L10- Using Articles (an, a, the)

This lecture discusses the differences between indefinite articles (a/an) and definite articles (the).
What is an article?
Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.
English has two articles: the and a/an. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and a/an the indefinite article.
the = definite article
a/an = indefinite article
For example, if I say, "Let s read the book," I mean a specific book. If I say, "Let s read a book," I mean any book rather than a specific book.
Here s another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, "I just saw the most popular movie of the year." There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.
"A/an" is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group. For example, "I would like to go see a movie." Here, we re not talking about a specific movie. We re talking about any movie. There are many movies, and I want to see any movie. I don t have a specific one in mind.
Let s look at each kind of article a little more closely.
Indefinite Articles: a and an
"A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example:
• "My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas." This refers to any dog. We don t know which dog because we haven t found the dog yet.
• "Somebody call a policeman!" This refers to any policeman. We don t need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.
• "When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!" Here, we re talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there s only one we re talking about here.