Advanced Grammar rule – Articles

The articles a, an, the are omitted

Before names of days and months. eg,

1. She will go on Monday.
2. They are getting married in January.

Before names of languages. eg,

1. He cannot speak French.
2. She is learning Marathi.

Before names of subjects. eg,

1. She has no interest in mathematics.
2. Biology is his favourite subject.

Before names of diseases. eg,

1. AIDS is spreading like wild fire.
2. He died of cancer.

But ‘The’ is used before the names of a few diseases. eg, the measles, the plague, the gout, the mumps.

Before names of festivals and seasons. Eg,

1. He will go to Canada in winter.
2. She celebrated Christmas with her friends.
3. He will go to Canada during winter.
4. She went to Delhi during Diwali holidays.

Before names of sports. eg,

1. She plays tennis.
2. We like cricket.

Before the names of persons, villages, cities, districts, states and countries. eg,

1. Anjali is a beautiful girl.
2. London is a big city.
3. Paris is the capital of France.

Before names of meals. eg,

1. They take lunch at 2 pm.
2. Breakfast is ready.

‘A’ is used when there is an adjective before names of meals. We use ‘the’ when we specify. eg,

1. We had a late breakfast today.
2. The lunch I had at the Rajmahal was nice.

After possessive adjectives (my, our, your, his, her, their, its) and nouns in possessive case (Ram’s, lion’s). eg,

1. This is Rahul’s car.
2. That is my book.

Before school, college, church, prison, hospital, bed, market, when these places are visited or used for their primary purpose. eg,

1. She goes to church on Sunday.
2. The criminal was sent to prison.
3. I go to bed at 10 pm.

Before man, life, death, art, science, when these words are used in the widest sense. eg,

1. Man is mortal.
2. Science has developed much in the past fifty years.

Before the nouns used after rank of / title of. eg,

1. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel.
2. He was given the title of Nawab.