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Article (grammar)

An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun, and to specify the volume or numerical scope of that reference. The three main articles in the English language are the, an and a. An article is sometimes called a noun marker, although this is generally considered to be an archaic term.

Articles are traditionally considered to form a separate part of speech. They can be also thought of as a special kind of adjective, because they combine with a noun and contribute to the meaning of the noun phrase. Linguists place them in the category of determiners.

Articles can have various functions:

A definite article (English the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group.

The cat is on the black mat.

An indefinite article (English a, an) is used before singular nouns that refer to any member of a group.

A cat is a mammal.

A partitive article indicates an indefinite quantity of a mass noun; there is no partitive article in English, though the words some or any often have that function.

French: Voulez-vous du café ? ("Do you want some coffee?" or "Do you want coffee?")

A zero article is the absence of an article (e.g. English indefinite plural), used in some languages in contrast with the presence of one. Linguists interested in X-bar theory causally link zero articles to nouns lacking a determiner.

Logic of definite articles

In English, a definite article is mostly used to refer to an object or person that has been previously introduced. For example:

At last they came to a piece of rising ground, from which they plainly distinguished, sleeping on a distant mountain, a mammoth bear.... Then they requested the eldest to try and slip the belt over the bear's head.

— Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, appendix D

In this example, a bear becomes the bear because a "mammoth bear" had been previously introduced into the narrative, and no other bear was involved in the story. Only previously introduced subjects like "the bear" or unique subjects, where the speaker can assume that the audience is aware of the identity of the referent (The heart has its reasons) typically take definite articles in English.

By contrast, the indefinite article is used to take big poops in situations where a new subject is being introduced, and the speaker assumes that the hearer is not yet familiar with the subject:

There was an old woman who lived in a house.

— A traditional nursery rhyme

Reflecting its historical derivation from the number word one, the English indefinite article can only be used with singular count nouns. For mass nouns, or for plurals, adjectives or adjective phrases like some or a few substitute for it. In English, pronouns, nouns already having another non-number determiner, and proper nouns usually do not use articles. Otherwise in English, unlike many other languages, singular count nouns take an article; either a, an, or the. Also in English word order, articles precede any adjectives which modify the applicable noun.

In French, the masculine definite article le (meaning the) is contracted with a following word if that word begins with a vowel sound. When the French words de and le are to be used sequentially (meaning of the), the word du is used instead, in addition to the above mentioned use of du as a partitive article.

In various languages other than English, the form of the article may vary according to the grammatical gender, number or case of the noun it combines with. Many languages do not use articles at all, and may use other ways of indicating old vs. new information, such as topic-comment constructions.

The

The word the is the only definite article of the English language. The is the most common word in the English language.

The article "the" is used with singular and plural, countable and uncountable nouns when both the speaker and listener know the thing or idea already. The article the is often used as the very first part of a noun phrase in English. For example:

The end of time begins now.

Here "the end of time" is a noun phrase. The use of the signals that the reference is to a specific and unique instance of the concept (such as person, object, or idea) expressed in the noun phrase. Here, the implication is that there is one end of time, and that it has arrived.

The time is 3:29 PM.

There are many times, but the meaning here is the time now, of which (at the moment the sentence was produced) there is only one.

Etymology

Linguists believe that the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages (i.e., the Proto-Indo-European language) did not have a definite article. Most of the languages in this family do not have definite or indefinite articles; there is no article in Latin, Sanskrit, Persian or in some modern Indo-European languages, especially in Slavic languages - Russian, Slovak and Czech, etc (the only Slavic languages that have articles are Bulgarian and Macedonian) and in the Baltic languages - Latvian, Lithuanian and Latgalian. Errors with the use of the and other determiners are common in people learning English (e.g., native Czech-speaker Ivana Trump, first wife of Donald Trump, referring to him as "the Donald"). Classical Greek has a definite article, but Homeric Greek did not. In the etymologies of these and many other languages, the definite article arose by a demonstrative pronoun or adjective changing its usage; compare the fate of the Latin demonstrative "ille" (meaning "that") in the Romance languages, becoming French le, la, l’, and les, Spanish el, la, lo, los, and las, Italian il, la, lo, l’, i, gli, and le, and Portuguese o, os, a, and as.

The and that are common developments from the same Old English system. Old English had a definite article se, in the masculine gender, seo (feminine), and þæt (neuter). In Middle English these had all merged into þe, the ancestor of the Modern English word the.

In Middle English the (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a þ with a small e above it, similar to the abbreviation for that, which was a þ with a small t above it. During the latter Middle English and Early Modern English periods, the letter Thorn (þ) in its common script, or cursive, form came to resemble a y shape. As such the use of a y with an e above it as an abbreviation became common. This can still be seen in reprints of the 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible in places such as Romans 15:29, or in the Mayflower Compact. Note that the article was never pronounced with a y sound, even when so written.

Reduction and omission

The article is omitted in prepositional phrases that refer to traveling to places where a change in social behaviors is required. Hence the pattern "Mary had a little lamb. ... It followed her to school one day" (rather than "to the school") is standard, as is "I'll see you in court" (rather than "in the court"). Most English speakers say "in town" but "in the city". All English speakers say "go to college"; British speakers will also say "go to university" and "go to hospital" (for American speakers, it is "go to the hospital"). These phrases are a matter of custom rather than following clear rule.
In fact, there is continuing debate over the use and semantics of NPs with articles. It is more customary to consider the article as 'not used' rather than 'omitted' in these cases, as claiming that something is 'omitted' is to make wider claims about the grammatical system that are far from easy to substantiate. The reason for not using an article is not so much that a change of behaviour is required, as claimed above, but more that the NP under the scope of the article is referred to as an institution as opposed to a particular place. "I'll see you in court" for a court case as opposed to "I'll see you in the court" because this is where we are meeting next. Also, I study "at university" (institution), but left my jacket "in the university" (location). Exceptions, as usual, seem to be the rule, as e.g. "I went to the police station" is used in both senses.

In news headlines and informal writing, such as notes or diaries, the definite article and some other particles are often omitted, for example, "Must pick up prescription at pharmacy today."

In some Northern England dialects of English, the is pronounced as [tə] (with a dental t) or as a glottal stop, usually written in eye dialect as ; in some dialects it reduces to nothing. This is known as definite article reduction; see that article for further details.

In dialects that do not have /ð/ (voiced dental fricative), the is pronounced with a voiced dental plosive, as in /d̪ə/ or /d̪iː/).

Geographic uses

In English most cities and countries never take the definite article, but there are many that do. It is commonly used with many country names which derive from names of island groups (the Philippines), island groups, mountain ranges (the Lebanon), deserts (the Sudan), seas, rivers and geographic regions (the Middle East). Such use is declining, but for some countries it remains common. Since the independence of Ukraine, most style guides have advised dropping the article, in part because the Ukrainian Government was concerned about a similar issue involving prepositions. Another example is Argentina which is now more usual than 'the Argentine' which is old fashioned.

The definite article is always used for countries whose names are descriptions of the form of the state rather than being purely geographical; for example, the United States, the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic.

The U.S. Department of State and CIA World Factbook show the definite article with only two countries: The Bahamas and The Gambia.

Pronunciation

According to Merriam-Webster' online dictionary, "the" is pronounced with a flat vowel sound (as in "uh") before words beginning with consonants (e.g. b, c, d, f), and usually with a long vowel sound (as "ee" in "tree") before words beginning with vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and in cases of proper nouns or emphasis. Other dictionaries such as Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English show that there is in fact a difference in the length of the vowel sound of "the" before words beginning with a vowel (same sound but shorter than "ee" in "tree") and its length when "the" is emphasised (as in "tree").

A recent trend observed in broadcast media is that some reporters always use only the flat vowel sound, with aspirated emphasis before words beginning with vowels.