Zero article

  1. Meals:

I usually have toast for breakfast.

We by some bread and cheese for lunch.

We usually have dinner at seven.

He told Will and me she slipped while serving supper.

  1. Subjects:

I study Mathematics and Economics.

I’m studying Business.

  1. Languages:

Can you speak Spanish?

Paul speaks French and Italian.

  1. Sports and games:

I play tennis.

Can you play chess?

I like football.

  1. With the names of:

people:

Is Tim coming with us?

Where’s Susan?

Mr/Mrs/Captain/Doctor etc. + a name:

Mr Johnson / Doctor Sew / President Bush etc.

Uncle Robert / Aunt Jane / Saint Catherine / Princess Ann etc.

We called Doctor Johnson.

the first word is usually the name of a person or a place:

Victoria Station Edinburgh Castle London Zoo
Westminster Abbey Buckingham Palace Canterbury Cathedral

street:

They live in King Street.

The Grand Hotel is in Baker Street.

squares:

Trafalgar Square is in London.

Central Square is the home of actor Ben Affleck.

parks:

Hyde Park is a very large park in central London.

There is Victoria Park at the end of Baines Street.

mountains:

The highest mountain in Africa is Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres).

Everest was first climbed in 1953.

lakes:

Chicago is on Lake Michigan.

Baikal is the world’s deepest lake.

continents:

Africa Europe South America

countries:

France Japan Switzerland

north/south etc. + place name:

North America West Africa South-East Spain


northern/southern etc.:

northern France south-eastern Spain

states, regions etc.:

Texas Cornwall Tuscany Central Europe

islands:

Corsica Sicily Bermuda

cities, towns etc.:

Cairo New York Madrid

many shops, restaurants, hotels, banks etc.:

Harrods McDonalds Pizza Hut
Jack’s Guest House Lloyds Bank

some magazines:

Time Hello

churches are often named after saints:

St John’s Church St Paul’s Cathedral

companies, airlines etc.:

Fiat Sony Kodak British Airways IBM
  1. Some illnesses, especially serious ones:

She’s got diabetes/cancer.

  1. the phrase watch television:

She watches television after work.

Do you watch television every evening?

  1. We don’t use the with plural nouns an uncountable nouns when we are talking about something in general:

I don’t like vegetables. (Not the vegetables)

Diamonds cost a lot of many.

  1. With uncountable nouns:
accommodation behaviour damage luck permission traffic
advice bread furniture luggage progress weather
baggage chaos information news scenery
  1. work

Enjoy your holiday! I hope you have good weather. (Not a vegetables)

I’m looking for work. (Not a work)

What beautiful scenery.

it’s nice traffic today.

It was good advice.

  1. Little and few are negative ideas (= not much / not many):

We must be quick. There is little time. (= not much, not enough time)

He isn’t popular. He has few friends. (= not many, not enough friends)

You can say very little and very few:

There is very little time.

He has very few friends.