Learning English

Articles: a, an, the, and (-) 'zero article'

a or an means one person or thing. We use a or an:

1) before singular nouns: We had a great day and we saw an elephant.

2) before the name of a job: My sister wants to be an engineer.

Use a before consonant sounds: a chair, a horse, a laptop. But use an before the letters a, e, i, o, u (except when u is pronounced /j/) an elephant, an uncle; and the letter h when the h is not pronounced: an hour

We use the:

1) Before singular nouns that we have already mentioned with a/an: I saw an elephant. The elephant's name was Sambo.

2) Before singular, plural or uncountable nouns when it is clear which person or thing we mean: Put the money on the table.

3) Before singular nouns when there is only one of the noun: The sun is hot today.

4) With countries with plural names or the words 'Republic' or 'Kingdom' in the name: The Maldives, The United Arab Emirates.

5) Before the names of rivers, seas, oceans and mountain ranges: The Mississippi, The Red Sea, The Andes.

6) With superlatives: You're the best dad in the world!

7) With many expressions with 'of': In the middle of the night.

We use zero article (-):

1) Before nouns that refer to things in general: I like (-) elephants.

2) Before the names of most countries, cities and continents: Saudi Arabia, Warsaw and Europe.

3) Before names of single mountains and lakes: Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Titicaca.

ideal  
perfect; best possible

destination  
place where someone is going

transparent 
if something is transparent, you can see through it

breeze          
a light wind

remote         
far away

accessible     
able to be reached

mayor           
leader of a town or city

supplies         
things like food and medicine that you need to live

narrow         
not wide

half a dozen 
six (a dozen = 12)

lacks  
doesn't have

amenities     
things that make life more pleasant and easy

to get away from it all      
to have a break somewhere far away