Zero Articles

This lesson is all about zero Articles zero article is the name we give where a noun is not preceded by an article ie the A or an we use zero Articles in generic plurals uncountable nouns proper nouns abstract nouns materials and meals we use them for generic plurals and uncountable nouns in the previous examples.

We’ve always highlighted say the article or the adverb or the noun or whatever is.

The lesson is about me.

I put it in italics so it makes it easier to see no of course the zero article is is nothing.

There’s nothing to highlight or put in italics.

So what I’ve done in this particular lesson is I’ve highlighted the noun that doesn’t have an article in front of it.

Apples are supposed to be good for you Generic Plural of apples we mean apples all apples not specific apples.

Elephants are big animals not just specific animals but generally speaking elephants are big animals.

So we use no article in this case

dogs usually chase cats.

Again with generalizing.

money makes the world go round on an uncountable nouns.

Now many people listen to music at the gym is not a specific type of music that a specific band a specific group person.

As a generalization let’s save time and drive during the night and we are talking generally about saving time not a specific amount of time.

We also use zero Articles with proper nouns.

Kate saw Tom in town yesterday.

Both Kate and Tom are proper nouns you have to be a little bit careful because there are some languages where these cases of proper nouns do have an article and a very common mistake.

You will see if they might say this as Kate saw the Tom in town yesterday.

If they literally translate from their language into English and in English we don’t use an article with proper nouns so please be careful with that Ken is from Hong Kong Hong Kong is also a proper noun P.S. speaks French at home Sally intends to climb Mount Everest Mars is closer to us than Saturn

Brenda was born in February and in all of these examples you can see the proper noun is in italics and there is no article in front of them we also use zero articles or no article.

with abstract nouns and materials a beauty and truth are both abstract nouns and by abstract nouns we mean it’s nothing tangible you can’t like an apple is a concrete now because you can hold an apple in your hand whereas things like beauty and truth are abstract and there is of course a section on nouns and there’s a lesson in that on abstract and concrete now so please feel free to check that out if you need a little bit more information on those honesty is usually the best policy.

envy is not an attractive quality.

Now some terrible examples per table is made of wood tubers are made of metal

clarinets are usually made of wood or plastic when we’re talking about meals we do no article unless we’re talking about a meal that also has an adjective.

Sounds a bit odd but we’ll see some examples.

A breakfast is the most important meal of the day all breakfast not specific.

Breakfast Penny usually just has some fruit for lunch.

I would like to invite you out for dinner this evening and these are all examples where we have no article before the noun in italics we say.

Bob prefers to sleep longer and only has a quick breakfast because breakfast has an adjective in front of it.

We then add an article has a quick breakfast.

That was a very tasty dinner.

We’re talking about that specific dinner as well.

There is however one exception to the previously mentioned rules about having no article with proper nouns and I’ll show you an example of it now.

I met Tom Hanks yesterday said someone what V Tom Hanks know my sister’s new boyfriend is also called Tom Hanks and we do use an article here as we want to ask about a specific person.

So I think what the Tom Hanks like what that famous one who most people think of when they hear the name.

So this is a small exception to the rule we previously had about when we can use an article with proper nouns as in names of people.