Articles (a, an, the): foolproof way to get them right

Below is a transcript of the video.

The number one mistake I see in my international students is with articles:

With those little words…

A, An and The

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read a piece of work by someone whose first language isn’t English that didn’t have article errors in it.

Because articles can be used differently in other languages - like Spanish or Arabic.

And some languages - like Russian and Japanese - don’t use articles at all.

And, let’s face it, the rules for articles in English are really tricky. They’re hard to explain and sometimes contradictory.

But here’s something I’ve noticed from working with international students over the years.

Time and again, they’ll beg me to do a workshop on articles. So I do and when I give them examples and exercises to do in class, they always, always get the answers right 99 or 100% of the time.

So what does that tell you?

Well, it tells me that they totally understand the rules for using articles.

And when they sit down and deliberately focus on applying those rules, they know exactly which article to use and when.

So why do they make so many mistakes in their writing?

It’s simply that when you’re writing an essay, for example, your brain is focused on other things.

Things like structure, argument, clarity of expression, what it is you actually want to say, and all the other aspects of English grammar.

So what this tells me is that there is one thing you can do to massively increase your chances of catching article errors and that’s this:

Don’t worry about getting your articles right when you’re writing.

But, and this is crucial…

When you’ve finished writing whatever it is you’re writing… build in one final, separate, dedicated proofread where you read the whole thing just checking for articles.

Nothing else - just the articles.

By the way, if you’re finding this video, please hit that like button, it really helps the channel get noticed.

Anyway, go through, line by line and check every noun.

Ask yourself:

Is my use of articles correct here?
Does this word need an article here?
If it does, what article does it need?

Now, that may sound laborious and time consuming.

But it’s going to be less time consuming and more effective than fretting about the articles while you’re in the flow of writing where you’ve got all those other things I talked about like argument and clarity taking up space in your brain.

Better still, doing that focused, deliberate work is going to train your brain to pick the right article more often - it will actually help you develop an almost intuitive sense of which article to choose when.

Now, of course, the other thing you can do is run your work through a programme like Grammarly, which is a useful safety net. But using Grammarly is never going to have the brain training effects of closely reading your own work.

So, here’s a challenge for you.

Pick something you’re working on right now and give it one close read, just focusing on the articles.

Check those and nothing else - and let me know how you get on!

In the meantime, if you want to make sure you spot all those article errors - or any errors - in your proofread, you must check out this video, where I share my tips for catching every error.

For more writing advice, enrol in my online course, Writing With Confidence, available at the Doris and Bertie Writing School.