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Fernando Abdul Saide

Zero Articles

Unirovuma
Cabo Delgado Extension
Montepuez
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Fernando Abdul Saide

Zero Articles

Scientific work in Chair of English

presented to the, to the Department of
Sciences, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics, in the Degree
Course in Mathematics Teaching with
Qualifications in Physics Teaching
year II, first semester, under the
guidance of the:

MA. Costa Alberto Rui

Unirovuma
Cabo Delgado Extension
Montepuez 2023
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4

What are articles? ........................................................................................................................5

The zerom articles......................................................................................................................5

The use of Zero Articles............................................................................................................5

Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8

Bibliographic References...........................................................................................................9
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Introduction

Of the three members of the English article system, the zero articles occurs the most
frequently. It has a considerable range of implications, especially with singular countable
nouns, yet little attention has been paid to zero article usage.

The zero article appears when a noun is used without the, a/an.

General Objective

 Describe the zero articles

Specific Objective

 Identify, mention, describe and characterize Articles.

 Identify usage of zero articles.
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What are articles?

An article is a word that precedes (goes before) a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing

There are three types of article to choose from – a, an and the ‘A’ and ‘an’ are called
indefinite articles ‘The’ is called the definite article Where no article is used, it is sometimes
referred to as the ‘zero’ article

When to use articles

If you can count the noun that you are referring to (e.g. one manager, two managers) and if
you are using it in the singular form (referring to just one thing), you need to use an article.
For example: a manager an act of parliament the European Union.

No article (the zero articles Ø)

When a noun is not preceded by a definite article (the) or indefinite article (a, an), we use zero
article.

The use of no articles

The usage of zero article, the zero article Ø appears when a noun is used without the, a/an.

For example Time is gold.

1) We use no article with proper names.

EXAMPLES
 Sarah is my cousin.
 Where’s Grandpa Michael?

2) We use no article with uncountable nouns when we are referring in general.

EXAMPLES
 Water is an important resource.
 Fiber is important for the health of the digestive system.
 I like listening to music.
 She’s a vegetarian. She doesn’t eat meat.

3) We use no article with plural countable nouns when we are referring in general.
EXAMPLES
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 Dogs are commonly referred to as “man's best friend”.

 Rich people think and behave differently.
4) We use no article with the names of languages .
EXAMPLES
 Chinese is not more difficult than other languages.
 I’d like to speak French.
5) We use no article with the names of meals .
EXAMPLES
 What would you like for breakfast?
 Lunch is ready!
 I felt sleepy after dinner.
6) We use no article with the names of games or sports.
EXAMPLE
 Baseball is the king of sports in the Dominican Republic.

7) We use no article with the names of days, months, seasons, holidays and parts of
the day.
EXAMPLES
 See you on Monday.
 Many Americans celebrate Halloween on October 31.
 I love summer.

. 8) We use no article with the names of continents; we use no article with the names of
continents, countries, cities, towns, streets, single lakes and single mountains.

EXAMPLES

 Asia is Earth's largest and most populous continent.

 I live in Mozambique.
 I've climbed Mount Montepuez.

9) We use no article with routine places

EXAMPLES

 I’m going to bed.

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 They went to school yesterday.

 I'm at home right now.

10) We use no article with means of transport (in expression with by) .

EXAMPLES

 She usually goes to work by bus.

11) We use no article in exclamations with what + uncountable noun.

EXAMPLES

 What beautiful weather.

12) We use no article with academic subjects.

EXAMPLES

 He studied Law at university.

 I like English.

13) We use no article with names of companies .

EXAMPLES

 Bill Gates founded Microsoft.

 Facebook is a popular free social networking website

14) We use no article with names of universities.

EXAMPLES

 Claire goes to Brazil.

15) We use no article with noun + number .

EXAMPLE

 Charles is staying at the Plaza hotel in room 511.

16) We use no article with years.

EXAMPLE
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 1998 was the best year in film history.

Conclusion

The three-member class is represented by four forms: a, an, the, and Ø, the common
representation of the zero articles. A and an are allomorphs of the same word, and the zero
article (Ø) has been adopted as a more convenient linguistic notation than its earlier
description as suppression or absence of the article.

The zero articles is the most frequently occurring of the three articles with common nouns,
though the actual figures vary depending on the genre. The zero articles is not only the most
frequent article; it is also the most frequent determiner.

The zero articles occurs in noun phrases containing noncount and plural count nouns. A final
effect of the zero article is to make a noun more familiar than it would be with the definite
article. The consequence of this increased familiarity is that objects of certain prepositions are
interpreted as relating exclusively to the present.
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Bibliographic References

Master, P. (1997). The English article system: Acquisition, function, and pedagogy. System,
Vol.25, No.2, 215-232.

*Source: This paper is based on a presentation given by Peter Master at the CATESOL State
Conference on April 3, 1992 in Sacramento, California, USA.

Allan, K. (1980). Nouns and countability. Language 56.3:541-567.