I'm adam in today's video.

I want to talk to you about the zero article.

Now, some of you might not be familiar with this word.

The zero article is basically the situations in which we don't use any article.

Ah and the ah these are definite and indefinite articles.

zero article means no article.

So I'm gonna give you nine situations or nine rules where you should not use an article and like it is with english in many ways.

There are also exceptions.

So the rule is pretty general, but there are specific exceptions or situations where the rule does not apply.

And I will point these out as well.

So we're gonna start with a few very basic ones.

Uh to be honest with you, the only way to understand, like not understand to remember these is just to memorize them and practice them.

Just know the rules and just keep remembering them.

Whenever you're writing.

When I get to the last two or three rules, it gets a little bit trickier, but for the beginning it's just very straightforward just to remember.

Okay, so we're gonna start with country names.

All country names.

Do not take an article.

So Canada or England or brazil or Iran or china or Vietnam etcetera.

No article but there are exceptions and I wrote this for short, I'll just write it out for you if you want to make sure an exception is the one or two times, whether the rule does not apply.

So any country that has the word Republic Federation or United in the name of the country takes the so for example Korea.

There's two ways to refer to the to the country.

South Korea.

One is just Korea or South Korea.

Or the more technical formal name is the Republic of Korea Russia or the Russian Federation.

So as soon as you see these words in the name of the country at the if the country is plural at the so the Philippines, the Virgin Islands, the Seychelles etcetera.

The Bahamas, as soon as there's an s as a plural, add the and of course there's the Vatican which is technically its own country, it's special.

There's only one.

So we put the otherwise no article.

Now that's country name.

Now we're talking about the people who live in these countries.

So nationalities.

When we're making a general reference.

So if you go to the U.

N.

Like in that side of the building, that's where the americans are sitting on the Russians sit on the other side, they separate from each other.

So when you're talking about people and you're describing people then you use the otherwise in a general reference nationalities.

You don't use the no article but again there's an exception.

If the nationality is the same word as the language that they speak, then you use the then you use the definite article right?

So the french, speak french, the french means the french people speak french.

The french language Canadians.

However, speak english.

So Canadians and english.

Two different words.

No article, same word for nationality and language, the nationality gets an article, but that leads us to rule number three languages, languages don't get an article, no exceptions.

All languages english, french, Russian, Persian, Arabic, chinese, japanese, whatever.

No, uh, no article four sports.

So all sports don't get an article but and this is not really an exception, but it can often be confused.

Sporting events do get an article because there's only one of them.

There are definite events or the olympics, The US open, the whatever other events there are.

Again, some of them are not Wimbledon tennis match.

I'm not sure if there's an actual formal name for it or if it's just Wimbledon tennis match.

But most sporting events get because they're very specific and only one of them.

So these are very easy, you just have to remember the rules and most importantly remember the exceptions that's where people get a little bit confused.

Let's look at some more.

Okay, so now we have a few more rules and again, these are the ones that you're just gonna memorize and try to remember and keep in mind that most of these rules are especially important in writing.

Of course they're important in speaking as well.

But if you make mistakes, people will still generally understand what you're saying in writing, it can make a big difference to the flow to the feel of the writing.

So try to remember these and apply them whenever you can.

So next number five we're looking at academic subjects.

Now, individual subjects don't take an article but when you group them into a category then the category will take an article, it will take the so for example, philosophy is just a subject, it doesn't take an article but philosophy is part of the humanities.

The humanities like philosophy, english all these things that go together.

The sciences, the arts.

Whenever you have a grouping at the individual subjects, no article number six.

So now we have a few geographical or geographic features.

These you have to really, they're a little bit hard to remember because you're not going to use these things.

You're not gonna refer to geographic regions very often but you should still remember when to use an article and when not to and again it's just memorization.

So single mountains that are named don't take an article.

So for example, Mount Fuji, Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro.

Because you have the Mt, the Mt acts as the identified as the definite modifier to the name.

So Mount fuji.

But when you have mountain ranges when you have a group of mountains then and you name the group again it's the same as the subjects.

The categories then you add the so the rockies, the Swiss alps, the Himalayan range etcetera.

Next we have lakes and bays.

Bay is like a lake except one end is open to the sea or the ocean A lake is within land surrounded by land.

So lakes and bays don't take an article.

So lake baikal in Russia or the Hudson bay in Canada.

No article.

Again if you're gonna put a group like in North America between Canada and the US, there are the Great Lakes, there are five lakes, Lake Ontario Lake area like here on etcetera.

The Great Lakes as the group individuals not but seas, oceans, gulfs and rivers.

The the Mississippi, the mediterranean sea, the pacific ocean, the gulf of Mexico.

Okay the Mississippi River, the Nile river etcetera.

Other features like canyons, valleys or fjords.

All these things because they are only because there's only one of them.

If it's named then you add the because you're specifying one only but again it's not that often you're going to be talking about the Grand Canyon so you should be able to remember next number seven proper names and this is where it gets, it starts to get a little bit confusing.

Seven and then eight and nine are a little bit more confusing so I'll slow it down when you're talking about person.

So an individual person who you who you whom you're referring to by name does not take an article.

You don't say the bob the Wendy, you just say their names right?

Cos you don't say the apple, you just say apple corp or IBM or amazon or whatever company you're talking about schools Now schools generally do not take an article, but we have an exception here.

Schools that have of in their name take the so for example, Harvard University know the the University of Toronto with the so any school name that has of the College of Medicine.

Right.

Anything that has an of in it, even if it's a small one, the London School of Economics, then you're gonna add the no of no.

The again, just remember that there's no I can't really tell you why that is.

It's a little strange.

And then another exception.

Museums.

Oh sorry.

So we also had organizations proper names but museums, galleries, churches or basically anything that's like a little bit touristy.

And there's only one of then you add the so the Metropolitan Museum, uh the Uffizi Gallery, the sucker occur.

Right?

So these are very specific places.

There's only one of them.

And that's why we're adding the to make them individuals.

So again, memorize practice.

Look for in your reading and writing.

Let's look at number eight and nine and they'll be a little bit trickier.

Okay, so we have two more rules to get through.

And these ones can be a little bit tricky sometimes and I'll show you why.

So when we have other modifiers.

Sometimes these modifiers act as the the pointer.

Right?

So what does what does the do the signifies that something is a definite noun.

Right.

Other modifiers can do the same job.

Especially these three, they're not the only ones.

But these are the most common ones that you can use instead of the article.

So possessive pronouns, my, your, his, her, their etcetera.

So these when I say my book, the my makes it definitely it's mine.

It's not yours, it's not his, it's not someone else's, right?

So that word my makes the book definite.

So I don't need the to make it definite, right?

That's why you don't mix the two together.

And this is a bit of a problem that some people have.

They will mix the two.

So for example, someone return the my book that I lost last week.

So obviously you should recognize that.

I can say someone returned the book that I lost last week because I'm identifying the book.

So it's a definite book or someone returned my book that I lost last week.

Okay, now, technically when I have my book that my identifies the book, so this becomes non identifying and I would switch it to.

Which if I want to give that extra information, right?

Because otherwise you have two things identifying the book and it's unnecessary if you use the keep that if you use my switch to which so that's a little bit tricky.

That's why people get confused because they're not sure what is doing the function of identifying what is doing the function of making something definite.

So you have to be a little bit careful about that.

Same with demonstrative pronouns, this that these those it they etcetera.

So pass me that the cup so pass me that cup.

Or pass me the cup.

As long as the person listening understands which cup you're referring to when you say the.

So in this case again I don't need the no article.

I don't need the no article.

But make sure that the other modifier you're using identifies or makes the noun definite.

And again quantify Irs or other modifiers.

There are a few other modifiers.

The key is not which modifier you're using.

The key is the function of the modifier to identify to make something definite.

So that's another rule.

This one is not so much about memorization.

This one is about recognizing the situation of the sentence.

So you have to be a little bit more careful.

The other the other rules I gave you were just remember them.

This one, understand it a little different And the same with number nine when you make a general reference to uncountable and abstract nouns, you're not going to use uh an article.

So some examples people need to drink water regularly.

Water is an uncountable noun so you can't make it definite but the water in the glass is warm.

So here I'm talking about a specific quantity of water so I can make it definite because I am also the water that is in the glass.

I'm identifying this particular quantity, not water in general.

So in general.

Uncountable.

Know the specific quantified the Oh, that's a little bit clear.

Now, when you have abstract abstract nouns are basically an idea.

You can't actually hold on to it, you can't touch it, you can't see it etcetera.

Love is beautiful.

Love is generally an idea of feeling.

So there's no the but a mother's love is beautiful ah indefinite because we're not talking, we're not sure which mother, but we're talking about a specific type of love.

But again, different mothers different loves.

That's the idea the love a mother gives her child cannot be matched by anything else.

So that specific love that a mother gives to a child any mother any child then it's a bit more definite than I would use.

But general reference abstract.

No, the hope is a little bit clear.

Now somebody asked very specifically about certain things that they think are specific but in fact are kind of abstract.

So for example, take office or run for office.

The word office is not a room with a desk and a computer offices.

A position.

It's a political position.

It's an abstract position.

You can't actually see it or touch it or do anything with it.

An office like a physical office has walls, the door ceiling in our floor.

It's a real thing.

Run for office or take office in terms of politics.

Just an abstract idea.

Okay.

And President now he ran for President.

President here is not is not a person.

President here again is an abstract idea.

He ran for the presidency of the country.

Right?

So he ran for president, just a bit shorter.

This is a position, This is an idea.

What what is what is the president actually?

It's just a person who everybody agrees is the president once he's elected.