

It doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, or that your audience isn’t aware of it.

It means that your audience can’t differentiate it from similar things, pick it out of a crowd, or tell which items are in or out of its group. In other words, they can’t point to it or draw a line around it. But they can still talk about it.

Countable?

Flowchart, highlighting 'Countable?'.

The next question is are you talking about something that people can count?

In English, only certain kinds of things can be counted. Other things, often abstract ideas (or things English treats like abstract ideas), are not countable.

Countable

Picture of Captain Kirk with multiple tribbles.

Countable nouns are:

  • Things that can be counted ← tribble

  • A countable amount of an uncountable thing ← coffee in the sense of cup of coffee

You can test whether a noun is countable by seeing if it has a singular and a plural (tribble/tribbles, coffee/coffees)1. Or you can try counting it.

1. English does have a few nouns that use the same word for singular and plural, such as fish and sheep. But they’re still countable. Sheep, in particular, are famously countable, though the process is famously boring.

Uncountable

Composite image of a drawing of a lightbulb, a section of the Periodic Table of the Elements, a photo of a body of water, and a photo of a pile of grain

Not all nouns are countable. Uncountable nouns range from abstractions to collections of things can’t be divided into easily-counted elements. The classes of thing blur into each other:

  • Ideas and concepts ← thought

  • Elements and substances ← silver

  • Liquids and gases ← water

  • Solids whose components are too small to count, so they’re treated like liquids ← wheat

To get historical, these things are grouped together because science (the realm of elements, liquids, and gases) comes from natural philosophy (the realm of ideas and concepts). It all still blends together, and grammar reflects that.

Non-specific, uncountable: —

Image of Count von Count from Sesame Street with an X over him

If a noun is:

  • Non-specific (so you can’t use the)

  • Not countable (so you can’t use a or an because they come from the number one)

…​then don’t use any articles before it.

If it is countable, keep testing.

Singular?

Flowchart, highlighting 'Singular?'.

So if a thing is countable, the next thing to do is count it. You don’t even have to count that high; if you get past one you have your answer.

Non-specific, plural: —

Image of 'Irises' by Vincent van Gogh

If you counted your non-specific item and you got past one, you’ve established that:

  • Its non-specific nature means you can’t use the.

  • The fact that there’s more than one means you can’t use words derived from one such as a or an.

This means that you don’t use an article.

Note
 In the messy way of languages, this is the same as if the noun was uncountable. For example, if you’re talking about "irises", but can’t explain which irises you’re talking about, how is that different than discussing the abstract, uncountable idea of irises?

If you only have one non-specific item, go on to the last test.

Vowel sound?

Flowchart, highlighting 'Vowel sound?'.

If you’ve gotten this far in the flowchart, you know that your noun is:

  • Non-specific

  • Countable

  • Singular

That means it can take the indefinite article, the thing descended from the word one. Your last decision is between a and an.

Many people think that that if a word (or acronym1 or initialism2) begins with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U), it takes an. If it begins with a consonant (anything else), it takes an.

That’s almost true. But really, the rule is:

If a word (or acronym1 or initialism2) begins with the sound of a vowel (A, E, I, O, U), it takes an. If it begins with a the sound of a consonant (anything else), it takes a. The choice depends not on how the word is spelled, but how it’s pronounced. (This means you need to know how English, a language with some of the weirdest spelling in the world, is pronounced.)

1. A multi-word term whose first letters are pronounced like a word on their own. For example, laser, which stands for light amplification by simulated emission of radiation.
2. A multi-word term where the names of the first letters are said one after another. For example, URL, uniform resource locator.

Vowel rules

If English pronunciation is still a mystery to you, here’s a table that explains whether to use a or an. You do still need to test things that start with H and U on a case-by-case basis.

Word type A AN

Words and acronyms

Starting with consonants1 except H
Starting with H where the H is voiced: hat
Starting with U where the first sound is "you": universe

Starting with A, E, I, O
Starting with H where the H is silent: honor
Starting with U where the first sound is "uh": umbrella

Initialisms

First letters whose names start with a consonant sound:
B, C, D, G, J, K, P, Q, T, U, V, W, Y, Z

First letters whose names start with a vowel sound:
A, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, O, R, S, X

1. All letters except A, E, I, O, and U, which are called vowels.

Exceptions

Flowchart, highlighting 'MyTh? PLANS?'.

Sadly, following a flowchart won’t always save you from the weirdness of English articles. There are exceptions to the rules.1 These exceptions fall into two basic categories:

  • Extra words before the noun that take the place of the, a, and an. ← MyTh

  • Classes of noun that just don’t take articles at all. ← PLANS

Time to discuss them.

1. There are also exceptions to the exceptions. And so on.

MyTh?

Picture of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, pointing at the viewer

There are some words that, when they come before a noun, take the place of any articles. The two main classes of them are:

  • Possessives: Words that indicate who the thing belongs to. My Precious, your ring, Bilbo’s sword, etc.

  • Demonstratives: This gold, that diamond, these rubies. This makes sense, as the is descended from demonstratives.

PLANS?

The word PLANS in an architectural font

There are a lot of categories of noun that simply don’t take articles. Some of them are things that English treats like abstract concepts. And some of them are just language being weird and picky.

P

Places people live

Countries, states, provinces, cities, streets.
Not: Geographical features, which are complicated
Except when the is part of the official name: The Hague, The United States of America, The Netherlands.

L

Languages

English treats these like abstract concepts.

A

Academic subjects

English treats these as abstract concepts.

N

Names and nicknames

Unless the is part of the name: Captain America, but The Hulk.

S

Sports

English treats these as abstract concepts.

There are more exceptions than these. You can find more information with searches such as "articles grammar".

Exceptions: —

Image of David Bowie with his finger over his lips

If your noun is one of these exceptions, don’t use an article.

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