Hey there! This is TOP episode 176. Zero Article
My name’s Ola and I am an online English teacher. I believe you can eliminate your language blockade. The secret word here is consistency. There are other secret words too. That is why I record this podcast’s episodes, and each comes with a little worksheet, a one-pager to help you digest and test what you’ve practised here. You can speak English with more confidence, slay that fear and enjoy free communication.
Visit my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Visit my shop at teacherola.com and enjoy your journey to fluency! Happy learning!
Hello and welcome to another episode. Thank you for joining me. Today we’re taling about zero articles. Before we dive deeper, let me tell you a few things.
My Speak English with tv series course is open now. The programme is focused on one skill only, speaking. Go to powiedzcos.pl and join the free challenge.
Every Thursday at 11 am I go live just for a quick chat with you. You’ll find me as teacherola.podcast. So join me on Thursday at 11:00 live on Instagram!
Visit my shop, buy a Worksheet set, and have your Worksheets in one place. They’re editable. They include a habit tracker. Also! Check out my e-book with episode transcripts.
Let me know if you would like to join my lessons in a small group of 6 people. Write an email or catch me on Instagram. Thank’s for your patience and let’s get back to the episode.
There are three types of articles. Indefinite (a, an), definite (the) and zero. No article is also an article and it tells us something about a noun or about a speaker. Every noun in English needs an article. Even if it’s a zero article, so you hear nothing before a noun, this void, this gap is there for a reason. Hear these sentences:
I need a new pair of socks.
I like the pair of socks you got me for Christmas.
I put on socks every day. Zero article.
In this case, I put a zero before a plural noun. Socks. Generally, you don’t place an article before plural nouns or uncountable nouns. You can put ‘the’ that is a definite article before both of these groups but only in specific conditions. When you speak about a particular example for instance. There are many many rule that govern the use of the definite article ‘the’ so to learn about it please go to episode 112 titled ‘18 Uses of THE You Need to Know. There’s another episode I’d like to bring to your attention, that’s episode 172 about an indefinite article ‘a’.
Let’s have a look at all the situations in which you might wanna use a zero article. Plural nouns and uncountable nouns are already discussed. Now, let’s move on.
One. Abstract nouns. Big words, for instance:
friendship, love, happiness, education, music, chaos, death, divorce, envy, freedom, ego, idea, joy, justice, liberty, mercy, peace, and so on. Let’s see some examples:
She was in constant pain.
I saw no justice in the court’s decision.
Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.
Two. Names. Lots of different names. I mean people naturally, but also places, streets, languages, subjects days and months. There are exceptions of course, so go and research that but that is the rule. For instance: Adam, Victoria Station, Wall Street, Oxford Street, Norway, Warsaw, Cracow, Luton Airport, German, Italian, Law, Physics, Wednesday, March. Example sentences:
Britain is expected to give final approval to expand Luton Airport.
Do you speak German or Italian?
I’ve been studying Physics.
I live in Cracow.
His name is Adam.
Three. Games and sports. For example, football, baseball, swimming, chess, fencing, jogging, yoga, golf, tennis, volleyball and the list has no ending probably. The sentences:
Adam is only interested in films and skateboarding.
He enjoys cycling and photography.
Four. Meals. Don’t ask me why, they just don’t take articles… For example:
What’s for dinner?
Let’s have breakfast outside.
Why don’t you join us for lunch?
Five. Zero articles are placed before nouns and a numbers. For example:
The train goes from platform nine.
Go to page sixty-one.
I’m in room 304.
Listen to episode seventy-six.
Six. Routine place. Places we spent quite some time, like in bed, at home, at work.
He’s at work now.
Kids, are you in bed?
She has to go to school.
Seven. Transport. Things like: by bus, by car, on foot. Listen to these sentences:
They fled on foot before the police arrived.
There is easy access to the centre of the city by tram.
Eight. Newspaper headlines, official statements, notices, user guides et cetera. For example:
Keep area clean
insert battery
Man arrested on suspicion of murder of footballer.
That’s pretty much all I wanted to tell you about zero articles and now let’s practice. Listen and repeat the sentences out loud:
Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.
Do you speak German or Italian?
I’ve been studying Physics.
I live in Cracow.
He enjoys cycling and photography
Why don’t you join us for lunch?
The train goes from platform nine.
I’m in room 304.
He’s at work now.
Kids, are you in bed?
She has to go to school.
There is easy access to the centre of the city by tram.
Well done! Now, go to your inbox and get the worksheet to test yourself. Translate the sentences into English. Each episode is a practical and free class. If you aren’t a member of TOPeople download the worksheet from teacherola.com/176.
If you find this episode useful, tell your friends about my podcast. Thank you so much for doing so! Please rate this podcast wherever you listen, be it Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcast or YouTube. Thank you! It’ll help this podcast survive. I’ll see you next Wednesday! Happy learning. Take care! Stay fearless and say it out loud! Bye!