Article A/An

1. When a thing is mentioned for the first time.

e.g.
I bought a dress yesterday.

2.
what a/an
quite a/an
such a/an
quite a/an
a rather
(if they are followed by a C N in singular)

e.g.
What a fantastic day today! , What a mess!
Such a great song!
A rather calm place! , It’s a rather long story!

3. With names and last names - meaning some

e.g.
A Smith called you when you were in the
kitchen.

4. In set phrases
e.g.
a few
a great deal of
a little
as a rule
as a result
to be in a hurry
to be at a loss
to go for a walk
to have a good day
to have a good time
it is a pity
to take a seat
to tell a lie

5. With professions, when a noun is singular.

e.g.
He is an architect.
BUT
When the positions are specific, we use the arti-
cle
e.g.
He is the President.
She is the CEO.

Definite article THE

1. To single out an object of the kind.

There can be ordinal numerals or superlative
forms of adjectives in front of nouns.

e.g.
That’s the book I asked you about.
Tuesday is the second day of the week.
It was the best walk ever!

2. To denote uniques objects.

e.g.
the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the center, the
capital,
The Statue of Liberty

3. With titles (but without names)

e.g.
The Queen, The President

4. With past of the world

e.g.
the East, the West, the North, the South

5. the is used in front of the last names when all

the members of the family are implied
e.g.
the Browns, the Smiths, the Obamas

6. The is used with seas, oceans, rivers, moun-

tain ranges, a group of islands
e.g.
the Pacific Ocean, the Black Sea, the Thames,
the Alps,
the Carpathians, The Bahamas
7. With the names of the countries that contain
such words as state, republic, federation, king-
dom, emirate,
And some cities
the United States of America
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North-
ern Ireland
the Russian Federation
the Hague, the Vatican
The Netherlands
The United Arab Emirates

8. Newspapers and magazines

e.g.
the Times, the Washington Post

9. With adjectives that denote the only possible

or unique option - whole, main, right, only
e.g.
He asked the main question in this conversa-
tion.
The whole family is supposed to get together.
He gave the right answer to this question.
He was the only person to do this task.

10. Set phrases

e.g.
the day after tomorrow
the day before yesterday
in the morning (evening, afternoon)
on the whole
out of the question]
to go to the theatre (cinema)
to play the piano
to tell the truth

Zero article. 0

1. Names, cities, countries

e.g. New York, Ukraine, Kyiv, Sweden

2. If there is a possessive pronoun in front of a

noun
my, your, his, her, our, their:
e.g.
This is my city.
I know your phone number.
His mother is a doctor.

3. Uncountable nouns, if they are not defined

as specific.
e.g.
Love, hate, soup, experience

4. Months, meals, days of the week, seasons

e.g.
in winter , in spring
in August, in September
on Wednesday
to have breakfast/dinner/lunch

5. Subjects/disciplines
e.g.
to study Physics, Maths, Chemistry, French,
Law, Art

6. With words used while addressing somebody.

e.g.

Good morning, teacher!

Mum, look!

7. In set phrases

at breakfast
at first, at first sight
at home
at sea
at school (while being in the process of study-
ing)
at table (while having meal)
by bus/train/car/plane/sea
by heart
by chance
by means of
in/on time
in fact
on sale
on purpose
to go to bed
to tell lies

8. With the words - next, this, last

e.g.
Last year we all stayed at home.
I am going by bus this month.
I will definitely start healthy diet next Monday.

Exceptions and specific cases.

1. 0 article with seasons

e.g.
In summer I like to go to the beach.
It was winter.
- 0 article if there are adjectives before seasons
such as early, mid, late
It was late spring.
BUT
- use the-article if the seasons are specified in
the sentence
e.g. The spring of 2021 was really cold.

- use the-article after the words - during, for,

through
e.g.
We stayed with grandparents for the summer.
During the fall she often came to the forest.

- use a/an-article of there is an adjective used

to describe a season
e.g.
It was a rainy winter.

2. Parts of the day

- use 0 article if a word denotes a light or a dark
part

e.g. Night came and appeared to blind us.

- use 0 article if there are prepositions in from

to the words - at, after, by, before, till, until,
towards, past, since,
e.g.
They have been waiting fro you since afternoon.

- Use 0 article if there are such words as early,

late in front of the words.
e.g. It was late morning.

- Use 0 article if there are such words as yester-

day/tomorrow
e.g. We came to see you yesterday morning.

- Use 0 article in set phrases

all day/night long

day after day
night after night
day in, day out
from… till…
from… to…
day and night

- Use a/an/the article if there are adjectives to

specify the period of the day
e.g. It was a warm sunny morning.
The night of that day was really starry.

- use the-article after the prepositions in, dur-

ing, through ставится определенный артикль
During the night we heard our neighbour’s dog
barking. –

3. Use the-article with the meals if you want to

specify
e.g.
The breakfast you made was delicious.
- if you want to describe breakfast, lunch or din-
ner use a/an article
e.g.He made a great lunch for me.

4. Diseases take 0 article

AIDS – СПИД;
anaemia – анемия;
appendicitis – аппендицит;
bronchitis – бронхит;
chicken pox (chickenpox) – ветрянка;
dermatitis – дерматит;
diabetes – сахарный диабет;
diphtheria – дифтерия;
food poisoning – пищевое отравление;
hypertension – гипертония, повышенное кровяное
давление;
hypotension – гипотония, пониженное кровяное
давление;
influenza – грипп;
insomnia – бессонница;
leukaemia – лейкемия;
meningitis – менингит;
pneumonia – пневмония;
sclerosis – склероз;
sinusitis – синусит;
tuberculosis – туберкулез;
tonsillitis – ангина, тонзиллит.

BUT we use the article with

the measles – корь
the mumps – свинка
the flu – грипп
the plague – чума

- and a/an with symptoms

a runny nose
a sore throat

5. With the words - school, college, university,

prison, class, bed, church use the article if they
are used as buildings or organisations.
e.g.
Mr. Drake is in the hospital.
Kate’s mother will come to the school today.

If the words mean activity or process connected

with them , 0article is used.
e.g.
Mr. Gram is in hospital.
John is in prison.
Sarah was in church this morning.
Sonia is at school.

6. With the words sea we use the-article if we

mean geographical name.
e.g. the Black Sea

If sea is used meaning profession , use 0 article

e.g.
to go to sea
to be at sea

7. With words town and country

If the words are contrasted - in town (0 article) -
in the country (the article)
e.g.
I will be in town tomorrow.
We spent the weekend in the country.