Articles

1. Articles XingxuanQiao

2. What are these movies? Lord of the Rings A River Runs Through it The King’s Speech

3. Pirates of the Caribbean Once Upon a Time in America The Pursuit of Happiness

4. Outline • Indefinite Articles • Definite Articles • Count and Non-count Nouns • Geographical use of the • Omission of Articles

5. Indefinite Articles: a/an • "A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite and not specific, referring to one of a number of the same objects. i.e. Can I have an apple? My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas. • Membership in a group i.e. He is a teacher. She is an Irishman.

6. A vs. An • A = when the following word begins with a consonant sound i.e. a bird, a computer, a pen a usual suspect, a yellow book • An = when the following word begins with a vowel sound i.e. an elephant, an apple, an unusual event • H: an hour vs. a horse • U: a user vs. an umbrella • Acronyms(abbreviations): an APLNG (Applied Linguistics) teacher vs. a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) officer

7. Definite Article • The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular. The signals that the noun is definite, that it refers to a particular member of a group. i.e. The dog that bit me ran away. I was happy to see the policeman who saved me. I saw the elephant at the zoo.

8. Count and Noncount Nouns • Count = nouns that can be counted i.e. One book, two books • Non-count = nouns that cannot be counted i.e. Air, gravity, respect, research (in the U.S.) • Non-count nouns can take either the definite article or no article (not the indefinite!) • He spilled the milk all over the floor. • He spilled milk all over the floor. • *He spilled a milk all over the floor.

9. Outline • Indefinite Articles • Definite Articles • Count and Non-count Nouns • Geographical use of the • Omission of Articles

10. Geography • We live in - State College, - Pennsylvania. - Pennsylvania is in the United States. It is in the Northeast. The U.S. is part of - North America. - Mount Nittany is in - State College, near the Alleghenies. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east.

11. Geographical use of the Do NOT use the before: • names of most countries: Italy, Mexico, China *the Netherlands, the Philippines, the United States • names of cities, towns, or states: Seoul, Virginia, Miami • names of streets: Washington Blvd., N. Atherton St. • names of lakes and bays: Lake Superior, Lake Erie *a group of lakes like the Great Lakes • names of mountains: Mount Blanc, Mount Fuji *ranges of mountains like the Rockies • names of continents: Asia, Europe • names of islands (Easter Island, Maui, Key West) *island chains like the Aleutians, the Hebrides

12. Geographical use of the (con’d) • Do use the before: • names of rivers, oceans and seas: the Nile, the Pacific • name of famous architecture: the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall • points on the globe: the Equator, the North Pole • Directions: the Middle East, the West • deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas: the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest

13. Omission of articles • Names of languages and nationalities: Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian *unless you are referring to the people: "The Spanish are known for their warm hospitality.") • Names of sports: volleyball, hockey, baseball • Names of academic subjects: mathematics, biology, history, computer science

14. Omission of articles (con’d) • When you are speaking about things in general i.e. I like Russian tea. She likes reading books. • When you are speaking about meals, places, and transport i.e. He has breakfast at home. He comes to work by taxi.

15. British vs. American • British: He needs to go to hospital. • American: He needs to go to the hospital. • British: George is at university. • American: George is at the university. • British: In future, I’d like you to pay more attention to detail. • American: In the future, I’d like you to pay more attention to detail. • British: I’ll be here all the afternoon. • American: I’ll be here all afternoon.

16. Exercise • I was in - New York the other day. It’s quite an exciting city. There is plenty to do but some of the people are very rude. I like it on the north side where you can see the Empire State building and the giant World Trade Center. You can also watch all of the boats on the Hudson. It’s quite a busy river sometimes! I’m staying at the Sheraton Hotel at the moment. It’s nice because it’s close to some pubs which are almost as good as the ones in England. I met an actor and a singer in the Bull the other night. The actor was very friendly. He bought me some drinks. I politely said no. It’s really busy that you work for - Rolling Stone magazine! It’s a good thing that I’m going to - Colorado next week. I’ll go to the Rockies to relax for a while.