The use of articles

Indefinite a / an	Definite the	Zero
To name or describe something (That’s a scarab beetle. It’s an enormous anthill.)
To refer to one example of a class or a species (An African elephant has larger ears than an Indian elephant.)	To refer to the whole class or species (The African elephant has larger ears than the Indian elephant.)	To refer to the whole class with the plural (African elephants have larger ears than Indian elephants.)
When the topic (noun) is not known to our listener (reader) (A new travel guide has advised would-be tourists to Morecambe that it is a place to avoid.)	When the topic (noun) is known to our listener (reader) (… The guide paints a bleak – if not third-world – picture.)
	When the topic (noun) is unique: the sun, the moon, the sky, the universe, the atmosphere, the world, the horizon (We are in danger of permanently damaging the Earth.) Persons, unique in their sphere: the President, the Prime Minister
	When the adjective before the noun is in the superlative degree (Muhammad Ali is the greatest heavyweight boxer ever.) or in front of superlatives and first, last, next, only, same, right, wrong (the last time, the only one, etc.)
	When context makes the topic (known) known (“Has Edward arrived yet?” “Yes, he’s in the dining-room.” = the dining-room of the house we are in.)
	When a defining phrase makes the topic (noun) known (Oasis is the Manchester band that shot to fame in the early 1990s.)
	When a prepositional phrase makes the topic (noun) known (Meet me in the café next to the underground station near my house.)
	With nouns in plural (Did you notice that the tourists in the cathedral were doing?)	When the noun is in plural and we want to refer to a group or class in general (Tourists are often blamed for changing the character of a place.)
Nouns: pity, shame, disgrace, pleasure, relief, comfort, disappointment are always used with “a” in sentences with formal “it“: it is a pity! What a shame!- after exclamatory “what”	When we wish to make an abstract noun more specific, to talk about a particular type (The hope of finding a cure for cancer drives a lot of medical research.)	With abstract nouns (It is impossible to live in a world without hope.)
A work- произведение A nature – характер A decision – решение A beauty – красавица An experience – случай, переживание		Work- работа Nature- природа Decision – решимость Beauty – красота Experience - опыт
A portion of food or drink: a coke, an ice-cream		With substances, liquids, gases, materials (Cooking oil is simply liquid fat. This blouse is made of silk.) Collective nouns: china – форфор, furniture, equipment, luggage, baggage
When we think of the physical place or building (Is there a school in the village or do the children have to go to the town?) Society in other meanings: a cooperative society.	The society (limiting)- the society of his friends	With nouns such as church, hospital, school, college, prison, jail, class, university, bed, table, market if we think of their purpose, when they denote activities (Can children leave school at fourteen in your country? Few people attend church regularly now than twenty years ago.) The noun society –in the meaning “when an organized community people live in”- bourgeois society
To talk about jobs, nationalities and beliefs (I’m a structural engineer. Helmut’s an Austrian. Cat Stevens became a Muslin.)		With jobs, nationalities and beliefs if we put the noun before the person’s name (Irishman Eddie Jordan has put together a team of great quality and spirit.)
With numbers (a hundred, a thousand, a million.)	With ordinal numbers (the first, the third…)
With prices, speeds, etc. (two dollars a kilo, 20 km an hour)	With measurements (You can buy saffron by the gram.)
With proper names if we want to make a name less specific (A Mr. Jones came to see you this afternoon = I don’t know which Mr. Jones.)	With proper names if we want to make a name more specific (The Mr. Jones with the shutter came to se you = the shutter identifies Mr. Jones)	With proper names (Jones, Mr. Jones)
If a descriptive article is used: it was a different Paris, unknown to him	With geographical names: word groups and plurals (the United States, the USA, the GDR, the Netherlands), some exceptions: the Congo, the Lebanon, the Senegal, the Ruhr, the Saar, the Ukraine, the Crimea; the only exception among cities-the Hague;. areas the West mountain ranges the Pyrenees groups of islands- the Canaries, the Hawaii oceans or seas the Pacific Ocean, the Black Sea if the noun peninsula is added- the Balkan peninsula rivers, straits, canals the Rhone, the Suez Canal, the Thames names of deserts: the Sahara the is used in patterns, containing the preposition of: the City of NY if a limiting article is used: it was not the France of his youth	With names of continents: Africa; Most countries, counties, provinces: France, Devonshire Names of cities, towns, villages: London Names of mountains and islands: Elbrus, Cyprus lakes Lake Victoria, Silver Lake names of waterfalls: Niagara Falls names of bays: Hudson bay names of capes, peninsulas: Hindustan, Balkan, Cape Horn
	the exceptions: the Strand (in London), the High Street, the Main Street (in the USA) names of hotels, clubs, museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, monuments: the Hilton, the British Museum, the Lincoln Memorial names of newspapers: the Morning Star the exception: the White House, the Tower, the Old Bailey names of parties and institutions: the Conservative Party names of ships and boats: the Titanic, the Queen Mary	Proper names of streets, squares, parks: Fleet Street, Central Park Names of airports and railway stations: Kennedy Airport, Victoria Station Universities: Oxford University, Hertford College Magazines, journals: Language, National Geographic Days of the week: Monday Buildings, bridges: Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge Parliament (in Britain) is used without any article, but the British Parliament
	In some comparative phrases (the more you study, all the better.)
In concrete meaning: I want to buy a piano	Names of musical instruments when we speak about them in a general way: he plays the piano well.
	With dates when spoken (the tenth of May), with the parts of the day after prepositions in, during, through (in the morning ,in the evening, BUT at night, during the day, during the autumn) When specific night or day is meant: the night was starry; or season: the autumn of 1984 When the noun is preceded by the pronoun other: the other day In the american variant: in the fall - осенью	With times and seasons after the prepositions : at, after, before, by, till, past (at night, in summer, at dusk)
	With nouns radio, television, cinema, etc. to refer to a specific item (Don’t put the flowers on the television. Have you seen the new film by Ridley Scott?) Exceptions: to listen to the radio, to hear news on the radio	With nouns radio, television, cinema, etc. to refer to the art or environment form (She works in television. We watched the news on television.) To watch on television, to see on television, to show on television
	BUT: to take the (a) train, to catch the (a) train, to miss the (a) train, to be on the plain, to sleep in the train	With transport (We’re going by rail to London, then by plane.) To go, to come, to leave, to travel by: train, plane, boat, bus, coach In by-phrases expressing manner or instrument: by air, by land, by post, by phone, by accident, by mistake
		In of-phrases after the words: post, office, title, rank, degree: Doctor of Law, the position of governess
Descriptive attribute is used: a long dinner	A limiting attribute is used: the breakfast in the park Names of meals denote the food that is eaten: the dinner was well cooked.	With meal (time)s: breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, tea (Have you had breakfast? See you at lunch.)
		With sports, names of games: to play tennis, hockey, cards (She plays both tennis and squash very well.)
To have a headache, a pain in the back, a high blood pressure, a cold, a cough, a heart attack, a sore throat	BUT: the flu - грипп the measles -корь the mumps - свинка the plague - чума the bronchitis - бронхит the tuberculosis - туберкулез	With illness (He’s got lung cancer.) To have toothache, stomachache, backache, earache (in AmE “a” is used)
With quite, rather, such, what, half (quite a difficult problem)	With all, both, half (all the information, both the twins) “the” is used with adjectives: same, only, very, main, principal, left, right, central, following, present, former, latter, last, next.
After the exclamatory “what” the indefinite article is used: What a horrible story!		Before abstract uncountable nouns: What useful information!