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*** "a horse", "a historical" | *** "a horse", "a historical" | ||
=== indefinite articles & count, noncount & generic nouns=== | === indefinite articles & count, noncount & generic nouns=== | ||
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;" | |||
| '''ARTICLE RULE'''||'''COUNT NOUNS''' ||'''NONCOUNT NOUNS''' | |||
|- | |||
| Introducing a noun or Unknown Noun | |||
| Takes the indefinite article (a, an) | |||
* "A man I met the other day" | |||
* = the "man" is not known | |||
| if unknown = no article | |||
|- | |||
| Referring to a Known Noun | |||
| Takes the definite article (the) | |||
* "The man I told you about earlier" | |||
| Takes the definite article (the) | |||
* "The water in the lake is warm!" | |||
|- | |||
| Referring to a generic category | |||
| no article | |||
* "I love pickles" | |||
* i.e., "pickles" can be counted | |||
* but is used here as a category or type of food | |||
| no article | |||
* "Water is good for you" | |||
|- | |||
| Abstract noun (not literal) | |||
| If a category or abstract = no article | |||
| asdf | |||
| asdf | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
* if the noun cannot be counted, then it does not take an indefinite article | * if the noun cannot be counted, then it does not take an indefinite article | ||
** ex. | ** ex. |