English Grammar: When NOT to use an article – 9 rules

Articles ( a , an , the , or no article) can be very confusing to English learners. The most confusing thing is when NOT to include an article. In this English grammar class, I will show you 9 situations in which an article should be left out. For example, why is (Ø) French food delicious, while THE French love delicious food?

Quiz

Test your understanding of this English lesson

Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.

118 COMMENTS

Hello dear Teacher Adam, Thank you for mentioning our country name in the lesson, I cheered up.

he remembered our country’s name due to the news, he mentioned us because we are always in the news dear Ali

he remembered our country’s name and of course our language(Persian) as a result of commenting of Iranian under the lesson.(a customer service trick)

Hello Adam, thank you for this beautiful lesson. I did all the questions good without the last. I thought to put “no article” but I changed my mind because I also thought that is a specific alcohol “which is not served in a sealed bottle”. So for this reason I don’t put “no article ” because I understand this situation like something specific and not in general. May you help me to understand better?

Alcohol can be all types. This sentence refers to any alcohol, not any specific type, that’s why there is no article.

Thanks for explaining Adam,I made the same mistake.

I made the same mistake too, thanks for your explanation, Adam.

I got 7 correct out of 9. Question 4 was tricky for me. I got a good feel of English today. Thank you for your superb lessons every time.

because the dress on a display window is a specific dress, its not a general abstract dress, thats my opinion, but i do it right

Good answer Amanda :)

I got 5/9, the lesson is truly hard to me, have too exception in every situation, i truly confused, hope next lesson i will better, thank Adam

Hey dude!, love your vids and the quizzes you make for us. Learning english better with engvid teachers especially with adam. Keep up the good work!

Hi Adam,
I have some questions for you.
1. When we want to say “The United States of America” using an abbreviation. Will it be “USA” or rather “The USA”?
2. Why do we say anatomy although it contains: urology, cardiology etc.?
3. It seems whenever you have “of” You need to use “an article” Unless I’m mistaken.
Some examples: “A love of mother, the university of California, the republic of south Korea.

All the best to all English learners.

1. When we want to say “The United States of America” using an abbreviation. Will it be “USA” or rather “The USA”?
— the USA, or the US
2. Why do we say anatomy although it contains: urology, cardiology etc.?
— anatomy is the study of the structure of the body. the others sciences are studies of particular functions of parts of the body.
3. It seems whenever you have “of” You need to use “an article” Unless I’m mistaken.
Some examples: “A love of mother, the university of California, the republic of south Korea.
–in many cases, but not all (i.e., this is not a rule); for example plurals (birds of prey, the leader of a country, leaders of countries, etc.). With a singular, if the of expression identifies the noun then it is definite and needs an article

Hope this helps.

Hi, Adam!
Is the usage of an article in the collocation “the English language” correct? I came across this rule/exception in one grammar book. I understand that the word “language” is probably redundant here but still want to know whether I can use it like this in my writing to make it less monotonous, so to speak.
Thank you in advance!
Hope you are in good health.

Actually, it’s interesting. When we use language or people, the rule changes to its opposite:

The English language is full of strange idioms.
English is full of strange idioms.
(‘the’ goes with language; English is an identifying adjective)

French people like to travel.
The French like to travel.
French as an adjective makes the ‘people’ a definite group).

Hope this helps.

I am confused too, because i thought Mt Everest is a group of Mt, so i did put the before it, and it was wrong

Mt. Everest is one mountain in the Himalayan range of mountains.

Great lesson Adam, thank you so much.
But just one question: when you were explaining about the use of no article in the lakes and bays, was it me or did you say “the Hudson bay in Canada”. (about min 7:18)
Maybe it was just a mistake. We all make mistakes. It is only to make it sure ;)

Yup, that was a slip :)

There is also a big retail chain in Canada, called the Hudson Bay Corp., so sometimes we might mix it up.

great lessin Adam you teaches very well that everybody can understant easily

Great knopfer86, he said “the”. Good listening. Both, you and I are Spanish and we say “el Juan” “la Marta” and hopefully nothing happens is wrong but is like that. You are great fan of Engvid, aren’t you? I am.

Thank you so much for this video Adam!

I get 78. I would like to know the different between possessive pronouns and passessive adjectives.
thank you.

passessive means possessive, sorry

Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, its, our, their

Possessive adjectives are adjectives with an apostrophe (Bob’s, the company’s , the student’s, etc.)

Hope this helps.

Hi, Adam. Your lessons are professional. Thanks a lot. But what about mine, yours, his, hers, theirs? What aren they? I thought they are possessive pronouns,but my, your etc are possessive adjectives,and like Bob’s possessive case. Can you clarify?

Thanks. I got only 6/9.

The test result was good to me.

Sir I have one question about articles.. I am preparing for IELTS exam I often get confused about the word government.. should I use a government, the government or Governments?

All of these are ok, depending on how you are using them.

The government needs to enforce stricter laws.
Governments need to work together to fight climate change.
A government that isn’t respected by its citizens is powerless.

Hope this helps.

Hi,mr.Adam!I really want to thank you for this useful lesson.I confused a lot about when use and not to use articles and i need this lesson, but you made this lesson.Thanks a million!

Hello….I’d like to brush my speaking up. Is there anyone else who is interested in speaking to me on a regular basis?

My whatsapp number is +8801812788727.

Thank you.
Rasho.

Nice video! I got 6 out of 9. 6 corrects and 3 wrongs.

i got 100%. Thanks Adam. I do like your way of teaching very much.

Hi Adam, I have a question for you.

When I am working in some place and I need talk with someone about a information that another person gave me and I don’t know his name, just the position, can I use the?

Ex. I was doing my activities when the nurse call me to help him

That’s a tricky question. If there are several nurses then ‘the’ won’t help. You’ll need to use ore identifiers, for example, the nurse with …, or the nurse who….

Great lesson Adam! Thank you!

Thank you, Adam. Your lessons are easy to learn and you have a special way of explaining the ideas.

Hello Sir,
Please would you explain to me “strong word endings” before which the stress falls on the penultimate syllable.

That’s a little hard to do in writing. I’ll try to make a lesson about this.

Thanks for the lesson. I have got 6

Using articles is my weakness.

It is for many people Maying. Keep practicing. :)

i got 7 out of 9 some are a little bit confused for me

Adam, thanks a lot!!

Hi Adam,
I would like to know which following sentences is correct.

“XXXX is more in XXXX than in XXXX.”
or
“XXXX is more in XXXX than XXXX.”

Preposition of “in” should be shown one time or two times?

I’m not sure exactly what you’re thinking of. Can you give me a concrete example?

For now, follow the idea of parallel structures:
more in ____ than in____
more _____ than ____

Hi Adam and everybody
I answered wrong to 9th question
I got confused
in Q. 9 we are talking about a certain kind of alcohol so we should use ” The ” like <>
am I right ?

Yes, it’s a confusing one.

The problem here is that alcohol comes in many types, so you would need even more identifying information. The adjective clause in this example is not enough.

Hello fellow English learners!
I found this is one of the best videos on the explanation of when not to use the article.

Regarding the last quiz, I thought the correct answer would be “the alcohol” as it is not just any alcohol, it is specifying the alcohol that is not served in a sealed bottle. Would anyone please explain it to me? Thank you very much for taking a time to reply. :)

9. In some countries it is better not to drink _____ alcohol that is not served in a sealed bottle.

Yes, it’s a confusing one.

The problem here is that alcohol comes in many types, so you would need even more identifying information. The adjective clause in this example is not enough.

could u help me what the deference between false homophones and minimal verbs is ?

Do you mean minimal pairs and false friends?

Minimal pairs are words that are very similar and may have only one letter or syllable difference (sit seat, desk disk); false friends are words in different languages that sounds and/or look the same but have different meanings and pronunciations.

Thank you. I really enjoy with your lessons. Do you give private lessons?

I’m afraid I don’t do private lessons, but there are plenty of videos here that should help.

i gor 4z correct ut of 9. I’m thinking may be i can’t understand enough.

Hello Adam… In general, I ussually got 70 or 80% in yours tests. But, today lesson, I got 100% (9/9). This video really help me a lot. Thanks from Chile (Not the Chile… hahaha).

Hi Mr. Adam. I got 9 of 9. And now i have understood better when to use or not to use article in a sentense or any kinds of sentences. Thank you so much.

It’s so difficult!!

I got 5. Although I knew the correct answer. It’s craziness?
Thanks Adam. I guess the explanation of lesson was hard for you but you did well. Thank you?

Hello Adam. I have a question not about articles but about the sentence you used as an example: Someone returned me the book that I lost last week. Can we use “which” without a comma instead of “that” in this sentence? If we say: Someone returned me my book, which I lost last week, here, of course, we use a comma because we want to add exra information.

Yes, you can, but you slightly change the meaning:
with that, you are identifying the book.

With which, you are focusing on when you lost it and the book is understood.

Thanks Adam! Yes, it does, very helpful!

Hello I thank you for a wonderful lesson.I got 4 out of 9 ,questions 1 was little bit tricky for me

I’ve been confusing, why “French” takes “the” article?

The French — people

Hi, lt is helpful video and you’re an amazing teacher who make the rules clear and easy to understand, l learn alot from this video especially the exceptiones of every point, it was little confusing for me in some points, but as they said ” No excellent can be get with out constant practices.”

I have another question,at point ? 9- General reference to uncomfortable +abstract nouns.
A mother’s love is beautiful.
Is this kind of love in general or specific, is it definite ? or not , or because we don’t know which mother and child ,became this love isn’t definite? And why we use the article A? Thanks

Great lesson. Thank you!

Thank you, Mr.Adam I got 6/9

7/9! Thanks, Adam! I nearly totally understand this lesson. I will go over this video later.

I love Adam’s wonderful teaching. He is the best teacher. I will follow him to learn English forever.

Hello Adam! This lesson is really fruitful for me. Unfortunately i got 6/9. I need to practice more. :))

I got 7 correct out of 9. Sir, could you please explain the question number 2

Why is no. 9 no article? Why not the? Isn’t it specific?

Hello, good video it helped me a lot, but I have a question in the question number 4 the answer is “The French” and I would like to know why that is the answer. Could you explain me that please?

thanks for your efforts

Adam, thanks for the lesson. Articles always were tricky for me, now I hope I got it clear. At least, rules sorted out logically in my mind. And I got 9 out of 9 (though the test is easy and short =p

Woo.. I’ve lost almost every quiz of latter part. I think i need to study it one more time.
Thanks any way for your great lesson!

9/9 Good result for me and a good lesson from you.
Thank you, Adam!

Adam, you are really great teacher! Love all your lessons.

Hi adam, I am new on this website,

ı am a bit confused on the 3.rd question.
ı thought that on the sentence we are talking about general characteristic of all french people. so dont use the. for using ‘the’. it has to be spesific part of french people. hasnt it?

thank you in advence

Thanks for your lessons! There is one little thing about English articles that I’m very unsure about, however. First, we omit indefinite articles when there is a number following the noun – like, you say Page 5, Building 12, and so on. But does the same rule apply in cases when there is a letter following the noun? Should we say “For reference, see Figure A”, or should it be “the Figure A”?
Thank you in advance.

Nice class, Adam! Thank you

I’ve got two questions regarding using (or not using an article).

For example: “The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) is responsible for this issue. [The] DAWE also manages aspects related to biodiversity. Regulations on this matter are prepared by [the] DAWE.

I assume using the article is not correct in the situations above. Is it incorrect? Or are both options (with or without the article) accepted?

“The US” and “The USA” are probably exceptions to this acronym rule, right?

2) Names of pieces of legislation and relevant documents

– A direct connection between the two topics of interest is equally made by [the] National Marine Science Plan 2015-2025 (I think an article is required, right?).

– The federal arrangement containing most references is [the] National Fishing and Aquaculture Research, Development and Extension Strategy 2010 (the article is also required, right?)

– Two policies have the most significant number of references: [the] Draft Tasmanian Renewable Energy Action Plan 2020 and [the] Tasmanian Renewable Hydrogen Action Plan (also required?).

– [The] Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is a relevant arrangement. Environmental issues are covered by [the] EPBC Act (I think an article is required, including before this acronym, so it is another exception, right?).

– 27 references come from [the] “Tasmania’s Climate Change Action Plan (here I think we should not use the article as “Tasmania’s” is already a modifier, right”?).

Thank you! Your content is amazing!