Articles

Articles
Using "The" with Identified Nouns	Framed \| Unframed

SECTIONS second mention | mentioned by synonym | mentioned in part | culturally identifiable

Second Mention

Use "the", if the item is identified by second mention.

FIRST MENTION "A"	SECOND MENTION "THE"
This is a piece of a puzzle. "A" because you are introducing the item.	The piece fits into the top of a puzzle. "The" because the piece is already "introduced" or "identified"

Practice 1

Find the first and second mention in this paragraph.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new government report on combating crime on the Internet is winning broad industry support for concluding that no significant new laws are needed to attack cyber crime.

Attorney General Janet Reno released the inter-agency report Thursday at a Justice Department news conference, where she was flanked by Commerce Secretary William Daley and a senior attorney for America Online.

Frieden, Terry, CNN. "Administration Report on Fighting Internet Crime Wins Broad Industry Support." March 9, 2000; http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/03/09/internet.crime/index.html

#	YOUR ANSWER	ANSWER
1.	A new government report on combating crime . . . "A new government report" refers to any government report? "A new government report" refers to a specific government report?	Answer 1:
2.	Attorney General Janet Reno released the inter-agency report Thursday . . . " the inter-agency report" refers to a all kinds of inter-agency reports in general? " the inter-agency report" refers to a specific inter-agency report?	Answer 2:

Decide whether to use "a" or "the:

#	YOUR ANSWER	CHECK ANSWER
3.	Senator Kennedy introduced a new bill. bill was written to help underprivileged children.
4.	The California State Assembly approved a new budget. budget will severely limit educational funding.
5.	committee on energy conservation has been formed. The new committee will look into alternative ways of supplying the state with energy.
6.	campaign to recall the state governor has gained a lot of support. The recall campaign started six months ago has a lot of wealthy contributors.

Mentioned as a Synonym

Use "the", if the item is identified by another name (synonym).

FIRST MENTION "A"

This is a part of a puzzle.
puzzle piece
Because a part means the same as a piece,

SECOND MENTION "THE"

The piece fits into the top of a puzzle.
puzzle piece fitting into puzzle
mentioning "piece" is "second mention".

Practice 2

Find the noun mentioned by synonym in this paragraph.

Fire in Tuvalu School Kills 18 Girls A fire swept through a dormitory at a high school in the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu, killing 18 teen-age girls and a matron late Thursday.	The blaze was believed to have been caused by a student's candle which toppled over in the sleeping quarters of Motufoua Secondary School. ("A blaze" means "a fire".)
CNN, "Fire in Tuvalu School Dormitory Kills 19", March 10, 2000; http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/australasia/03/09/tuvalu.fire.02/index.html

#	YOUR ANSWER	CHECK ANSWER
7.	A fire swept through a dormitory at a high school in the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu . . . Does "A fire" refer to any fire in general? Does "A fire" refer to a specific fire?	Answer 7:
8.	The blaze was believed to have been caused by a student's candle . . . Does "The blaze" refer to a specific blaze? Does "The blaze" refer to any blaze in general?	Answer 8:

Decide whether to use "a" or "the:

#	YOUR ANSWER	CHECK ANSWER
9.	The fire burned down an office building. structure was where a fire insurance company was located.
10.	The refugees gathered in a high school gym. educational facility was the only structure left unburned.
11.	meeting was called to decide how to handle the problem. The gathering took place "in the open" at the town's central park.
12.	large amount of money would be needed to rebuild. The funds would come from international agencies.

Mentioned in Part

Use "the", if the item is identified by being an expected part of an item you have already introduced.

FIRST MENTION "A"

Let's do a puzzle.
puzzle piece fitting into puzzle
Because a puzzle is expected to have pieces

SECOND MENTION "THE"

The pieces of the puzzle are in the box.
puzzle pieces
mentioning "pieces" is considered second mention. .

Practice 3

Expected parts: If you mention "a car", we already know its parts:

Parts that all cars are expected to have:

the tires
the seats
the doors
the windows
the fuel tank

but not items which are optional features.

the fog lamps
the snow tires
the convertible top

Fill in the blank with an article. Then, check your answer.

#	IMAGE	YOUR ANSWER	CHECK ANSWER
13.		My DVD player is having trouble again. Yesterday, eject button didn't work.
14.		I bought a new television. remote has a lot of special functions.
15.		My new camera takes beautiful pictures. lens adjusts from wide-angle to close-up.
16.		A book was lying on the patio table. pages were blowing in the wind.
17.		"What an unusual clock." "Look at hands! They are spinning around."
18.		I can't work on that computer. mouse isn't working well.