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  • Articles

  • Learning article in short

  • Hello

  • And welcome to the next video

  • Today I'm going to teach you about

  • a very difficult

  • confusing

  • fun

  • maybe

  • grammar point

  • called articles

  • *wink*

  • Oh, really ? Yeah

  • Articles are confusing

  • there are many many rules

  • in english about articles

  • I do not have the time

  • the energy

  • to teach you all of them

  • but I'll do my best

  • Okay?

  • And

  • What are articles first of all ?

  • Articles are

  • A

  • AN

  • and THE

  • Articles come before a noun

  • A noun is : a person

  • a place

  • or a thing

  • So

  • I'm going to generalise here

  • and say that

  • before most nouns in english

  • you have to use an article

  • Of course there are millions of exceptions

  • to what I've just said

  • Sometimes we do not use an article with a noun

  • That's a whole other lesson

  • Hold the time warp for your brain

  • we're gonna stick to these ones

  • When to use A

  • AN

  • and THE

  • before a noun in a proper english sentence

  • We use these

  • when we speak

  • when we write

  • and they're very important in grammar

  • So

  • There's no way to avoid these

  • I'll help you don't worry

  • The first one is AN

  • AN's easy

  • It's the easiest we'll do this one first

  • AN

  • is a singular noun

  • huh

  • is used in the singular nouns

  • it's in article

  • and

  • we use it before

  • the noun that starts with a vowel

  • now

  • the pronunciation of this word

  • sounds like

  • va-will

  • the vowels in english we have five vowels in english

  • they are

  • A

  • E

  • I

  • O

  • and U

  • now

  • Everyone who speaks spanish

  • portuguese

  • italian

  • any of our latin american friends

  • or latin language speakers

  • you're gonna mix up these two vowels E and I

  • Let me teach you one thing that will help you

  • If you can remember

  • that you have to dot your I

  • you're gonna get the pronunciation of this word

  • so this word

  • or this letter sorry

  • When you write this letter

  • You always have to put a *ping* a dot

  • in the middle of the word

  • so you're going to remember that

  • this I

  • you can make a nice little EYE here

  • to help you

  • So, I

  • When you write this word

  • by itself you have to use a capital

  • so this would only be in the middle of a word

  • but the pronunciation is the same

  • I

  • So

  • If you have a vowel

  • A, E, I, O, U

  • that begins

  • the noun

  • you have to use AN

  • for example

  • "eye"

  • yey

  • We have to say

  • "an eye"

  • because the word eye begins with a vowel

  • If the word begins with

  • this word

  • with this letter I

  • for example "ice cream" yey

  • We have to say "I'd like AN ice cream"

  • Do you like ice cream ?

  • Or

  • If the word begins with a vowel sound

  • How can, what is a vowel sound Ronnie ?

  • A vowel sound is usually always

  • the letter H

  • for example

  • the word

  • "hour"

  • We do not even say the H word

  • it sounds like we're saying "our"

  • So

  • Because this word "hour"

  • sounds like a vowel because the H

  • is silent

  • We have to say

  • "an hour"

  • Ok, you got it? You with me?

  • "an hour" so

  • AN

  • We use before

  • a vowel

  • or

  • before a vowel sound

  • usually

  • a noun that begins with an H

  • The next one is A

  • The very first letter of our alphabet

  • A

  • is a vowel

  • Don't let that confuse you

  • A

  • We use

  • for again a singular noun

  • All of these are going to be used with singular nouns

  • If the noun is plural

  • if the noun has an S

  • Do not use an article

  • So

  • A

  • We use for a singular noun

  • in a general form

  • You can think of this

  • easier as

  • using, replacing it with the word "any"

  • So

  • If you go

  • to

  • a coffee shop

  • and they have

  • five muffins

  • and they're all the same muffin

  • You're going to say to the person that works at the coffee shop

  • "Hello"

  • "I'd like A muffin"

  • You do not get to choose

  • or pick

  • what muffin you get

  • You can choose the flavor

  • but you cannot specifically choose

  • which muffin you would like

  • It's the same

  • as saying "any"

  • It's like saying

  • "I'd like any muffin"

  • "Just get me a muffin"

  • "I want a muffin"

  • "I'd like anything"

  • "Just give me something"

  • Okay ?

  • It's used for when you don't care which one it is

  • You just want one of something

  • A

  • If my nose was stuffy and I had to blow my nose

  • I would ask someone

  • "Do you have A Kleenex ?"

  • I don't

  • have to go through the box

  • of Kleenexes

  • "No, I don't want that one"

  • "No, yes, this, no"

  • You're just gonna get A Kleenex and you're gonna blow your nose

  • Okay ?

  • So

  • A and AN

  • the only difference is

  • AN you use before a vowel

  • as an example

  • You can say

  • "I'd like

  • a

  • cookie"

  • I was going to write coffee maybe I want a coffee right now

  • but I would definitely rather have

  • a cookie

  • I don't care which cookie you give me

  • Just give me a cookie

  • I'm the cookie monster

  • Okay ?

  • So

  • "I'd like a cookie"

  • I'd like any cookie

  • The next

  • is

  • THE

  • THE next is THE

  • THE

  • is opposite to A

  • THE

  • means something very very very specific

  • general and specific are opposite

  • this means

  • you actually choose

  • which one

  • you are going to get

  • Think about this when you go shopping

  • You do not walk into a store and go

  • "Hi, could I have a shirt ?"

  • "I don't care what it looks like I don't care how much it is

  • "Just gimme a shirt"

  • This never happens

  • Ladies

  • When you go shopping for shoes

  • You just don't go into the shoe store and say

  • "Just a pair of shoes please"

  • "Just a pair of shoes"

  • "Don't care"

  • "Size 8, fine, anything"

  • No

  • We want to go though all of the shoes

  • We want to try them all on

  • We want to get a handbag and match them

  • with our shoes

  • and choose

  • the shoes of our dreams

  • So you're not going to say "A pair of shoes"

  • You're gonna say "THE"

  • shoes

  • Another very confusing thing

  • about THE

  • is

  • the second time

  • you talk

  • about the same noun

  • in a phrase

  • you have to put

  • the second noun with THE

  • for example

  • This is a little more difficult

  • "I bought

  • some fruit"

  • Okay ?

  • "Fruit"

  • is an uncountable noun

  • If the noun is uncountable

  • we do not use an article

  • "I bought some fruit"

  • "THE fruit

  • was bad"

  • But Ronnie you just said

  • if it's an uncountable noun

  • we don't use an article

  • What are you doing ?

  • Have you lost your mind ?

  • No

  • This is a grammar rule

  • The first time I talk about the fruit

  • I use no article

  • because it's uncountable

  • but

  • the second time I'm talking about the same noun

  • I have to

  • I don't know why I just have to it's a rule

  • So I have to say "THE fruit"

  • "THE fruit was bad"

  • The third point

  • when we use the article THE

  • the article THE

  • I'm using articles all the time

  • is

  • when the speaker

  • and the listener

  • or the reader

  • whatever, if you're reading or listening

  • know

  • they both know

  • which

  • noun you are talking about

  • for example

  • If you and your friends

  • go to the same school

  • you have to say "THE school"

  • If I were talking to my friend on the phone and I said

  • "Hey, yeah, hum

  • Oh, I left my book at the school"

  • My friend and I both know

  • what school I am talking about

  • In my city there are 2,5 million schools

  • There's a lot of schools in Toronto

  • There are 2,5 million people

  • and a lot of people go to different schools

  • but because my friend and I go to the same school

  • I have to say "THE school"

  • "I'm going to go

  • to THE school tomorrow"

  • You and I both know we're talking about the same one

  • Okay ?

  • The next one is

  • we use with countries

  • but only 1% of the countries of the world

  • So I ask you

  • What country are you from ?

  • I am from Canada

  • We have listeners from all over the world

  • I would guarantee that 99% of you

  • would not use an article with your country name

  • I come from Canada

  • Below Canada there's a country

  • it's a big country called

  • anyone know?

  • Below Canada ? Geography time

  • The United States of America

  • or, shorter

  • the USA

  • A lot of people, their ancestors

  • in Canada came from a country

  • a group of countries called the United Kingdom

  • THE United Kingdom

  • hum

  • There's a country in the middle east called

  • the United Arab Emirates

  • If anyone from there ?

  • I went there once in an airplane

  • It's cool

  • The United States

  • The United Kingdom

  • The United Arab Emirates

  • All of these three countries

  • we have to use THE

  • because

  • there is the word "united" in the title

  • of the country

  • I do not say "the" Canada

  • I do not say "the" Japan

  • If the word has "united" in it I say "the"

  • The second one is

  • if the country has more than two words

  • in the name

  • you're gonna say "the"

  • for example "New Zealand"

  • New Zealand only has two words

  • I do not say 'the' New Zealand

  • If it has more than two words

  • I have to put "the"

  • in front of the country

  • The last one is the most difficult

  • If you are like me and did not do well in geography class

  • this one's hard

  • we have to use THE

  • if the country is comprised of

  • tiny or small islands

  • I do not expect everyone in the world to know

  • which countries are made of small islands

  • but to help you out

  • off the top of my head

  • the Philippines

  • if you look at a map

  • The Philippines has many tiny little islands

  • that make one country

  • another example would be The West Indies

  • The Canary Islands

  • these are all places

  • that have small islands that

  • form one country

  • So

  • If you look at Japan for example

  • Japan has

  • maybe five or more islands

  • but there are quite large

  • so we cannot use this as "the Japan"

  • They have to be very small islands

  • I hope you understand this

  • If you have a question please leave me a comment

  • if you need more help with this

  • please ask me

  • bye

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