Articles in European languages      indefinite and definite articles      only definite articles      indefinite and postfixed definite articles      only postfixed definite articles      no articles

An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. A word is a unit of Language that carries meaning and consists of one or more Morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together and has a Phonetic 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. ^[1]

It is sometimes wondered which part of speech articles belong to. In Grammar, a lexical category (also word class, lexical class, or in traditional grammar part of speech) is a linguistic category of words (or Despite much speculation, articles are not adjectives because they don't describe nouns; they just agree with them. Linguists place them in a different category, that of determiners. A determiner is a Noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase including quantity rather than its attributes as expressed

Articles can have various functions:^[2]

• A definite article (English the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

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. In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass

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. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people 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. X-bar theory is a component of linguistic theory which attempts to identify syntactic features common to all languages

Cats are mammals.

Logic of definite articles

In English, a definite article is mostly used to refer to an object or person who has been previously introduced. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States 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. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist Life on the Mississippi is a Memoir by Mark Twain detailing his days as a Steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the 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 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 shoe. . .

— 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. A nursery rhyme is a traditional Song or Poem taught to young children originally in the nursery. Mathematics For any number x: x ·1 = 1· x = x (1 is the multiplicative identity In Linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun which can be modified by a Numeral and occur in both singular and Plural For mass nouns, or for plurals, adjectives or adjective phrases like some or a few substitute for it. In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass In English, pronouns, nouns already having another non-number determiner, and proper nouns usually do not use articles. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or A determiner is a Noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase including quantity rather than its attributes as expressed Otherwise in English, unlike many other languages, singular count nouns take an article; either a, an, or the. ^[3] Also in English word order, articles precede any adjectives which modify the applicable noun. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the

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, masculine and feminine forms of articles differ. Singular and plural forms of articles can also differ in other languages. Many languages do not use articles at all, and may use other ways of indicating old vs. new information, such as topic-comment constructions. In Linguistics, the topic (or theme) is informally what is being talked about and the comment ( rheme or focus) is what is being

The

The word the is the only definite article of the English language. In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of Noun phrases distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context (definite noun English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The is the most common word in the English language. ^[4]

The article the is used in English as the very first part of a noun phrase. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In grammatical theory, a noun phrase (abbreviated NP) is a Phrase whose head is a Noun or a Pronoun, optionally accompanied 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. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group Macedonian () is the official Language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Latvian language (latviešu valoda is the official state language of Latvia. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Latgalian language can mean one of the following It was a language spoken by Latgalians in a great part of the area which is now Latvia. 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"). Ivana Trump (born Ivana Marie Zelníčková ˈɪvana ˈmarɪjɛ ˈzɛlɲitʃkova on February 20, 1949) is a former Olympic athlete and Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American Business magnate, Socialite, Television personality, and Classical Greek has a definite article (which happens to be very similar to the definite article in German, but with t instead of German d), but Homeric Greek did not. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Homeric Greek is the form of Ancient Greek that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. 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 Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal.

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 Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong The word that is used in the English language for several grammatical purposes to introduce a Restrictive clause In Middle English these had all merged into þe, the ancestor of the Modern English word the. Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift, completed in roughly 1550

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. Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the latter half of the 15th century to 1650 Thorn, or þorn (Þ þ is a letter in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic Alphabets It was also used in Medieval Scandinavia For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and 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. The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. 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. Pharmacy (from the Greek φάρμακον 'pharmakon' = drug is the Health profession that links the Health sciences with the chemical sciences "

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 <t>; in some dialects it reduces to nothing. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of The voiceless dental plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that This article is about the sound in spoken language For the letter see Glottal stop (letter. In Orthography, eye dialect is the use of non-standard spellings (spellings considered incorrect to create the effect of a Dialectal foreign or uneducated speaker This is known as definite article reduction; see that article for further details. Definite Article Reduction (DAR is the term used in recent linguistic work to refer to the use of Vowel -less forms of the definite article the in Northern

In dialects that do not have /ð/ (voiced dental fricative), the is pronounced with a voiced dental plosive, as in /d̪ə/ or /d̪iː/). The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiced dental plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

Country names

In English most 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), mountain ranges (the Lebanon), deserts (the Sudan), and other geographic expressions (the Netherlands). The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands 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. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. The name Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina,) has been used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century

The U.S. Department of State [1] and CIA World Factbook [2] show the definite article with only two countries: The Bahamas and The Gambia. The World Factbook ( ISSN; also known as the CIA World Factbook) is an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and

See also

• A, an
• Definiteness
• Definite description
• Determiner (class)
• Al-
• Teh

References

External links

• Vietnamese learners mastering english articles
• "The Definite Article: Acknowledging 'The' in Index Entries," Glenda Browne, The Indexer, vol. 22, no. 3 April 2001, pp. 119-22.
• Low MH 2005: "The Phenomenon of the Word THE in English - discourse functions and distribution patterns" - a dissertation that surveys the use of the word 'the' in English text.
• The Commonest Word in the Language: The social role of the word "the"
• Articles - a Foundation - an educational resource for explaining articles to speakers of foreign languages