- ZERO Article
"—"
Sometimes it is possible to have a noun phrase with NO article—the so-called "ZERO article".
I need a bowl of rice. ← indefinite article
I like the rice in this restaurant. ← definite article
I eat rice every day. ← ZERO article
The ZERO article usually occurs in the following cases:
ZERO Article with Plural and Uncountable Nouns
General meaning
- cars, people
- life, water
Abstract nouns
- education, happiness, music
ZERO Article with Singular Countable Nouns
Names
People: Mary, Bill, Josef
Places: Jupiter, Russia, Bangkok, Heathrow Airport, Cambridge University, Waterloo Station
Streets: Oxford Street, Wall Street, Picadilly Circus
Languages: English, Russian
Academic subjects: History, Law, Physics
Days, months: Monday, November
Games and Sports
- football, chess
Meals
- breakfast, lunch, dinner
Noun + Number
- platform 3, room 7, page 44
Routine Places
- in bed, at home, to school, to work
Movement or Transport
- on foot, by car, by bus, by air
Newspaper Headlines, Notices, User Guides
- Plane Crashes On House, Keep Area Clean, Insert battery
Example Sentences
Here are some example sentences showing the ZERO article in context.
- Cars can be dangerous.
- We seldom see courage like that.
- I could see clouds in the sky.
- There was milk on the doorstep.
- I gave it to Mary.
- She arrived in Bangkok yesterday.
- Do you speak French?
- He is good at tennis.
- People will travel to Mars soon.
- He is in room 45.
- Please turn to page 67.
- She's in bed.
- Are you at home?
- They took her to hospital.
- I'm leaving town tomorrow by car.
- I go to school by bus.
- We usually meet on Monday.
- November is quite cold.
The ZERO Article is sometimes also called the ZERO Determiner.
- Order of Determiners
There are rules about the order of determiners in a noun phrase.
1. It's possible to have NO determiner: John likes dogs. People breathe air. Wine is alcohol. This is the so-called "zero determiner", and is mainly possible with proper nouns (ie names), plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns.
2. All determiners, when present, come at the BEGINNING of a noun phrase (before any adjectives): the big black dog / my favourite car
3. If you have a "main determiner", you can have only ONE. The main determiners are:
- articles: a/an, the
- demonstratives: this/that, these/those
- possessives: my/your/his etc
So if you have an article, you cannot also have a demonstrative. If you have a possessive, you cannot also have an article. You can have one article OR one demonstrative OR one possessive. For example, you can say "this dog" or "my dog", but you cannot say "this my dog". The table below shows how the main determiners "mutually exclude" each other:
| noun phrase | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| main determiners | |||
| articles | demonstratives | possessives | |
| a | dog | ||
| the | soup | ||
| this | flower | ||
| those | birds | ||
| my | sister | ||
| their | car | ||
4. Some determiners function as "pre-determiners" — they can come BEFORE a main determiner. You can have ONE pre-determiner: all the right people / half my weight
5. Other determiners function as "post-determiners" — they can come AFTER a main determiner. You can have ONE OR MORE post-determiners: the next time / my first two jobs
6. If you do have more than one determiner, the table below is a guide to the normal order. Remember, this is a guide only. Not every combination is possible.
| you can have up to | ||||||
| one of these + | one of these + | one or more of these | ||||
| pre-deter- miners | main determiners | post-determiners | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quant- ifiers | art- icles | demon- stratives | posses- sives | ordinals | cardinals, other quant- ifiers | |
| all, both half, one-third double, twice, ten times | a/ an/ the | this/that these/ those | my/her etc | first/ second... last/next | one/two... many/ much more/ most few/little less/least several other | |
| all | those | last | few | dollars | ||
| both | my | younger sisters | ||||
| three times | your | salary | ||||
| a | little more | red wine | ||||
| an- | -other | drink | ||||
| the | most | money | ||||
| the | next | three | weeks | |||
| these | first | three | seats | |||
| my | last | wife | ||||
| her | next | two | husbands | |||
| four more | people | |||||
| several other | friends | |||||
- Determiners versus Pronouns
Many determiners are also pronouns, and it's important to understand the difference.
A determiner occurs at the beginning of a noun phrase and in some way qualifies the rest of the noun phrase. A determiner cannot exist alone:
- Those classic songs were great.
- My car is the big one.
A pronoun can take the place of a whole noun phrase:
- Those were great classic songs.
- Those were great.
- Mine is the big one.
Most determiners and pronouns are exactly the same word: either (determiner) and either (pronoun)
A few determiners and pronouns are close but not exactly the same: my (determiner) and mine (pronoun)
Here are some examples of determiners that have a pronoun equivalent:
| determiners | pronouns |
|---|---|
| demonstratives | |
| this, that these, those | this, that these, those |
| quantifiers | |
| some, any | some, any |
| no | none |
| many/much | many/much |
| enough, several | enough, several |
| more, most | more, most |
| either, neither | either, neither |
| each | each |
| all, half, both | all, half, both |
| possessives (see full list below) | |
| my/his etc | mine/his etc |
| interrogatives | |
| what, which, whose | what, which, whose |
Here is a full list of possessive determiners and pronouns:
| determiners | pronouns |
|---|---|
| possessives | |
| my | mine |
| your | yours |
| his her its | his hers its |
| our | ours |
| their | theirs |
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