Some Thoughts About Articles

Some Thoughts About Articles

Kevin Crittenden Version 22Apr10

Articles (a, an, and the) are considered to be adjectives because they modify the items they designate by either limiting them or making them more precise.  There are two kinds of articles, indefinite (a and an) and definite (the).

Indefinite means that the item is unspecified. 

As an example, suppose I say “Boy, I’m hungry.  For lunch today I’d like to have some fruit.” 

I could follow that up by saying, “I think I’ll eat a banana.” 

Since no particular banana has been mentioned, it would be incorrect to say “I think I’ll eat the banana.”

Definite means that you have been talking about a particular item. 

So, as an example, suppose I say “Boy, I’m hungry and I think mom left a banana on the table.” 

Since a particular banana has been mentioned, it would now be correct to say “I think I’ll take the banana for lunch.”  The banana in question is the one that was left on the table.

It would be incorrect [in this case] to say “I think I’ll take a banana for lunch.”  Only in a situation where there were several bananas to choose from would this be correct.

Now suppose I say “Boy, I’m hungry and I think mom bought some bananas.”  In this case, a particular banana has NOT been mentioned.  So the correct follow-up is: “I think I’ll take a banana for lunch.”

Now let’s add some milk.  Consider this:

CORRECT:  “I am going to the store to get milk.”

INCORRECT:  “I am going to the store to get a milk.”

CORRECT:  “I am going to the store to get a banana.”

INCORRECT: “I am going to the store to get banana.”   (A single banana; it would be quite correct to say “I am going to the store to get bananas.”

CORRECT:  “I am going to the store to get the milk.”  (If you have been talking about milk previously so that there is an ongoing context in the conversation.)

CORRECT:  “I am going to the store to get the banana.”  (Same as above)

So why can you say “I am going to the store to buy milk” but you cannot say “I am going to the store to buy banana?” [singular]

Anything that can be thought of as being a single item, a pear, a banana, a candy bar, a gallon of milk, an icepick  [note: use “an” before words beginning with a vowel sound] must use an article [a, an or the].

Anything that is plural MAY use “the” but do NOT use “a” or “an”.

“I bought bananas.  I brought the bananas home.”

“I bought Cheetos.  I also bought a box of Doritos.”

What about this?

“I bought cheese.  I bought an ounce of cheese.” 

Is cheese plural? No, the plural of cheese is cheeses. 

“I bought several cheeses at the store.”  

So in this case, why wouldn’t we say “I bought a cheese?”

   

In this case we are working with an unspecified quantity.  We don’t know how much cheese so we treat it the same as a plural quantity.

Other examples: 

“I bought meat, I bought bread, I bought catfood, I bought flour.” 

If the quantity is known, we can use an article. 

“I bought a pound of meat, I bought a loaf of bread, I bought a can of catfood, I bought a pound of flour.” 

NOTE: “I bought 5 pounds of flour, NOT “I bought a 5 pounds of flour.”  [pounds is plural]

HOWEVER:  “I bought a 5-pound sack of flour.”  [ sack is singular]