Grammatically Correct 6/27/06
A weekly grammar tip created by Academic Center Peer Writing Tutors.
University of Houston-Victoria
3007 N. Ben Wilson
Victoria, TX 77901
Leaving Off the Article
by David Felts

Knowing when to and when not to leave off articles is important in writing because it helps the reader determine if the noun is specific to a particular object or general to a type.

Rules and Examples for Omitting Articles

Here are two of the most common situations in which articles are omitted.

  • Common uncountable (noun cannot be counted) nouns are not preceded by an article.

Examples: Pizza is Sara’s favorite food. (all sorts of pizza, can’t be counted)
Creativity is essential for advertising. (all sorts of creativity, can’t be counted)

  • Common countable (noun can be counted) plural nouns are not preceded by an article when you are talking about the class of things itself

Examples: Errors are often known as mistakes. (all errors)
Tigers are fearful animals. (all tigers)

 

Example

Meaning

Noncount Noun

Creativity is essential for advertising.

All sorts of creativity

Plural Count Noun

Tigers are fearful animals.

All tigers

Special Situations

Common count nouns are used without articles in certain special situations:

Idiomatic expressions (see handout on idioms for further explanation)

We’ll go by bus.

He must be in school.

With seasons

In spring, the flowers bloom.

With institutions

John is in college/church/jail/class/school.

With meals

Breakfast was at 9:00 am.

Cyndi made dinner for Jimmy.

With diseases

He has cancer.

I have pneumonia.

With time of day

They like to travel mostly by night.

We should get there around midnight.

Also, articles are not used before the following:

·        Names of languages (Chinese, English, Spanish)

·        Names of sports (basketball, softball, baseball)

·        Names of academic subjects (history, biology, mathematics)

Articles with Geographical Location

Specific rules deal with the use and omission of articles with geographical location. We will cover these rules in next week’s grammar tip. 

Recommended Grammar Website of the Week
by David Felts

Along with our own website, www.uhv.edu/ac, we recommend the following site: Owl Online Writing Lab. This website has a page devoted to rules of articles that complement this grammar tip.

Visit this site at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslart.html.

Test Your Knowledge
by David Felts

Test your understanding by correcting, if needed, the following sentences.

1. Albert likes to study the history.

2. James is having breakfast with Jill.

3. Cyndi loves to play the softball.

4. In art, it is important to have a creativity.

5. Mr. Chen speaks Chinese.

Answers

1. Albert likes to study history.

2. James is having breakfast with Jill. (This sentence needed no revision.)

3. Cyndi loves to play softball.

4. In art, it is important to have creativity.

5. Mr. Chen speaks Chinese. (This sentence needed no revision.)

 

Grammatically Correct is a grammar tip of the week created by Academic Center Peer Writing Tutors at the University of Houston-Victoria in Victoria, Texas.

Comments about this newsletter should be directed to Summer Leibensperger, leibenspergers@uhv.edu.

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