In the previous video, a continuation of articles, I provided a set of guidelines to help you understand some basic rules about the indefinite article a and an.
Definite article the and 0 article.
However, there are a lot of special cases that are confusing, especially concerning when to use The and when to use 0 article.
As a result, many English language learners will use "the" when it is not necessary or forgot to add "the" when it is necessary.
I separated the tricky cases into four groups.
For part one, I will focus on Unique things and Country-Related things.
Keep in mind that there are more special cases that this lesson will only focus on these four areas.
Let's start with group one.
There are some nouns that are considered unique, meaning that if the speaker says this noun, the listener already knows what the speaker is referring to.
Because it is common knowledge.
Look at the following sentences.
The sun is shining brightly.
I can't see the moon tonight.
Scientists have been searching for other life forms in the universe.
In forest, the air is much cleaner.
Look at the sky!
It's so blue!
Please don't sit on the ground.
It's dirty.
It's hot.
Let's stand in the shade.
Let's make the world a better place.
If I said these sentences to you, you would understand what I was referring to, right?
For most people in the world, they know that there is one sun, one moon, one universe, one sky and so, on.
Yes, it's possible that there are more universe's, world's, sun's, or moon's out there but for most of us when we talk, we are generally referring to things in our own universe.
There are two unique nouns that I want to explain a little more.
The first one is shade.
If my friend and I were standing outside under the sun and I said, "Let's stand in the shade.
It's possible that there are many area of shade near us.
Here, here or here.
However, in this case, it doesn't matter which shaded area we choose.
Anywhere is fine, as long as it has shade.
We don't use a sentence like There is a shade, even though it is not specific.
The other noun I want to talk about is world.
World is a tricky one in many cases, the article is the.
Native english speakers often use in the world in sentences.
For example, Russia is the biggest country in the world.
You might also hear a sentence that starts with the world is.
For example, The world is changing rapidly.
These sentences show us talking about things in the place we are living in.
However, it is possible to hear a world too.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about war or disease.
Or, We want to create a better world for the next generation.
For these two sentences, there is a feeling of more than one world.
We are not talking about the world we live in now.
We are talking about a place or environment that we dream about.
In that case, it is appropriate to use a.
In the second group, we have Country-Related Things.
I will review the names of countries, currency, and language.
For most countries, there is no article before the name of the country.
There are, however, some countries that require The before it, The United States, The United Kingdom, The Philippines, The Netherlands, The United Arab Emirates and the Czech Republic.
Next, when you are referring to a country's currency or money, also use the before the name of the currency.
For example, the dollar, the yen, the euro, the pound, the won, the yuan, the real, the riyal, the peso.
Now let's look at Language.
When you are referring to the name of a language, you do not need to use an article.
In other words, there is a zero article.
This boy speaks Portuguese.
This girl speaks German.
This woman speaks Korean.
Notice the 0 article.
Portuguese, German, and Korean are nouns here.
However, the rules change if you add the word language after the name of the language.
Like the pattern in the box.
If you use this pattern, you must add "the" before.
The Portuguese language, the Korean language, and the German language.
Notice here, Portuguese, Korean, and German act as adjectives.
Please continue to Part 2.
