1. English Articles Explanation for Non-native speakers Abstract This is a presentation of how an engineer who is not a native speaker of English has understood what the English articles do. An English noun can denote either the whole class, a sub- class, a member, or some members in the class. So you need 'determiners' to clarify which (the whole class, a sub-class, a member, or members) each noun means. The articles are part of the determiners. The definite article ('the') indicates that the following noun is obvious, unique, familiar, previously mentioned, or is in the process of being clarified by the words surrounding the noun. The indefinite articles ('a' and 'an') are used to introduce a new countable noun.

2. Nouns are ambiguous In this presentation, a class means the group of things having similar nature so that one common name (noun) has been assigned to refer to all the members. A class consists of individual members, and those members having similar features that are different from other members may form sub-classes. For example, suppose you had a dog named Fido. He is a beagle. Dog is the class name, beagle is a sub-class. Fido is a member of the sub-class beagle, which is a member of the higher class 'dog.' ( see the next slide) Dog is also a sub-class of the larger class 'animal' Using one noun to refer to the whole class or a member or some members in the class is convenient. But on the the hand, it is problematic because the noun by itself has no method to tell which(class or a member) you are referring to. When you think 'dog', as long as you are just thinking by yourself, just 'dog' will do because you know exactly what you are referring to.

3. Classes and members Shepherd Beagle Dachshund Collie DOG ANIMAL Fido

4. Articles are needed to clarify But when you communicate with others, who cannot see what's in your brain, you need to add more information to the noun 'dog' to make it mean exactly what you want to. From just hearing 'dog' a listener cannot tell what you mean. Is it your Fido, or your neighbor's dog, the dog you saw at the kennel, or the dog in the TV commercial, or some beagles, or even all the dogs in the world? So the communication fails due to the ambiguity. In English, special group of words called 'determiners' are used before nouns to take care of this problem of ambiguity. Articles are part of this determiners. Articles add information and help 'determine'' exact meaning (class/member scope) of the nouns they are attached to.

5. Determiners A determiner makes a noun following it specific by clarifying class membership ambiguity. It selects one, some, all, or no members of the class denoted by a noun. Determiners are; My, your, our, their, his, her, it's (possessive) Some, several, all, any, many, few, no, each, every, either, neither ( selector ) This, that, these, those (pointer) A, an, the, (articles) The determiners are mutually exclusive. You can only use one determiner word for a single noun. You cannot say 'the my dog' nor 'my this dog.' Of all the determiners, the articles have the lowest priority, so when other determiners are used, the articles are omitted.

6. How to specify members -1 1. By using determiners ; Some/my/your/any/no/each dog 2. By using specific name of a member Fido, Pooch, Spot, Jiro 3. By referring to the previous mention I saw a dog on the street. The dog barked at me. 4. By describing feature; size,color, sub-class name, etc. The brown dog. The beagle. The small dog. 5. By mentioning the condition I was looking at the sick/healthy/happy/sad dog. 6. By mentioning the position in rank, order, space, or time The best dog. The first dog in the row. The dog I saw yesterday. The dog in the cage.

7. How to specify members -2 7. By mentioning result of action, or by relation The dog (that/which) I brought in. The dog chained to the post. 8. By mentioning action the noun object is performing The dog chasing after the car. 9. By being unique, in proximity, familiar, or obvious Open the door/window. Put your book on the desk/table. Mother went to the bank/post-office/station/market. The sun, the moon, the earth The street, the mayor, the governor, the town (Familiarity is culture dependent. Parts of your body are assumed to be very familiar, so they always need 'the') Methods 4 - 8 can be used in combination until the ambiguity has been cleared : The barking short tailed brown beagle under the table. Methods 3 - 9 above use the definite article 'the' to indicate status of the specifying task as either 'done' or 'in progress'

8. Definite and indefinite articles The definite article 'the' is used to indicate that the noun following it has been previously mentioned, or is so obvious as not to need any explanations due to local or global familiarity, uniqueness, proximity or visibility, or is now in process of being clarified by the words surrounding it. In contrast, the indefinite article 'a/an' is used to temporarily mention one member of the class denoted by a noun without making specific as to which exact member the noun is referring to. It is used to mean 'any one member' of a class. Since it only can mean 'one', it cannot be used to mean multiple members nor used for uncountable nouns.

9. Other use of indefinite articles Main usage of the indefinite articles 'a' or 'an' was to denote 'any one member of a class.' In addition to this usage, there are other uses of the indefinite article. In the following examples, they are used to mean 'one' and by extension, to mean 'the same', or to mean 'per one' as. A thousand people saw it. one thousand The room charge is $200 a night. $200 per one night Birds of a feather flock together. Birds having the same feather

10. Introducing a new noun So, which article do you use when you want to bring a noun into your conversation or writing? If the noun has appeared before and is still remembered, or if the noun refers to a visible thing located near you, or if the noun refers to a familiar or unique thing, or if there are words around the noun to specify it's location in rank, order, time or space, or if it describe specific features/conditions of the noun, ---> Use definite 'the' (In these cases, you can replace 'the' with 'that' without changing the meaning. Both you and the listener can understand what is meant by 'that' thing. ) If the noun is plural or is uncountable ---> Use no article. If the noun is countable and singular ---> Use 'a' or 'an'

11. After a singular countable noun is introduced by using 'a/an' before it, the noun becomes clarified (specified, defined) for the listener or reader. So, from that point on you can use the definite article 'the' to refer to the same noun. In a way using 'the' here is equivalent to saying 'thing that has been already introduced.' This second mention rule applies to synonyms as well. I saw a dog across the street. The animal/beagle/dog/canine was barking at the mailman. Combine butter, sugar, and eggs. Add flour to the mixture. Here, 'mixture' is a synonym for the first three ingredients. (This example is from Peter Master's article in April 1988 issue of the English Teaching Forum) Second time mention

12. Countable and Uncountable Nouns The definite article 'the' can be used for all nouns regardless of countability, but the indefinite articles 'a' or 'an' are used only for singular case of countable nouns. Countable nouns are those denoting objects that are visible and tangible and having fixed shapes. Uncountable nouns do not have fixed shapes, and some are invisible. Even though tangible and visible, things having no fixed shape such as liquid, gas, powder, grain, are not considered countable. Such nouns are called mass nouns. Nouns denoting intangible and invisible things, like emotions, concepts, ideas, are called abstract nouns and are uncountable.

13. Noun countability ABSTRACTMASSCONCRETE UNCOUNTABLE VISIBLE / TANGIBLE COUNTABLE INVISIBLE COUNTABLE Countable using Adjectives Countable using measure words PROPER

14. Countable is cultural What is countable in English may not be considered countable in your native language. When in doubt, consult with a proper English dictionary that has countable/uncountable classification. The following is a list of words Japanese learners of English often mistake as being countable. Advice, assistance, data, energy, equipment, furniture, information, knowledge, luggage, power

15. Countability is context dependent Some nouns (especially abstract nouns) have multiple meanings and can be countable or not countable depending upon context. Examples; It is time to go. (uncount) I came here three times. (count) Based on fact (uncount) Get the facts straight (count) Apply pressure (uncount) Plot pressures on a graph (count) He is under fire (uncount) Build a fire for the camp (count) He is in hospital (uncount) I see three hospitals in the map. The meeting is in session Some sessions were interesting.

16. Counting the Uncountables There are some ways to count uncountable nouns. One method is to use adjectives or relative phrases to attribute specific feature or property to a noun. Once a special feature is attributed, the noun becomes a unique instance of the uncountable noun. Being unique allows it to be counted. A blue sky, a beautiful scenery, a happiness that lasted weeks Another method available for counting mass nouns is by using a unit of measurement or a container to fix the amount (mass) A cup of coffee, a piece of cake, a slice of meat, two kilos of resin Still another method, common in science and engineering is to focus on 'values' abstract nouns can have and use a plural form. Pressures measured were plotted. (there are many value of the pressure, or many measurement points)

17. Articles selection process Write out your sentences. Write the whole paragraph or if short the whole document. This will be useful when checking for the previous mention of a noun. For each noun, do; If a non-article determiner is found, no need to use the articles. If the noun meets one of the following, use 'the' is familiar, well known, unique, visible and near has been previously mentioned and is still current has phrases starting with 'which' or 'that' to give attributes has phrases specifying location in rank, order, space, or time has phrases specifying action or result of action Else If plural or not countable, do not use 'a' or 'an' If first time single countable, use 'a' or 'an' End if After all done, check idiomatic patterns for special handling.

18. Summary A noun can denote either the whole class, a sub-class, a member, or members in the class. Determiners are needed to clarify which (the whole class, a sub- class, a member, or members) a noun means. The articles belong to the determiners. The definite article flags that the noun following it is obvious, unique, familiar, previously mentioned, or is in the process of being clarified by the words surrounding the noun. The indefinite articles are used to introduce a new countable noun. Once a noun is introduced, you can use 'the' from the second time on. Nouns are either countable or uncountable. Things denoted by countable nouns have fixed shapes and are visible and tangible. Things denoted by uncountable nouns do not have fixed shapes. A specific instance of uncountable nouns can be counted.

19. Acknowledgment and disclaimer I am obligated to the internet and all those nice people who made many useful English grammar tutorials and research papers available on the net. Without freely available information on the internet, I would have been confined to using outdated hard copy books and my progress would have been terribly slow. The understanding that the nouns have ambiguity because they refer to both a class and members in the class, and that determiners including the articles are used to clarify that ambiguity is my own so the blame is entirely on me if this idea is wrong. It just seemed a natural way to make an engineer understand the concept. I am an engineer by trade. I encountered difficulty learning the articles, so started to investigate ways to improve the situation. I came to this realization of the role of the articles as being 'class ambiguity clarifying flags' after noticing some similarity of the articles with how variables are handled in computer programming languages. This presentation is released in hope that non-native English learners, especially those engineers having hard time learning English, may benefit from this different, engineer oriented explanation of how the articles work. All rights reserved by Takeharu Gima. Feb 14, 2014. You are free to use and distribute this presentation and the information contained as long as it is for your personal use and not for commercial purpose. Contact: Takeharu.gima@gmail.com