Articles and Singular Countable Nouns

To read the Introductory units on articles, click here. 

What's the problem in the sentence below?

This was a happiest time in my life.

To read the Introductory units on articles, click here. 

How Do You Know Which Article to Use?

The singular form of a countable noun can be introduced by the articles a, an and the. 

Articles and Singular Countable Nouns: the

Use the article the before the singular countable noun when the person to whom you are speaking or writing knows and understands without further clarification which specific item you are referring to.

Notice that the writer begins by using the article a and then shifts to the once the specific article is established.

  • Once I set a sofa bed on fire. The sofa bed stood on the street next to my building.  The sofabed was on fire...

  • Kingsborough Community College is a beautiful college with seagulls all around.  There arex sculptures everywhere, decorating the college campus.

  • If I had dropped out of school, I probably would have become a salesperson.

Use the article the when the writer is distinguishing one special item from among many.  (For further information, see our unit on superlative forms of adjectives.)

  • A few days later, I met the woman who would become my wife

Sometimes English speakers use the when it seems we should be using a. Why is this?  When only one of the item exists locally and the reference is to a local and public institution, English speakers use the article the.

  • My neighbors called the fire department.

  • When somebody calls me, I usually give the telephone to my husband, who speaks better English than I do.

Some proper nouns* that have an adjectival reference in the name use the article the as part of the name.

* the name of a specific person, place or thing

  • the Dominican Republic

  • the former Soviet Union

Fix This!

What's the problem in the sentence below?

Problem:  This was a happiest time in my life.
Solution: This was the happiest time in my life. 

Next...  Articles and Plural Countable Nouns

Click here to continue with articles and plural countable nouns.


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