Putting it in another way, we can use:
a/an or the +singular countable: a hat – the hat,
the or zero + plural countable: the hats – hats,
the or zero + uncountable: the water – water.
A very important point: singular countable nouns must always have an article (or another determiner like my, this). We can say a cat, the cat, this cat, my cat, but not cat. Do not leave out the article before the names of professions.
Alice is studying to be a doctor. (Not: …to be doctor).
In order to show the difference in using definite and indefinite articles with countable and uncountable nouns I use pictures and tables (see Appendix 1). There is a great number of exercises which can help students to understand the difference between countable and uncountable nouns. For example:
1. Which of the underlined parts of these sentences is right?
Margaret has got very long hair / hairs.
We had a very good weather / very good weather when we were on holidays.
Sorry I’m late. I had trouble / troubles with the car this morning.
I want something to read. I’m going to buy a / some paper.
I want to write some letters. I need a / some writing paper.
Bad news don’t / doesn’t make people happy.
I had to buy a / some bread because I wanted to make some sandwiches.
2. Complete the sentences with the correct form, singular or plural, of the given nouns. When necessary, choose word in parentheses in some of the sentences.
chair I bought some………..
furniture I bought some………..
fruit There (is, are) a lot of ……….on the table.
vegetable There (is, are) a lot of ……….on the table.
dress Mary has a lot of ……………in her closet.
grammar I know a lot of …………………….
word I’m learning a lot of new……………….
2. Add final –s/ -es if possible.
1. I’m learning a lot of grammar…
2. We’re studying count and noncount noun…
3. Olga knows several language…
4. Olga has learned a lot of English…
5. Sara doesn’t like to wear makeup…
6. Colorado has high mountain…
7. The streets are full of automobile…
8. I have some important fact… for you.
9. A circle… has 360 degree…
Such types of exercises help students to understand the difference between countable and uncountable nouns.
The importance of teaching articles is obvious. It is necessary for teachers to be better informed how present and practice grammar and articles.
There exist different ways of presenting articles. At the beginning pupils must realize when should we use an indefinite article and when should we use a definite article? That’s why they have to remember the first rule:
Indefinite article is used for previously unknown nouns that are being introduced into a dialogue or story and definite article is used for nouns that have already been introduced (or are already known).
For example:
I saw a cat. The cat was sitting on a fence. The fence was painted brown. The cat jumped off the fence when it saw a mouse. The mouse ran into a hole when it saw the cat so the cat didn’t catch the mouse.
In this example, the nouns ‘cat’, ‘fence’, and ‘mouse’ take an indefinite article, but only when they are introduced for the first time. After they are introduced, we use the definite article in every instance. This pattern, or rule, covers a lot of basic instances of concrete nouns, especially in story telling. This rule can extend over long periods of time and interrupted dialogue so that I can ask you to buy a pen and then several hours later I can ask you if you bought the pen.
Of course, this rule cannot be taught at the single sentence level since it requires a sentence to introduce the noun and a sentence to talk about the noun that has previously been introduced.
One exercise that I find useful is to have students fill in the articles for simple stories where several characters and objects are introduced into the story in succession. Every time a new character (knight, cat, ogre, mouse) or a new object (fence, bridge, castle) is introduced into the story the indefinite article is used and thereafter the definite article is used as per the basic rule.
Another good exercise that emphasizes this use of the basic rule is to have a series of flashcards with people or animals doing something and ask the students to describe what they see:
I see a monkey. The monkey is playing the drums.
I see a cat. The cat is swimming.
The pattern can be varied to suit other language needs:
There is a cat. The cat is swimming.
Some other possible ideas for using flashcards like these are:
(a) Describing colours: I see a cat. The cat is black.
(b) Describing clothes: There is a girl and a boy. The girl is wearing a dress and the boy is wearing a shirt and jeans.
(c) Describing actions: I see a knight. The knight is fighting an ogre.
(d) Describing settings of a story: Once upon a time, there was a princess. The princess lived in a castle.
If the teacher has to teach the use of articles, then this is the place to begin. This is the basic rule for using articles. In fact, I often tell pupils that this is the only rule, but there are many exceptions. The problem is that there are so many exceptions that you could spend an inordinate amount of time going over these exceptions. In the end, pupils would not be able to internalize these rules anyways.
Another important rule is when something is unique or, in other words, there is only one of that objects. In this case, the definite article is used. The sun, the president, the queen of England, the capital city, and the moon are all examples. This is especially true for objects that are well-known by many or most people, but it is true even when the hearer may not know the object:
A: Who’s he?
B: He's the president of Korea. She's the CFO. He's the mayor.
This can be contrasted with:
A: Who's she?
B: She's a member of parliament. She's an accountant. He's an alderman.
This uniqueness can come by association:
A car crashed into a tree. The driver was seriously injured.
Once we established (introduced) the car, there could only be one driver so “driver” was unique at the time of introduction and we use the driver instead of a driver. We could have rewritten this so that driver was not unique (and the car was) when it was introduced:
A driver was seriously injured when the car he was driving crashed.
A driver can only be driving one car at a time so ‘car’ is unique in this instance once driver was introduced.
This exception applies to superlatives (which are usually unique in occupying the extreme position or quality): the best place, the worst thing, the fastest runner, the tallest mountain, the most. This can be contrasted with comparatives such as a better mouse trap where several better mouse traps are possible.
This exception also applies to ordering (ordinal numbers used as adjectives) where it is presumed that the ordering is unique: the second time, the third example, the fourth person to call. In other words, once you place an order on objects they hold a unique position in that order.
This exception applies to named things (which through naming become unique):
The Rocky Mountains. (a mountain range)
The New York Islanders. (a sports team)
The Amazon River. (a river in South America)
The Pacific Ocean (An ocean)
The Steelworkers Union (an organization)
The Great Plains (a geographic locality)
The Washington Monument (a statue)
The Number Four Bus
However, this application is imperfect as some things such as named lakes and islands take no articles (Buttle Lake, Skull Island) except in plural instances (the Great Lakes, the Galapagos islands).
This exception applies to famous people who become unique in their fame:
A: I saw Nicole Kidman yesterday.
B: Nicole Kidman, the actor? (There is only one famous Nicole Kidman)
Another way of presenting articles is by giving the rules of using them in the mother tongue. Then the pupils practice applying the rule first orally and after that in written form.
Written texts are often one of the major sources through which language learners meet new vocabulary, grammar and articles in particular, so it is only logical that they should be used extensively in classroom teaching. They have the great advantage.
As the example the teacher may use different texts. Such as:
“There is no city quite like New York. It is known as “The City That Never Sleeps” and is the biggest commercial and cultural center in the world. Manhattan – the heart of the city – is only one of the five boroughs in this city. There are thousands of things to do and places to visit for tourists. The most famous landmark must be The Statue of Liberty – a symbol of freedom.
You can relax in Central Park, which is larger than Monaco! New York really does have something for everyone. ”[11:76]
2.2 Memory techniques.
The learners are said to forget about 50 per cent of the information received after the presentation. That is why there are some special techniques which help the teacher to promote more effective learning. In the process of teaching articles I use different tables, schemes which can help students to remember this theme better. I suggest using the following exercises:
a) a phrase scheme
to school the cinema
to go to bed to go to the theatre
home the hospital
The teacher asks the pupils to learn these examples by heart. This will help to understand the difference between using definite and zero articles.
b) a phrase fork
bus
to travel by car
boat
c) a tree diagram
to be
at in
school home … bed hospital …
The dotted lines mean that the learners can add more words to the tree as they meet them.
2.3 Further activities for practicing article.
After explaining the main rules of using articles and showing the examples it is easy for pupils to understand the correct use definite and indefinite articles. First of all, it is suggested that the teacher should use dialogues for discussion with different articles (see Appendix 2). The pupils must learn the rules and discuss speakers’ use of articles.
After that pupils can easily cope with different exercises. The following exercises are presented in an order of increasing difficulty. In the first exercises the pupils complete a sentence by choosing the correct articles from the suggested.
Add the or no article. This exercise helps the teacher to check students’ use of articles and their understanding of countable and uncountable nouns.
Please pass me … butter.
… butter is a dairy product.
John, where’s … milk? It is in … refrigerator or on … table?
… milk come from cows and goats.
Do you like … weather in this city?
… air is free.
… air is humid today.
Later they may be asked to complete sentences without any cues. They pick from the sentence patterns and the vocabulary they have studied the forms that best complete the sentence.
What are these things? Try and find out if you don’t know.
a cauliflower? It’s …………….
a pigeon? It …………………...
a skyscraper? ………………….
Earth? Mars? Venus? Jupiter? They ………………
the Rhine? the Nile? the Mississippi?......................
Give answers to the questions.
A friend of yours is in hospital. Where would you go to visit him? ………….
A friend of yours is in prison. Where would you go to visit him? ………….
A friend of yours is at church. If you wanted to meet him immediately after the service, where would you go?.....................................................
It is understood, of course, that the pupil is not expected to rack his brains for something to say even in the simplest of exercises. Suggestions for answers should be implicit in the context or when necessary should be made overly by the teacher.
Teachers should pay their attention to such activity as asking questions. There are several reasons why questions are important: they stimulate and maintain pupils’ interest; they encourage pupils to think and focus on the content of the lesson; they enable teachers to check pupils’ understanding; the questions helps the pupil both with the words and with pattern required for the answer.
Many textbooks and methodology manuals writers argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value. Most games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms. In the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better. That is why games are important part in the process of teaching articles and I try to use them in all possible ways. At the same time teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to have any results. They must correspond to the pupils’ level, age, to the material that is to be introduced or practiced. Here is the example of the game which can help teachers to combine teaching articles and vocabulary.
What’s in the picnic basket?
The teacher asks pupils to look at the picture. Make sure that they know the English names of everything in the basket. Pupils write the words in the correct column with a or an. The teacher can add some additional tasks to this game. Such as: make a list of foods you can take on a picnic.
What are they?
Review nationality adjectives with the aid of a map of the world. Pupils look at the pictures and say the correct nationality adjective for the objects with a or an. For example: an American, a Greek, a Spanish, an English, an American, an Italian, etc.
Another important point is dialogues. As while using games the teacher with the help of dialogues can combine teaching grammar and vocabulary (see Appendix 2). I suggest using the following activity.
Dialogue: Lady: Would you like … apple?
Guest: Oh, yes, please! I love … apples.
L: Well, there’s … big one and … small ones.
G: Oh, I’ll have … small one please.
L: Are you sure you won’t have … big one?
G: Yes, thanks. Mmm! What… tasty apple!
Work in pairs and act out similar conversations about some other fruit. Make general statement about your likes and dislikes of the things to eat listed below.
My investigation showed that combining all this activities helps to explain the material and it is easier for the students to understand it better.
2.4 Testing using articles.
Presenting the rules of using articles and doing different exercises are only primary activities. At the output phase every teacher needs information about the learners’ grammar skills. For assessing learners’ knowledge and ability to use the articles appropriately different testing techniques can be used. Such as:
1) Multiple-choice tests. In this type of exercise the pupils are asked to select from the forms given the one that makes the sentence correct from the forms they have studied the one required for a given context.
Multiple choice exercises can be used on all grade levels with increasing difficulty of content and form. Some sample exercises follow.
The learners have to select the correct variant.
to have
a. dinner b. the dinner c. a dinner
to go by
a. a car b. car c. the car
We found him at…
a. work b. the work c. a work
I have no pen at…
a. hand b. a hand c. hand
2) matching. This type is similar to the multiple choice type in that the pupils have to choose from the forms given the one that completes the sentence or the word-combination correctly. Instead of having several choices for each blank, however, there is usually an equal number of beginnings and endings of sentences or word-combinations. Once unscrambled, there is one correct ending for each beginning. Before starting doing this type of exercises the teacher should present a number of fixed phrases to the class, such as to have dinner, hand in hand, to go home and others. Here are some sample exercises.
1. day and a. the better
1. to have a b. hand
2. the sooner c. morning
3. in the d. headache
4. sun and e. cold
5. catch a f. night
6. hand in g. moon
3) sets. The learners are asked to read the lists of expressions. It is necessary to find the mistake in each list.
in the morning to leave town the Pacific Ocean
on the earth by chance the Lake Baikal
side by side from left to right at hand
the Black Sea at t he work arm in arm
4) completion exercises. This type of exercises requires more of the pupils than either the multiple choice or the matching type. In this type, the pupils are asked to supply the missing part of incomplete sentences.
Put in a/an, some, or the.
One day last month I was driving through the countryside, I saw … man and … truck next to … covered bridge. … bridge crossed … small river. I stopped and asked … man, “What’s the matter? Can I be of help?”
“Well,” said … man, “my truck is about a half inch too tall. Or … top of … bridge is a half inch too short. Either way, my truck won’t fit under … bridge.”