Article Errors

Article Errors A summary of articles and their uses What are articles? Articles are one of three types of determiner (articles, possessives, demonstratives) that come at the beginning of noun phrases. They help us to say whether things are known or unknown to the reader (the  man outside vs. a man outside) and whether we are speaking about particular examples of something (a car caught on fire) or talking about something in a more general sense (the car has changed Canadian cities forever). According to Swan (1995), articles are very difficult to master, but article errors dont usually interfere with communication because it is usually possible to understand a sentence with all of the articles left out. Examples of article errors The most common error that students make with articles is to leave them out when they are expected (during winter,  it  is  most  important  holiday). Also common are articles used with uncountable nouns (I  did  a  travel  last  year) and articles used with possessive forms of peoples names (the Johns house) . Missing articles INCORRECT: During fall and winter I’m coming to school by car.CORRECT: During the fall and winter I’m coming to school by car.EXPLANATION: Use the definite article the with the names of seasons. INCORRECT: I dont have job currently, but I have job in summer. CORRECT: I dont have a job currently, but I have a job in the summer. EXPLANATION: The noun job is countable, so must use a singular or plural form. For the singular form of countable nouns we use a or an. INCORRECT: Nearly half million people entered the country.CORRECT: Nearly half a million people entered the country. EXPLANATION: The noun million is countable, so must use a singular or plural form. For the singular form of countable nouns we use a or an. Articles and uncountable nouns INCORRECT: I did a travel last year.CORRECT: I did a trip last year. EXPLANATION: Do not use an indefinite article with uncountable nouns like travel. Please follow and like us: