English For Research ( part 2): Definite/Indefinite Articles

Generally, indefinite articles (a, an) are used with countable nouns while the definite article (the) is normally applied with uncountable nouns. However, they can be used with both countable or uncountable nouns in some cases. In this part, the use of articles (a, an, the) for both countable and uncountable nouns is presented:

1. countable nouns: use with articles

A countable noun is something you can count: 30 books, many manuscripts, 100 apples, several PCs.

     1.    Before a singular countable noun you must put an article (a / an or the).

Example: You cannot leave the country without a passport. (NOT You cannot leave country without passport .)

      2.    If you are talking about something in general, then do not use the with plural nouns.

Example: Throughout the world, full professors tend to earn more than researchers. (NOT Throughout the world, the full professors tend to earn more than the researchers .)

3. Scientific / technical acronyms whose last letter stands for a countable noun behave like other countable nouns. They thus require an article when used in the singular, and an -s when used in the plural.

Example: The number of purchases of CDs is only 1% of what is was 25 years ago. (NOT The number of purchases of CD is only 1% of what is was 25 years ago.)

      4.    After as and in ,a few singular countable nouns are used without any article.

      Example: We used X as input , and Y as output . (NOT We used X as an input, and Y as an output.) 

 

 

2. singular countable nouns: use with and without a / an in scientific English

1. Some singular countable nouns can be used with or without an article with no difference. There are no clear rules for this, and usage seems to vary from discipline to discipline, and from author to author.

Example:

An analysis of the data showed that …

Analysis of the data showed that…

2. If the noun is followed by of (i.e. to add further details), then this noun is preceded by a / an.

Example:

This analysis indicated that the number of strata could be reduced considerably without a loss in the precision of the values found.

This analysis indicated that the number of strata could be reduced considerably without loss of precision and without loss of generality.

3. Some singular countable nouns are used without an article when they are used in an extremely generic way.

   Example:

   Their new perfume depicts a strawberry on the label.

   Their new perfume smells of strawberry .

1. When preceded by by,  means of transport are used without a / an ; certain time expressions do not require a / an when used with prepositions.

    Example:

   They rented a car to travel through India

   They traveled through India by car . They drove by night . They discovered that it often rains in India in [the] summer

3. uncountable nouns: general rules

An uncountable noun is seen as a mass rather than as several clearly identifiable parts, for example chemicals, gases, metals, and materials.

There are hundreds of uncountable nouns, some examples frequently used in research are:

access, accommodation, advertising, advice*, agriculture (and other subjects of study), capital, cancer (and other diseases and illnesses), consent, electricity (and other intangibles), English (and other languages), equipment*, evidence*, expertise, feedback, functionality, furniture*, gold* (and other metals), hardware, health, industry, inflation, information*, intelligence, luck, luggage*, machinery*, money, news, oxygen (and other gases), personnel, poverty, progress, research, safety, security, software, staff, storage, traffic, training, transport, waste, wealth, welfare, wildlife.

The uncountable nouns listed above with an asterisk (*) can be used with a piece of . This means that they can be used with a / an, one and be made plural. Examples: a piece of advice, two pieces of equipment, one piece of information.

Uncountable nouns cannot be:

1.   Made plural, i.e. you cannot put an ‘s’ at the end of the word; this means that they are not used with plural verbs (e.g. are, have ).
Example

Feedback from users on usage of the software has shown that … (NOT Feedbacks from users on usage of the software have shown that …)

2. Preceded with words such as: a, an, one, many, few, several, these (i.e. words that in some way indicate that a distinct number of items is involved).
Example:

We have not done much research in this area. (NOT we have not done many researches in this area.)

4. uncountable nouns: using a different word or form

1. To express the plural of certain uncountable words, sometimes you need to choose another word.

Example:

She is an expert in many areas. (NOT She has expertises in many areas.)

2. On other occasions you may need to place the uncountable noun in an

adjectival position before another noun.

Example:

We have a training course tomorrow.

We have a training course tomorrow. (NOT We have a training tomorrow.)

5. uncountable nouns: more details

1. Some nouns are both countable and uncountable, but with a difference in meaning.

         Example:

         Paper and coffee are becoming expensive commodities

         She has a coffee (i.e. a cup of coffee) and reads a paper (i.e. a newspaper) every day.

        1. Some nouns are used in both their singular and plural forms,with no difference in meaning.

        Example:

         Several devices were tested and their performance was evaluated.

         Several devices were tested and their performances were evaluated.

       2.Some uncountable nouns can be used in a countable way when preceded by an adjective.

        Example:

         This does not imply prior knowledge of …

         She has a good knowledge of English.

      The rules of possessive form of nouns are introduced in the next part.