Delimiters
Delimiters is an alternative term for articles, as in definite and indefinite articles. This is a term that I have proposed, as I find the term article to be confusing and unhelpful, especially for students. Delimiters or articles belong to the larger syntactic category of determiners. English has the following delimiters.
- Singular indefinite a and an
- Singular / plural definite the
Additionally, some functions like a plural indefinite delimiter, as in some apples, referring to a particular quantity of a non-specific set of apples. For nouns with no delimiters, some linguists describe such nouns as a zero article, as in ∅ apples in I like apples. Or the nouns can simply be called bare nouns - nouns not modified by a determiner. We thus have the following basic forms.
- Marked nouns, i.e, marked with a/an/the
- Singular indefinites
- Singular plurals
- Bare singular nouns
- Bare plural nouns
We have one key distinction between marked and bare nouns, and another key distinction between definite and indefinite nouns. The definite / indefinite distinction is often not taught clearly; they can be explained to students as follows:
- Definite: Known or familiar to the addressee (listener/reader). That is, the speaker/writer assumes the addressee would be familiar with the item, for whatever reason. It could be because of linguistic context, physical context, or other factors.
- Indefinite: Unknown or unfamiliar to the addressee. The speaker assumes the addressee would not be familiar with the item.
Summary of basic article patterns
| Form | Meaning | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Singular marked noun: a/an/the + singular noun cf. |
Object / item / thing, i.e., physical objects | a cup, a coffee, a chicken, the chicken |
| 2. | Singular bare noun (Ø) |
Material / substance noun | coffee, chicken |
| 3. | Bare plural noun (Ø) |
Group / set nouns | buying eggs; watching birds |
| 4. | Indefinite: a/an + noun |
Unknown or unfamiliar (to listener / reader ) |
I don’t have a clue. |
| 5. | Definite: the + noun |
Known or familiar (to listener / reader) |
Don’t look at the sun. |
Significantly more material will be added to this page later, along with related pages for teachers and learners.
