ARTICLES WITH PLURAL AND COUNTABLE NOUNS (THE)

In this context, the usage of the definite article (the) with plural and countable nouns are explained.

THE 1. Specific / Definite2. Used before singular or plural nouns3. Also used with countable and uncountable nouns.4. Known as the definite article

RULE 1‘The’ can be used to refer to a particular person or thing

The man wearing the blue jacket is Malik. The questions that you asked are difficult.

RULE 2‘The’ is also used to refer to someone or something mentioned previously.

Kenny saw a snake in the garden. The snake was a cobra.

RULE 3Refers to something that is only one of its kind.

The sun The East Coast The world The moon The universe

RULE 4Used for plural nouns and to make the plural nouns specific.

She bought the books by Professor Baker. The results of his actions were awful.

RULE 5Used before comparatives and superlatives

Mansur is the stronger of the two This is the largest box I have.

RULE 6With the word ‘same’

We are in the same class.

RULE 7

Before the names of buildings, rivers, straits, oceans, seas, mountain ranges, deserts, countries beginning with “union”, “republic” or “united” etc.

The Petronas Twin Towers The British Embassy The Indian Ocean The Main Range The Commonwealth The Philippines The Klang River The Strait Of Malacca The South China Sea The Gobi Desert The United States of America The Republic of China The Great Wall of China.

RULE 8Refers to position, an order of things, events or time.

He won the first prize in the competition. I don’t want to leave the last bus.

REMINDERS!!!

1. If the things mentioned are not made to be only one, use the indefinite article a/an.

She is a teacher of English ( Not the only English teacher)

I have a feeling that he is lying ( Not the only feeling I have)

I have an idea that will save us. ( Not the only idea I have)

2. Use the articles (a, an, the) if they refer CERTAIN aches and illnesses such as “flu”, “cold”, “fever”, and “headache”

He has the flu I have a cold

However, most aches and illnesses DON’T require articles.

People now are getting worried about getting cancer She went to see a doctor because she has diabetes. The old lady is suffering from mouth cancer. Are you suffering from high blood pressure?

SUMMATIVE EXERCISES (A, AN, THE)

Fill in the blanks with a, an or the where necessary.

Not so long ago, many of us resisted separating glass, cans,

and paper out of our garbage. What hassle. Today, of course,

every second-grader knows that world's resources are limited and that recycling helps preserve them. We act locally, while

thinking globally. It's time to bring same consciousness to

health care as we face growing medical crisis: loss of antibiotic effectiveness against common bacterial illnesses. By personally refusing -- or not demanding -- antibiotics for viral

illnesses they won't cure, we can each take step toward prolonging overall antibiotic effectiveness.

Media reports have likely made you aware of this problem, but they

have neglected implications. Your brother catches cold

that turns into sinus infection. His doctor treats him with

antibiotics, but bacteria are resistant to all of them. The infection enters his bloodstream -- a condition known as septicemia

-- and few days later, your brother dies. (Septicemia is what killed Muppets creator Jim Henson a few years ago.) Or instead of

cold, he has infected cut that won't heal, or any other

common bacterial disease, such as ear or prostate infection.

Far-fetched? It's not. antibiotics crisis is real. Consider Streptococcus pneumoniae: This common bacterium often causes

post-flu pneumonia. (Pneumonia and influenza combined are country's sixth leading cause of death, killing 82,500 Americans in 1996.) Before 1980, less than 1 percent of S. pneumoniae samples showed any resistance to penicillin. As of last May, researchers at

Naval Medical Center in San Diego discovered that 22 percent of S. pneumoniae samples were highly resistant to it, with another

15 percent moderately so. And most recent statistics from

Sentry Antimicrobial Surveillance Program, which monitors

bacterial resistance at 70 medical centers in U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America, show that 44 percent of S. pneumoniae samples in the U.S. are highly resistant, and worldwide, resistance is

at all-time high (55 percent).

Strains of S. pneumoniae are also now resistant to tetracycline, erythromycin, clindamycin, chloramphenicol, and several other antibiotics. And there's a "plausible risk" that we'll run out of options for treating other types of pneumonia as well, according to infectious disease expert Joshua Lederberg of Rockefeller University

in New York. not-too-distant future promises potential

failure of medicine's ability to treat broad range of bacterial infections -- from urinary tract infections to meningitis to tuberculosis.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a direct outgrowth of the

overuse of these drugs. In classic Darwinian fashion, more

doctors prescribe antibiotics, more likely it is for some lucky

bacterium blessed with minor genetic variation to survive antibiotic assault-and pass its resistance along to its offspring. The solution is obvious: Doctors should prescribe antibiotics only as

last resort.

This strategy works. In early 1990s, Finnish public health authorities responded to rising bacterial resistance to erythromycin by discouraging its use as a first-line treatment for certain infections. From 1991 to 1992, erythromycin consumption per

capita dropped 43 percent. By 1996, bacterial resistance to antibiotic had been cut almost in half. But American doctors are

doing spectacularly lousy job of keeping their pens off their

prescription pads, most notably by prescribing antibiotics for common cold and other upper respiratory tract infections (URIs).

Data from National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey show that

bronchitis and URIs account for third of nation's antibiotic prescriptions. Antibiotics treat only bacterial infections and are completely powerless against viral illnesses. Every doctor knows this.

Yet, according to recent study by Dr. Ralph Gonzalez, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, when adults consult physicians for URIs

and bronchitis that often follows them, more than half walk out

with prescription for antibiotic. If doctors simply stopped prescribing antibiotics for conditions they know don't respond to them, we'd instantly be well on our way to minimizing antibiotic resistance.

Why are doctors so ready to prescribe antibiotics? Physicians are

quick to blame public. Patients, they say, demand antibiotics, and doctors are so terrified of malpractice suits they prescribe them to keep their customers happy and their lawyers at bay.

There's another side to story: Doctors are trained that there's

pill for every ill (or there should be). All of their medical

education conspires to make antibiotic prescription their knee-

jerk reaction to any infection, which may or may not have bacterial cause.

"Cold Comfort"by Michael Castlemanfrom Mother Jones Magazine, March/April 1998; reprinted with permission.

ANSWERS FOR THE EXERCISES

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