ARTICLES

 A.   Use no article

1.      with material （物質）or abstract uncountable（抽象數不到）nouns (e.g. water, butter, gold, iron （鐵）, music, literature （文學）, etc.) if they are used in a general sense:

         e.g.   Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen.

                  Platinum is a useful metal.

                  He loves wine and music.

                  Honesty is the best policy.

2.      with a countable（數得到） noun in the plural form to indicate the objects as a class（類別）:

         e.g.   Birds can fly.

                  Tigers are on the brink of extinction.

                  Cars are getting more expensive these days.

3.      with a countable noun in the plural form to indicate indefinite examples （例子）of a class of objects:

         e.g.   They are students.

                  They want to become engineers.

4.      before the same of meals （餐）when they refer to the meals as daily routine activities:

         e.g.   Breakfast is served at eight o'clock.

                  What do you usually have for lunch?

                  When shall we have dinner?

5.      before the names of games（遊戲、運動）:

         e.g.   Volleyball is very popular in our school.

                  He is good at hockey.

6.      before titles （名銜）if they are followed by the names of the persons:

         e.g.   Queen Elizabeth II was coronated in 1953.

                  Pope Paul VI died in1978.

                  Do you know anything about Captain Cook?

7.      before the names of persons（人物） and places（地點）:

         e.g.   Shakespeare was born in English.

                  Peking is a beautiful city.

8.      after as (= in the capacity（職位）of):

         e.g.   Mr Chan succeeded Mr Wong as chairman.

                  John Lee will replace Paul Wong as secretary.

9.      before the names of languages（語言）:

         e.g.   Besides Chinese, she can speak French and German.

10.    in set phrases like the following:

         e.g.   all day                 at sunrise            for example                 in due course

                  at dawn              at sunset             for instance                 in person

                  at home              at work               from day to day          in safety

                  at length             by air                  go to bed                     in trouble

                  at midnight         by bus                go to church                on board

                  at night               by car                 go to prison                 on business

                  at noon               by post               go to hospital               on foot

                  at once               by ship                in danger                     on holiday

                  at school             by train               in debt                         on purpose

                  at short notice    day in, day out   in difficulties                on time

B.    Use the indefinite article, “a/an”

11.    with a single （單數）countable noun when the object referred to is considered representative （代表）of the class to which it belongs:

         e.g.   A horse is a beautiful animal. (=Horses are beautiful animals.)

                  There are three sides in a triangle.

12.    with a singular countable noun to indicate that an object is an example of a class:

         e.g.   I am a teacher.

                  You are a student.

                  My father is an engineer.

13.    with a singular countable noun when a/an means one but the ideas of "oneness" is not emphasised:

         e.g.   I can see a (=one) church in the distance.

                  There is an (=one) apple on the table.

         If an indefinite article is required, a is placed before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound. The spelling is not always a safe guide.

        

         e.g.   a table                a book                         a man

                  a European        a one-eyed man          a useless book

                  an apple             an X-ray                      an honest man

                  an heiress           an M.A.degree            an 8-year-old girl

         Occasionally, an article may be used before a proper noun:

        

         e.g.   A Mr. Chen （哪位陳先生）came to see you this morning. (i.e.  A certain man by the name of Chan. . . )

C.    Use the definite article,”the”

15.    with a noun mentioned a second time（第二次再說同一名詞）:

         e.g.   My brother bought a TV and a tape-recorder, but returned the tape-recorder.

                  The car has knocked down a day; you can still see the boy lying unconscious on the road.

16.    when referring to something that the speaker assumes the hearer can identify in the environment they both share（當講者認為聽者對所指事物有共識）:

         e.g.   Go to the door. Please open the windows.

17.    before superlatives（比較式形容詞）:

         e.g.   He is the best student in this class.

                  She is the most beautiful girl in this town.

18.    before a noun which indicates something unique（獨一無二）:

         e.g.   Look at the sun.

                  The first landing on the moon took place in 1969.

19.    before an adjective which refers to a class of people（在某類別人士的形容詞之前）:

         e.g.   The Government should take care of the blind and the deaf.

                  An ambulance arrived and took the wounded to hospital.

20.   before a singular countable noun when referring to a particular class of things or people（在描述某類人或物件的名詞之前）:

         e.g.   The dog is a loyal domestic animal. (= Dogs are loyal domestic animals.)

                  The student has a harder life than anyone else. (= Students have a harder life than anyone else.)

21.    before a noun followed by an adjective phrase or clause（形容詞句式之前）:

         e.g.   The windows of this rooms have been broken.

                  I have completely forgotten the Physics I learnt at school.

22.    before the names of hotels:

         e.g.   The Peninsula Hotel. （半島酒店）

                  The Hilton Hotel（希爾頓酒店）

23.    before the names of mountain ranges（山脈）:

         e.g.   The Alps（阿爾卑斯山脈）

                  The Rockies（洛磯山脈）

                  The Hamalayas（喜瑪拉雅山脈）

        COMPARE: Mount Everest（艾菲爾士山）, Mount Kilimanjaro.

24.    before the names of rivers（河流） and canals（運河）:

         e.g.   The River Congo（剛果河）

                  The Nile（尼羅河）

                  The Thames（泰晤士河）

                  The Suez Canal（蘇伊士運河）

                  The Panama Canal（巴拿馬運河）

         COMPARE: Lake Ontario（安大略湖）, Lake Victoria（維多利亞湖）.

25.    before the names of newspapers:

         e.g.   The Singtao Daily News（星島日報）

                  The South China Morning Post（南華早報）

26.    before the names of seas（海域）, oceans （海洋）and deserts（沙漠）:

         e.g.   The Mediterranean（地中海） (Sea)

                  The Atlantic （大西洋）(Ocean)

                  The Sahara （撒哈拉沙漠）(Desert)

27.    before the names of ships:

         e.g.   The Titanic（鐵達尼號）

                  The Queen Elizabeth（伊莉莎白號）

28.    before the names of musical instruments（樂器）:

         e.g.   I like to play the guitar.

                  She is very good at playing the piano.

29.    before names that describe or tend to describe the organisations（機構） or places （地方）referred to:

         e.g.   The Military Ministry Hospital

                  The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation（上海匯豐銀行）

                  The Central District（中環）

                  The Chinese University of Hong Kong（中文大學）

                  The Independent Commission Against Corruption（廉政公署）

        

         If the designations are considered given names in themselves（如該地點已提示某些資料）, it is normal to omit the.

         e.g.   Queen Elizabeth Hospital

                  Hang Seng Bank

                  Central

                  Argyle Street

30.    before the names of certain groups of islands（群島）or countries（由不同地域組成的國家）:

         e.g.   The Netherlands（荷蘭）

                  The Philippines（菲律賓）

                  The East Indies（東印度）

                  The West Indies（西印度）

                  The Soviet Union（蘇聯）

                  The United States (of America) （美（利堅合眾）國）

EXERCISE

At the places in the following passages it is necessary to put a or an or the in the blanks to make correct sentences. At other places the sentence is correct without writing anything in the blanks. Write a, an, and the where necessary. Where this is not necessary make a cross like this X. Do not leave any blank empty.

PASSAGE A

        

         Mr David Osgood, the famous conductor, learned to play       1       violin at       2       early age. His musical talent was soon discovered, and in     3       due course he was enrolled at      4      Royal School of      5     Music and Art, where he learned      6       art of conducting.

         Then       7       luck came at the age of 29. His was asked to stand in for      8         sick conductor. His performance was highly praised and his talent immediately recognised. His successful career reached     9        new climax in May      10      last year, when he was appointed as       11     music director of        12         Ox Town Philarmonic.

PASSAGE B

         A man who was believed to have robbed        13       bank in        14         Central was arrested by the police        15      few weeks ago. Yesterday      16     suspect was tried in      17        court. During       18       trial,       19        strong evidence was brought against him.     20        jury unanimously found him guilty and       21       judge sent him to     22     prison for three years.

PASSAGE C

         We were camping in Saigon when      23       strong wind arose and      24       weather was bitterly cold and wet. It was not     25      comfortable occasion for      26     campers.

         Then, to make      27       things worse,       28      rain came on.

We moved into the tents. The cold rain kept falling and I could feel my ears and nose getting numb with        29         cold. We were very tired and finally fell into       30      troubled sleep.

               31       next day, after        32        hasty breakfast, we packed our things and hurried home.

PASSAGE D

         Volcanoes possess       33       awesome destructive power. On 8th May, 1902,        34       downpour of burning mud from      35      Mount Pelee on the Caribbean island in        36      West Indies covered the city of St. Pierre within       37       seconds, killing      38      entire popular of 30,000. In 1883, the eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia, which was heard 3,000 miles away, killed more than 36,000 people. In A.D. 79, volcanic dust from Vesuvius rapidly buried      39      whole of Pompeii,      40      flourishing town of        41       ancient Rome. Today the town has been rediscovered, and because the debris from the volcano has preserved it so well,        42      achaeologists are able to learn from it much about life in       43      Rome times.

PASSAGE E

Extracts from a letter to      44       China Mail

         I am       45     man of forty-three, divorced, with three children living with me. I graduated from      46     European university with         47     honours degree in biology. At present I am in between       48      jobs. Two years ago I worked for       49        Department of Fisheries and Agriculture on       50       one-year research project, experimenting with various methods of rearing pigs. My main interests are      51      SCUBA diving and mountain climbing. I am looking for a mature lady with       52      similar interests to be my wife. I should like all girls to send       53      photographs and I will acknowledge all serious replies.