noun
article
A word marking a noun as definite or indefinite.
The teacher asks students to circle each article before a noun.
Etymology
Latin articulus meant a small joint or division. Ancient grammatical terminology applied the joint image to words that connect with nouns, eventually giving English the term for words such as “a” and “the.”
More examples
- English uses the definite article the.
- An indefinite article introduces an unspecified member of a group.
- The sentence contains two articles.
Forms
article · articles
Similar words
- determiner
- A broader grammatical category including possessives and demonstratives.