M2-a: Articles and other noun markers
Standard English uses noun markers to help identify the nouns that follow. In addition to articles (a, an, and the), noun markers include the following:
- possessive nouns, such as Elena’s (See P4-a.)
- possessive pronoun/adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their (See B1-b.)
- demonstrative pronoun/adjectives: this, that, these, those (See B1-b.)
- quantifiers: all, any, each, either, every, few, many, more, most, much, neither, several, some, and so on (See M2-d.)
- numbers: one, twenty-three, and so on
Using articles and other noun markers
Articles and other noun markers always appear before nouns; sometimes other modifiers, such as adjectives and adverbs, come between a noun marker and a noun.
In most cases, do not use an article with another noun marker.
Expressions like a few, the most, and all the are exceptions: a few potatoes, all the rain. See also M2-d.
Types of articles and types of nouns
To choose an appropriate article for a noun, first determine whether the noun is common or proper, count or noncount, singular or plural, and specific or general. The chart in M2-b describes the types of nouns.
Articles are classified as indefinite and definite. The indefinite articles, a and an, are used with general nouns. The definite article, the, is used with specific nouns. (The last section of the chart in M2-b explains general and specific nouns.)
A and an both mean “one” or “one among many.” Use a before a consonant sound: a banana, a vacation, a happy child, a united family. Use an before a vowel sound: an eggplant, an uncle, an honorable person. (See also a, an in W1.)
The shows that a noun is specific; use the with one or more than one specific thing: the newspaper, the soldiers.