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English Grammar: When NOT to use an article – 9 rules
Articles (a, an, the, or no article) can be very confusing to English learners. The most confusing thing is when NOT to include an article. In this English grammar class, I will show you 9 situations in which an article should be left out. For example, why is (Ø) French food delicious, while THE French love delicious food?
Quiz
Test your understanding of this English lesson
Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.Levels
Lesson Topics
62 COMMENTS
Hello dear Teacher Adam, Thank you for mentioning our country name in the lesson, I cheered up.
Hello Adam, thank you for this beautiful lesson. I did all the questions good without the last. I thought to put “no article” but I changed my mind because I also thought that is a specific alcohol “which is not served in a sealed bottle”. So for this reason I don’t put “no article ” because I understand this situation like something specific and not in general. May you help me to understand better?
Hi Doina,
Alcohol can be all types. This sentence refers to any alcohol, not any specific type, that’s why there is no article.
Does this help?
I got 7 correct out of 9. Question 4 was tricky for me. I got a good feel of English today. Thank you for your superb lessons every time.
because the dress on a display window is a specific dress, its not a general abstract dress, thats my opinion, but i do it right
Good answer Amanda :)
I got 5/9, the lesson is truly hard to me, have too exception in every situation, i truly confused, hope next lesson i will better, thank Adam
9/9 :)
Hey dude!, love your vids and the quizzes you make for us. Learning english better with engvid teachers especially with adam. Keep up the good work!
Hi Adam,
I have some questions for you.
1. When we want to say “The United States of America” using an abbreviation. Will it be “USA” or rather “The USA”?
2. Why do we say anatomy although it contains: urology, cardiology etc.?
3. It seems whenever you have “of” You need to use “an article” Unless I’m mistaken.
Some examples: “A love of mother, the university of California, the republic of south Korea.
All the best to all English learners.
Hi Marcin,
1. When we want to say “The United States of America” using an abbreviation. Will it be “USA” or rather “The USA”?
— the USA, or the US
2. Why do we say anatomy although it contains: urology, cardiology etc.?
— anatomy is the study of the structure of the body. the others sciences are studies of particular functions of parts of the body.
3. It seems whenever you have “of” You need to use “an article” Unless I’m mistaken.
Some examples: “A love of mother, the university of California, the republic of south Korea.
–in many cases, but not all (i.e., this is not a rule); for example plurals (birds of prey, the leader of a country, leaders of countries, etc.). With a singular, if the of expression identifies the noun then it is definite and needs an article
Hope this helps.
Hi, Adam!
Is the usage of an article in the collocation “the English language” correct? I came across this rule/exception in one grammar book. I understand that the word “language” is probably redundant here but still want to know whether I can use it like this in my writing to make it less monotonous, so to speak.
Thank you in advance!
Hope you are in good health.
Hi Dmitry,
Actually, it’s interesting. When we use language or people, the rule changes to its opposite:
The English language is full of strange idioms.
English is full of strange idioms.
(‘the’ goes with language; English is an identifying adjective)
French people like to travel.
The French like to travel.
French as an adjective makes the ‘people’ a definite group).
Hope this helps.
I am confused too, because i thought Mt Everest is a group of Mt, so i did put the before it, and it was wrong
Hi Amanda,
Mt. Everest is one mountain in the Himalayan range of mountains.
Great lesson Adam, thank you so much.
But just one question: when you were explaining about the use of no article in the lakes and bays, was it me or did you say “the Hudson bay in Canada”???(about min 7:18)
Maybe it was just a mistake. We all make mistakes. It is only to make it sure ;)
Hi Knopfler,
Yup, that was a slip :)
There is also a big retail chain in Canada, called the Hudson Bay Corp., so sometimes we might mix it up.
Good ear ;)
great lessin Adam you teaches very well that everybody can understant easily
Great knopfer86, he said “the”. Good listening. Both, you and I are Spanish and we say “el Juan” “la Marta” and hopefully nothing happens is wrong but is like that. You are great fan of Engvid, aren’t you? I am.
Thank you so much for this video Adam!
I get 78. I would like to know the different between possessive pronouns and passessive adjectives.
thank you.
passessive means possessive, sorry
Hi Coffiraphael,
Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Possessive adjectives are adjectives with an apostrophe (Bob’s, the company’s , the student’s, etc.)
Hope this helps.
Thanks. I got only 6/9.
The test result was good to me.
Sir I have one question about articles.. I am preparing for IELTS exam I often get confused about the word government.. should I use a government, the government or Governments?
Hi Komal,
All of these are ok, depending on how you are using them.
The government needs to enforce stricter laws.
Governments need to work together to fight climate change.
A government that isn’t respected by its citizens is powerless.
Hope this helps.
Hi,mr.Adam!I really want to thank you for this useful lesson.I confused a lot about when use and not to use articles and i need this lesson, but you made this lesson.Thanks a million!
Hello….I’d like to brush my speaking up. Is there anyone else who is interested in speaking to me on a regular basis?
My whatsapp number is +8801812788727.
Thank you.
Rasho.
Nice video! I got 6 out of 9. 6 corrects and 3 wrongs.
8/9 :(
i got 100%. Thanks Adam. I do like your way of teaching very much.
Hi Adam, I have a question for you.
When I am working in some place and I need talk with someone about a information that another person gave me and I don’t know his name, just the position, can I use the?
Ex. I was doing my activities when the nurse call me to help him
Hi Franbortolotti,
That’s a tricky question. If there are several nurses then ‘the’ won’t help. You’ll need to use ore identifiers, for example, the nurse with …, or the nurse who….
Does his help?
Great lesson Adam! Thank you!
Thank You!
Thank you, Adam. Your lessons are easy to learn and you have a special way of explaining the ideas.
Hello Sir,
Please would you explain to me “strong word endings” before which the stress falls on the penultimate syllable.
Hi Saad,
That’s a little hard to do in writing. I’ll try to make a lesson about this.
Thank you
Thanks for the lesson. I have got 6
Using articles is my weakness.
It is for many people Maying. Keep practicing. :)
i got 7 out of 9 some are a little bit confused for me
9/9
Adam, thanks a lot!!
8/9 :(
Hi Adam,
I would like to know which following sentences is correct.
“XXXX is more in XXXX than in XXXX.”
or
“XXXX is more in XXXX than XXXX.”
Preposition of “in” should be shown one time or two times?
Hi Sophie,
I’m not sure exactly what you’re thinking of. Can you give me a concrete example?
For now, follow the idea of parallel structures:
more in ____ than in____
more _____ than ____
Hi Adam and everybody
I answered wrong to 9th question
I got confused
in Q. 9 we are talking about a certain kind of alcohol so we should use ” The ” like <>
am I right ?
Hi Saeid,
Yes, it’s a confusing one.
The problem here is that alcohol comes in many types, so you would need even more identifying information. The adjective clause in this example is not enough.
Does this help?
Hello fellow English learners!
I found this is one of the best videos on the explanation of when not to use the article.
Regarding the last quiz, I thought the correct answer would be “the alcohol” as it is not just any alcohol, it is specifying the alcohol that is not served in a sealed bottle. Would anyone please explain it to me? Thank you very much for taking a time to reply. :)
9. In some countries it is better not to drink _____ alcohol that is not served in a sealed bottle.
Khulan
Hi Khulaashka,
Yes, it’s a confusing one.
The problem here is that alcohol comes in many types, so you would need even more identifying information. The adjective clause in this example is not enough.
Does this help?
could u help me what the deference between false homophones and minimal verbs is ?
Hi Fatima,
Do you mean minimal pairs and false friends?
Minimal pairs are words that are very similar and may have only one letter or syllable difference (sit seat, desk disk); false friends are words in different languages that sounds and/or look the same but have different meanings and pronunciations.
Does this help?
Thank you. I really enjoy with your lessons. Do you give private lessons?
Hi Tiss,
I’m afraid I don’t do private lessons, but there are plenty of videos here that should help.
Good luck :)
Love it!
Thanks sir
i gor 4z correct ut of 9. I’m thinking may be i can’t understand enough.
Thanks everyone :)
Hello Adam… In general, I ussually got 70 or 80% in yours tests. But, today lesson, I got 100% (9/9). This video really help me a lot. Thanks from Chile (Not the Chile… hahaha).
Hi Mr. Adam. I got 9 of 9. And now i have understood better when to use or not to use article in a sentense or any kinds of sentences. Thank you so much.