September 19th, 2009
There are two main articles in the English language – a and the. A variant to the first article is an, which is used before words that begin with vowels.
Articles are used before nouns, and just like adjectives (also used before nouns), articles also modify nouns.
Know what modify means? It means ‘to change’ in some way or another.
Let’s look at an example,
I saw a cat. I saw an otter.
I saw the cat.
In the first sentence, I’m referring to a cat that I saw. It may have been any cat. I’m not being specific.
In the second sentence, I’m referring to a particular cat that I saw. I’m being specific.
That’s why a and an are called indefinite articles. And the is called a definite article.
There is a corresponding
ESL lesson plan on articles on the blog. Check it out, if you’re an ESL teacher and looking for a nudge of inspiration
No Comments | In: Super Simple Grammar Girl | tags: articles, definite articles, grammar articles, indefinite articles. | #
September 13th, 2009
This is a lesson plan for teaching articles that was requested by a reader. Articles are possibly the simplest, yet the most most arbitrary grammar rules to learn. Most languages apart from English do not have articles, and I know most ESL students are completely flummoxed by their need. But well, strange is the English language 
Presenting a lesson on articles is not the most difficult of things, anticipating your particular students’ problems is. Considering that there are no articles in Latin, Sanskrit or Persian – the mai-baap (roots) of many modern languages – English teachers, at least the ones interested in etymological mysteries, may wonder where the articles in English language crept up from. I haven’t found a meaningful explanation yet, so if you can give me a clue, fire away in the Comments section.
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No Comments | In: ESL Lesson Plans | tags: a, a an the, an, articles, ESL, ESL Lesson Plans, lesson plan, teaching articles, the. | #
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