Zero Articles
Do not use any article when/with the following:
1. Names of languages: English, French, German, Chinese Hindi, Nepali, Tamil, Kannad, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu, Arabic, etc.
2. Names of games, as: football, cricket, baseball, badminton, carom, judo, Taekwondo, etc.
3. Names of diseases: dysentery, diarrhea, Malaria, Typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, sinusitis, etc.
4. Before the words like ‘man’ ‘home’, etc.
5. Before singular proper names: Ram, Harry, Tom, Dick, etc.
6. There is not any count noun after the adjective of positive degree, as; Hritika is...- honest. Riwaz is ..-.. nice.
7. Functional items of grammar like adverbs, verbs, pronouns, and even gerunds, like Making money is my goal.
8.Words like: type of, kind of, sort of + noun
9. Rank and title without any detail Major, Colonel, etc.
10. Words like school, church, temple, prison, college, university, court, bed, etc. unless they are used for secondary purposes.
11.With abstract nouns: love kindness, mercy, truth, happiness, sadness, etc.
12. Names of academic subjects: Mathematics, History, Economics, Literature, Phonetics, Accountancy, etc.
13. Names of material nouns (metals and non-metals): gold, silver, diamond, ruby, emerald, garnet, sapphire, moonstone, etc.
14. Plural common nouns: as; Cows are grazing, Boys are reading, girls are playing, etc.
15. Reference to social institutions: marriage, dowry, divorce, casteism, etc.
16. Unspecified non-count nouns: victory, success, triumph, defeat, shame, pride, etc.
17. Plural count nouns that refer to things and beings in general: as; Cadillacs are the symbols of status.
18. Names of streets (exception: The Champs Elysees), singular islands, lakes(singular), cities, continents, countries (exception: The Sudan, the Ivory Coast), planets (exception the earth): as; Victoria Lake, Fifth Avenue, Australia, Sri Lanka, Uranus, Kathmandu, New York, London, New Delhi, etc.
19. Holidays, and names of festivals, etc.: Christmas, Dashain, Tihar, Teez, etc.
20. Names of mountain peaks and bays (if singular proper): Mt. Everest, San Francisco Bay, etc.
21. Dates are written in this form: July 4th, 1776, January 29th,2006, etc.
22. With words like -- downtown, downstairs, upstairs, Room No 25, work, church, but to the post office, to the bank, etc.
Task: Now it’s your turn to test yourself.
If there has ever been ….. book written about…small talk, and how to conduct it, I’ve never seen it. During….. holiday season……. is when we need…….book like that…..most………cocktail or dinner parties can be…..drag if people don’t know how to carry small talk. … ..person standing in front of you with….Glass in his hand has hit …..ball back in your court and you‘re right where you started: In…..conversational abyss. You have to begin again.
