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Zero Article


- Most nouns have an article (a / an or the ), or another DETERMINER in front of them.
- When there is no determiner in front of a noun or noun phrase, we say that it has azero article.


1. Main uses of the zero article

English has no article like a / an to place before plural or uncountable nouns for indefinite meaning. We use the zero article instead.1a. Zero article before plural nouns:

a / an + singular noun zero + plural noun

E.g. We’re expecting a visitor.We’re expecting visitors.



1b. Zero article before uncountable nouns:

a / an + countable noun zero + uncountable noun

E.g. He pickedup a stone. The wall’s made of stone.



1c. Zero article before names:

a / an + common nounzero + name

E.g. He gave her a rose. My sister’s name is Rose.


NOTE: With names we include titles like doctor in front of names (Doctor Johnson),and family names like Mum, Dad, Grandma etc.

E.g. Dad is looking after the children today.


2. Choosing between zero article and some

Before plural and uncountable nouns, we can use eitherthe zero article or unstressed some.



E.g. We’re expecting {visitors (i) zero
{ some visitors (ii) some

Would youlike { black coffee? (i) zero
{ some black coffee? (ii) some


There is a small difference between (i) and (ii) above:

i) “zeroarticle” means that the noun represents a general type of “thing, person, material, abstraction”.

E.g. black coffee = “black, not white coffee”.

ii) some means “a quantity of”, where the exact...