Rules of Article

Rules of Definite Article

Various Categories of the Rules of Definite Article “The“:

• Generalizing “The”: It is called “Generalizing the” before the Singular Common Noun. For example: “The cow proves to be a valuable creature.”

• Defining “The”: Defining the is called Defining ‘the’. For example: The book belongs to me.

• Instrumental “The”: The is placed before both Comparatives to indicate as much. Both these are called Instrumental ‘the’. For example: “The greater your reading, the greater your learning.”

• Familiar “The”: A single object (which is one in the universe) like: earth, sun moon etc. is called Familiar ‘the’ before the. For example: “The sun is orbited by the Earth.”

• Possessive “The”: Instead of the possessive before the participle name, it is called possessive ‘the’.

Such As: He struck me on the cheek and struck me on the head.

Rules of Article:

Rule 01: If a Noun is defined, the is placed before it.

• The excess luggage incurs a charge of Tk. 600 per kilo.
• “The soup is horrible; I am going to complain to the owner of the restaurant.”

Rule 02: When a Noun is mentioned for the first time, a/an sits before it. But if the same Noun is mentioned for the second time, The sits.

• “The house has a beautiful garden. Let us stay in the garden.”

Rule 03: The stands before the Singular Common Noun to denote the whole race.

• The ant is a smart insect.
• Do you prefer the town or the country?

Rule 04: No article is used before Man and Woman to refer to the entire human race.

• Humans are subject to mortality.

Rule 05: Before what is unique in nature sits the. That is, a single object such as: Moon, Sun, Sky, Earth, World, Universe, any direction is called East, West, North. The is placed before the names of North), South (South) etc.

• Is the blue sky visible to you?
• The earth revolves around the sun.

Rule 06: The is preceded by a nationalist word that refers to all the people of the nation. But if the name of the national language is meant by the word nationalist, the is not placed before it. That is, the is placed before the name of caste but the is not placed before the name of language.

• The French people.
• The Bangladeshis are proud of the glorious past of their nation.

Rule 07: If a Noun means occupation (although it is not actually an occupation) then the is placed before it. Such As:

He participated the Bar (basically the court, here-lawyer’s profession)/ the Church (basically the house of worship, here-the priest’s profession)

• He participated the Bar.

Rule 08: We have learned in the Pronoun Chapter as Subject or Object the name of limb (like leg, ear, head, tail, horn, neck) Possessive Adjective (my, his, her, etc) He extended his hand for a handshake..

But if there is an organ name after Object+Preposition and if the organ of that Object comes after the Preposition, then Possessive Adjective+ the+ body organ sits there instead of the body organ. Such the is called Possessive ‘the’. e.g. I struck him on the head. Notice that the head is him. That is, Subject + verb + Possessive + Part of body + Extension. Example: He injured his arm.. Subject + Verb + Object + Preposition + The + Part of body.

Example:

• He greeted me by the hand.
• He grasped me by the neck.
• I tugged the cat by the tail.

Rule 09: If Adjective refers to all of the class with special qualities together, its The+Adjective (that quality) sits which is Plural Number. Example: The pious, The rich, The poor.

• The virtuous are continually happy.

Rule 10: Names of connected countries, eg: the U.S.A (The United States of America., the U.K. (The United Kingdom) The U.A.E. (The United Arab Emirates) are preceded by the. But a single country eg: India, England, Canada, Great Britain , America etc. names are not preceded by the.

• He visited the United States..

Rule 11: If a province has “geographical descriptive meaning”, the is placed before the name of that province. Example: the Deccan, the Punjab.

• The Punjab is a province of Pakistan

Rule 12: AThe Superlative Degree of adjective is preceded by the |

• The best policy is honesty.
• The finest young player now is Rakib.

Rule 13: Generally Article does not sit before Proper Noun. But the following Proper Nouns are always preceded by The.

Before the name of archipelago		The Andamans, The West Indies, The Philippines, The Netherlands
Before the name of desert		The Sahara, The Gobi.
Before the name of directions		The North, The south
Before the name of famous buildings		The Taj Mahal, The world Trade Center.
Before the name of holy books		The Quran/Koran, The Bible, The Ramayana etc.

• I resided in the Netherlands for a duration of two years.
• I perused the Prothom Alo, a highly popular newspaper in our nation.

Rule 14: If a Clause is placed after a Noun and specified towards the Noun, the is placed in the phase of the Noun. Clause means Subject + Finite Verb] Clause is discussed later.

• The lunch served by my mother was excellent.
• The apple eaten by you was rotten.

Rule 15: When Common Noun means Abstract Idea or the name of someone’s fault, quality then it is Common Noun and the is placed before it. For example: Mother does not mean ‘mother’ or ‘motherhood’, Father means ‘fatherhood’ Beast means ‘animality’, Fox means ‘cunning’ then The sits before Mother, Father, Beast, Fox etc.

• “The father in him awakened to behold a child.”

Rule 16: The is placed before Ordinal Numeral Adjective (First, Second, Third, Fourth etc.

• “The fourteenth Louis was a benevolent king.”

Rule 17: The is placed before the name of the instrument to indicate the playing of the instrument. When ‘play on’ is used to mean playing, there is no article Again, a/an sits before the name of the instrument to indicate that someone has a musical instrument.

• I can play the piano.

Rule 18: The does not precede the name of the disease. Exceptions: The gout, the measles, the mumps. But before the most common diseases a sits. Ex: a headache, a cold and a fever etc.

• There is currently no cure for HIV infection.কিন্তু,

• Experiencing a headache.

Rule 19: Generally Article does not sit before Material Noun. Example: Gold is a precious metal, but if you understand them specifically, the article sits.

• I exchanged a one-taka note for old paper.
• The gold from Saudi Arabia is of high quality.

Rule 20: Generally Article does not sit before Abstract Noun. But if the Abstract Noun is understood specifically, the sits before it.

• The kindness he showed me is unforgettable.
• Bangladesh places significant an importance place on agriculture.

Rule 21: The is placed before Adjective to denote a particular part of something.

• The child enjoys the color of a yolk.
• “I’ve perused Hamlet by William Shakespeare.“

Rule 22: If the name of the book is preceded by the name of the author or if the name of the book is meant by the name of the author, no Article is placed.

• She peruses Nazrul’s “Agnibina.”

Rule 23: Generally no article sits before Telephone, Television etc. However, in particular, over the telephone is used to mean talking on the phone.

• The telephone has had a profound influence on the way we communicate.

Rule 24: The does not sit before meal time like: Breakfast, Lunch etc. For example: “We usually have dinner at the regular time.” But if control means The will sit.

• We took the supper with his family.

• What was your breakfast this morning?

Rule 25: There are certain idiomatic expressions in which the naturally occurs. Details are discussed in the Idioms & Phrases section.

• “I am not in the know of the things.”(In the know of the something- 
• “I am not in the loop about the things.”

Rule 26: If the Subject and Object of the Transitive Verb are the same person or object, then no Article is placed before the Object.

• Mr. Sen had become Principal of the college.

Exceptional: We called him a fool. – Fool will be preceded by a.

• Illustrate an owl in a picture.
• There was a knock at the door.

Omission of ‘the’ Rules of Article

Explanation	Example
The does not precede the names of squares, streets, avenues, parks, etc. But if there is the word Road then the is placed before it.	He strolls in Ramna Park. Karim drives a bus on the Fuller Road.
The does not come before the language.	Karim speaks Bengali.
The is not placed before the name of Day / Month.	January, Sunday.
The does not precede the names of human diseases.	the mumps, the goal, the measles
There is no article before the abstract noun	Honesty is the best policy,Beauty is truth; truth is beauty.
In the normal sense, no Article sits before the Material / Proper Noun.	Iron proves to be a valuable metal.
No Article is placed before the Plural Noun to mean the whole nation.	Dogs and cats are faithful animals
If the speaker’s own house or what is being addressed is his own house, no article precedes it	Go home.Come home.
If the book is referred to by the author’s name or if the author’s name is preceded by the book’s name, no Article is placed	I’ve perused the literary work “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift.
If the interrogative sentence has Kind of, sort of, species of, Article is not placed before it.	What kind of car is it?,What sort of lady is she?
Article does not come before the names of games and food.	We like to hockey/play cricket/ football / tennis/ badminton etc.,We have dinner or breakfast in time.
Article is usually not placed before the name of season and festival.	Winter, Summar, spring, autumn etc. কিন্তু rainy season- এর আগে ‘The’ বসে । • The rainy season.
Article does not sit before the vehicles and roads related to travel.	By bus / By train / By air/ By sea / By car / By boat etc.
Some phrases consisting of a preposition and its object do not have an article.	at dinner, at ease,At home, at dawn, at sun-set, by night, by home, above ground, from hand to mouth, under ground, etc.

Some exercise of Articles “a,an,the”

Complete the following sentences with the correct article (a, an, or the):

• I’d like _____ cup of coffee, please.
• Did you watch _____ game last night?
• My friend lives in _____ small town near the mountains.
• We need _____ map to find our way.
• _____ sun is shining brightly today.
• I’m reading _____ interesting book about history.
• Do you know _____ time it is?
• There’s _____ bird singing in the tree.
• I’m going to _____ restaurant down the street for dinner.
• Can you lend me _____ pencil?