Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Articles*
Articles are modifiers that appear before nouns and phrases. They help clarify the meaning of the noun in the
sentence. In English, there are three articles: the, a, and an (the latter of which is a variant of “a” used typically
before a word that begins with a vowel).
There are other special modifiers called determiners or markers that may appear in front of a noun phrase. Do
not use an article if you also intend to use any of the following markers directly before the noun: this, that, these, those,
my, her, his, your, own, their, its, any, either, each, every, many, few, several, some, all.
Time
“At,” “on,” and “in” are used to describe a moment in time.
At is used with noon, night, midnight, and with the time of day.
o My plane leaves at noon.
o The movie starts at 6 p.m.
On is used with days.
o I will see you on Monday.
o The week begins on Sunday.
In is used with other parts of the day, with months, with years, and with seasons.
o He likes to read in the afternoon.
o The book was published in August in 1999.
o The flowers will bloom in spring.
Place
In: to talk about an object being contained
o There is a wasp in the house. (The wasp is contained in the house.)
Inside: to refer more specifically to where the object is contained
o Go look inside the refrigerator. (Inside is used as a specific place, the inside of the refrigerator.)
On: to talk about the surface
o I left your keys on the table. (The keys are on the surface of the table).
At: to talk about a general vicinity
o She was waiting at the corner. (The corner is a general location she was waiting at.)
Objects
“At” is used with the following verbs: glance, laugh, look, rejoice, smile, stare
She glanced at her reflection. (exception with mirror: She glanced in the mirror.)
I’m looking at the computer monitor.
That pretty guy smiled at you.
“Of” is used with the following verbs: approve, consist, smell
I don’t approve of his speech.
My contribution to the article consists of many pages.
“Of” (or “about”) is used with the following verbs: dream, think
Can you think of a number between one and ten?
I am thinking about this problem.
“For” is used with the following verbs: call, hope, look, wait, watch, wish
Did someone call for a taxi?
I’m looking for my keys.
We’ll wait for her here.
You go buy the tickets, and I’ll watch for the train.