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66-540: The is a grammatical article in English , denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. The is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It

132-482: A , which is used for personal nouns; so, " a Pita " means "Peter". In Māori, when the personal nouns have the definite or indefinite article as an important part of it, both articles are present; for example, the phrase " a Te Rauparaha ", which contains both the proper article a and the definite article Te refers to the person name Te Rauparaha . The definite article is sometimes also used with proper names, which are already specified by definition (there

198-500: A class of determiner ; they are used in French and Italian in addition to definite and indefinite articles. (In Finnish and Estonian , the partitive is indicated by inflection.) The nearest equivalent in English is some , although it is classified as a determiner , and English uses it less than French uses de . Haida has a partitive article (suffixed -gyaa ) referring to "part of something or... to one or more objects of

264-678: A definite article (which has survived into Modern Greek and which bears strong functional resemblance to the German definite article, which it is related to), the earlier Homeric Greek used this article largely as a pronoun or demonstrative, whereas the earliest known form of Greek known as Mycenaean Greek did not have any articles. Articles developed independently in several language families. Not all languages have both definite and indefinite articles, and some languages have different types of definite and indefinite articles to distinguish finer shades of meaning: for example, French and Italian have

330-624: A determiner. In English, the zero article rather than the indefinite is used with plurals and mass nouns , although the word "some" can be used as an indefinite plural article. Articles are found in many Indo-European languages , Semitic languages (only the definite article) , and Polynesian languages ; however, they are formally absent from many of the world's major languages including Chinese , Japanese , Korean , Mongolian , many Turkic languages (including Tatar , Bashkir , Tuvan and Chuvash ), many Uralic languages (incl. Finnic and Saami languages ), Hindi-Urdu , Punjabi , Tamil ,

396-408: A given group or category," e.g., tluugyaa uu hal tlaahlaang "he is making a boat (a member of the category of boats)." A negative article specifies none of its noun, and can thus be regarded as neither definite nor indefinite. On the other hand, some consider such a word to be a simple determiner rather than an article. In English, this function is fulfilled by no , which can appear before

462-458: A move in the other direction occurred with The Gambia . In certain languages, such as French and Italian, definite articles are used with all or most names of countries: la France , le Canada , l'Allemagne ; l'Italia , la Spagna , il Brasile . If a name [has] a definite article, e.g. the Kremlin , it cannot idiomatically be used without it: we cannot say Boris Yeltsin

528-481: A particular man. The word he , which is the indefinite article in Tokelauan, is used to describe ‘any such item’, and is encountered most often with negatives and interrogatives. An example of the use of he as an indefinite article is “ Vili ake oi k'aumai he toki ”, where ‘ he toki ’ mean ‘ an axe ’. The use of he and te in Tokelauan are reserved for when describing a singular noun. However, when describing

594-447: A partitive article used for indefinite mass nouns , whereas Colognian has two distinct sets of definite articles indicating focus and uniqueness, and Macedonian uses definite articles in a demonstrative sense, with a tripartite distinction (proximal, medial, distal) based on distance from the speaker or interlocutor. The words this and that (and their plurals, these and those ) can be understood in English as, ultimately, forms of

660-406: A plural noun, different articles are used. For plural definite nouns, rather than te , the article nā is used. ‘ Vili ake oi k'aumai nā nofoa ’ in Tokelauan would translate to “ Do run and bring me the chairs ” in English. There are some special cases in which instead of using nā , plural definite nouns have no article before them. The absence of an article is represented by 0 . One way that it

726-768: A similar, earlier group bound for the Colony of Virginia, and specifically by one Stephen Hopkins , who had, as a result, been convicted of mutiny and sentenced to death, but pardoned, and is thought to be the Stephen Hopkins aboard the Mayflower and among the Compact signatories. The Pilgrims had lived for some years in Leiden , a city in the Dutch Republic . Historian Nathaniel Philbrick states, "Just as

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792-537: A singular or plural noun: In German , the negative article is, among other variations, kein , in opposition to the indefinite article ein . The equivalent in Dutch is geen : The zero article is the absence of an article. In languages having a definite article, the lack of an article specifically indicates that the noun is indefinite. Linguists interested in X-bar theory causally link zero articles to nouns lacking

858-935: A spiritual covenant had marked the beginning of their congregation in Leiden, a civil covenant would provide the basis for a secular government in America." The original document has been lost, but three versions exist from the 17th century: printed in Mourt's Relation (1622), which was reprinted in Purchas his Pilgrimes (1625); hand-written by William Bradford in his journal Of Plimoth Plantation (1646); and printed by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton in New-Englands Memorial (1669). The three versions differ slightly in wording and significantly in spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. William Bradford wrote

924-458: A vowel. Sometimes the word "the" is pronounced / ˈ ð iː / , with stress, to emphasise that something is unique: "he is the expert", not just "an" expert in a field. Definite article principles in English are described under " Use of articles ". The , as in phrases like "the more the better", has a distinct origin and etymology and by chance has evolved to be identical to the definite article. The and that are common developments from

990-650: Is just one of them). For example: the Amazon, the Hebrides . In these cases, the definite article may be considered superfluous. Its presence can be accounted for by the assumption that they are shorthand for a longer phrase in which the name is a specifier, i.e. the Amazon River , the Hebridean Islands . Where the nouns in such longer phrases cannot be omitted, the definite article is universally kept:

1056-504: Is stalas , the white table. Languages in the above table written in italics are constructed languages and are not natural, that is to say that they have been purposefully invented by an individual (or group of individuals) with some purpose in mind. When using a definite article in Tokelauan language , unlike in some languages like English, if the speaker is speaking of an item, they need not have referred to it previously as long as

1122-443: Is an article that marks a definite noun phrase . Definite articles, such as the English the , are used to refer to a particular member of a group. It may be something that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may be otherwise something uniquely specified. For example, Sentence 1 uses the definite article and thus, expresses a request for a particular book. In contrast, Sentence 2 uses an indefinite article and thus, conveys that

1188-615: Is considered to be a Germanism . The definite article sometimes appears in American English nicknames such as "the Donald", referring to former president Donald Trump , and "the Gipper", referring to former president Ronald Reagan . A partitive article is a type of article, sometimes viewed as a type of indefinite article, used with a mass noun such as water , to indicate a non-specific quantity of it. Partitive articles are

1254-523: Is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. In most dialects, "the"

1320-632: Is in Kremlin . Some languages use definite articles with personal names , as in Portuguese ( a Maria , literally: "the Maria"), Greek ( η Μαρία , ο Γιώργος , ο Δούναβης , η Παρασκευή ), and Catalan ( la Núria , el / en Oriol ). Such usage also occurs colloquially or dialectally in Spanish , German , French , Italian and other languages. In Hungarian , the colloquial use of definite articles with personal names, though widespread,

1386-405: Is one of the most frequently used words in English, at various times short abbreviations for it have been found: Occasional proposals have been made by individuals for an abbreviation. In 1916, Legros & Grant included in their classic printers' handbook Typographical Printing-Surfaces , a proposal for a letter similar to Ħ to represent "Th", thus abbreviating "the" to ħe. In Middle English,

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1452-429: Is pronounced as / ð ə / (with the voiced dental fricative /ð/ followed by a schwa ) when followed by a consonant sound, and as / ð iː / (homophone of the archaic pronoun thee ) when followed by a vowel sound or used as an emphatic form . Modern American and New Zealand English have an increasing tendency to limit usage of /ðiː/ pronunciation and use /ðə/ , even before

1518-414: Is unknown or unimportant. Indefinites also have predicative uses: Indefinite noun phrases are widely studied within linguistics, in particular because of their ability to take exceptional scope . A proper article indicates that its noun is proper , and refers to a unique entity. It may be the name of a person, the name of a place, the name of a planet, etc. The Māori language has the proper article

1584-412: Is usually used is if a large amount or a specific class of things are being described. Occasionally, such as if one was describing an entire class of things in a nonspecific fashion, the singular definite noun te would is used. In English, ‘ Ko te povi e kai mutia ’ means “ Cows eat grass ”. Because this is a general statement about cows, te is used instead of nā . The ko serves as a preposition to

1650-457: The (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a þ with a small e above it, similar to the abbreviation for that , which was a þ with a small t above it. During the latter Middle English and Early Modern English periods, the letter thorn (þ) in its common script, or cursive , form came to resemble a y shape. With the arrival of movable type printing, the substitution of ⟨y⟩ for ⟨Þ⟩ became ubiquitous, leading to

1716-458: The (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a þ with a small e above it, similar to the abbreviation for that , which was a þ with a small t above it. During the latter Middle English and Early Modern English periods, the letter thorn (þ) in its common script, or cursive form, came to resemble a y shape. As a result, the use of a y with an e above it ( [REDACTED] ) as an abbreviation became common. This can still be seen in reprints of

1782-582: The Baltic languages , the majority of Slavic languages , the Bantu languages (incl. Swahili ). In some languages that do have articles, such as some North Caucasian languages , the use of articles is optional; however, in others like English and German it is mandatory in all cases. Linguists believe the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages , Proto-Indo-European , did not have articles. Most of

1848-427: The , or it could also translate to the English indefinite article a . An example of how the definite article te can be used as an interchangeable definite or indefinite article in the Tokelauan language would be the sentence “ Kua hau te tino ”. In the English language, this could be translated as “ A man has arrived ” or “ The man has arrived ” where using te as the article in this sentence can represent any man or

1914-652: The 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible in places such as Romans 15:29 or in the Mayflower Compact . Historically, the article was never pronounced with a y sound even when it was so written. Ohio State University registered a trademark allowing the university to use "THE" on casual and athletic clothing. The university, often referred to as "The Ohio State University", had used "THE" on clothing since 2005, but took steps to register

1980-691: The 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible in places such as Romans 15:29, or in the Mayflower Compact . Historically, the article was never pronounced with a y sound, even when so written. The word "The" itself, capitalised, is used as an abbreviation in Commonwealth countries for the honorific title "The Right Honourable", as in e.g. "The Earl Mountbatten of Burma", short for "The Right Honourable Earl Mountbatten of Burma", or "The Prince Charles". Article (grammar) In English , both "the" and "a(n)" are articles, which combine with nouns to form noun phrases. Articles typically specify

2046-524: The Basque speakers"). Speakers of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic , a modern Aramaic language that lacks a definite article, may at times use demonstratives aha and aya (feminine) or awa (masculine) – which translate to "this" and " that ", respectively – to give the sense of "the". In Indonesian , the third person possessive suffix -nya could be also used as a definite article. Indefinite articles typically arise from adjectives meaning one . For example,

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2112-498: The Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James , of England , France , and Ireland , the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini ; 1620. The document was signed on November 21 [ O.S. November 11]. A list of 41 male passengers who signed

2178-578: The Crown of England. Thus, the Mayflower Compact was based simultaneously upon a majoritarian model and the settlers' allegiance to the king. It was in essence a social contract in which the settlers consented to follow the community's rules and regulations for the sake of order and survival. Similar arguments had been unsuccessfully made by the shipwrecked passengers of the Sea Venture ,

2244-743: The Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James , by the Grace of God, of Great Britain , France , and Ireland , King, Defender of the Faith , &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia ; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in

2310-467: The Northumbrian dialect), or þæt (neuter). The neuter form þæt also gave rise to the modern demonstrative that . The ye occasionally seen in pseudo-archaic usage such as " Ye Olde Englishe Tea Shoppe" is actually a form of þe , where the letter thorn ( þ ) came to be written as a y . Multiple demonstratives can give rise to multiple definite articles. Macedonian , for example, in which

2376-506: The Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of

2442-703: The United States , the People's Republic of China . This distinction can sometimes become a political matter: the former usage the Ukraine stressed the word's Russian meaning of "borderlands"; as Ukraine became a fully independent state following the collapse of the Soviet Union , it requested that formal mentions of its name omit the article. Similar shifts in usage have occurred in the names of Sudan and both Congo (Brazzaville) and Congo (Kinshasa) ;

2508-651: The agreement contained a pledge of loyalty to the King , the Puritans and other Protestant Separatists were dissatisfied with the state of the Church of England , the limited extent of the English Reformation and reluctance of King James I of England to enforce further reform. The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 21 [ O.S. November 11], 1620. Signing the covenant were 41 of

2574-651: The article. Some languages (such as the continental North Germanic languages , Bulgarian or Romanian ) have definite articles only as suffixes . An indefinite article is an article that marks an indefinite noun phrase . Indefinite articles are those such as English " a " or "an", which do not refer to a specific identifiable entity. Indefinites are commonly used to introduce a new discourse referent which can be referred back to in subsequent discussion: Indefinites can also be used to generalize over entities who have some property in common: Indefinites can also be used to refer to specific entities whose precise identity

2640-492: The articles are suffixed, has столот ( stolot ), the chair; столов ( stolov ), this chair; and столон ( stolon ), that chair. These derive from the Proto-Slavic demonstratives *tъ "this, that", *ovъ "this here" and *onъ "that over there, yonder" respectively. Colognian prepositions articles such as in dat Auto , or et Auto , the car; the first being specifically selected, focused, newly introduced, while

2706-466: The common " ye ", as in ' Ye Olde Curiositie Shoppe'. One major reason for this was that ⟨y⟩ existed in the printer's types that William Caxton and his contemporaries imported from Belgium and the Netherlands, while ⟨Þ⟩ did not. As a result, the use of a y with an e above it ( [REDACTED] ) as an abbreviation became common. It can still be seen in reprints of

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2772-439: The default definite article, whereas the proximal form (with infix -o- , derived from the proximal demonstrative hau-/hon- ) is marked and indicates some kind of (spatial or otherwise) close relationship between the speaker and the referent (e.g., it may imply that the speaker is included in the referent): etxeak ("the houses") vs. etxeok ("these houses [of ours]"), euskaldunak ("the Basque speakers") vs. euskaldunok ("we,

2838-779: The definite article the (whose declension in Old English included thaes , an ancestral form of this/that and these/those). In many languages, the form of the article may vary according to the gender , number , or case of its noun. In some languages the article may be the only indication of the case. Many languages do not use articles at all, and may use other ways of indicating old versus new information, such as topic–comment constructions. Plural: -ene, -ne (all suffixes) एउटा , एउटी , एक , अनेक , कुनै Plural: -ene, -a (all suffixes) Plural: -ane, -ene, -a (all suffixes) Plural: -na, -a, -en (all suffixes) The following examples show articles which are always suffixed to

2904-450: The definite article": Definite articles (Stage I) evolve from demonstratives, and in turn can become generic articles (Stage II) that may be used in both definite and indefinite contexts, and later merely noun markers (Stage III) that are part of nouns other than proper names and more recent borrowings. Eventually articles may evolve anew from demonstratives. Definite articles typically arise from demonstratives meaning that . For example,

2970-459: The definite articles in most Romance languages —e.g., el , il , le , la , lo, a, o — derive from the Latin demonstratives ille (masculine), illa (feminine) and illud (neuter). The English definite article the , written þe in Middle English , derives from an Old English demonstrative, which, according to gender , was written se (masculine), seo (feminine) ( þe and þeo in

3036-410: The document was supplied by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton in his 1669 New England's Memorial . Thomas Prince first numbered the names in his 1736 A Chronological History of New-England in the form of Annals . The original document has been lost, so Morton is the sole source for the signers. He probably had access to the original document, but he could not have known the actual order in which it

3102-430: The first long column, and similarly for the other columns. The fifth (1826) and sixth (1855) editions returned the names to their original first edition order by combining the first and second short columns into the first long column, and similarly for the other columns. Prince numbered the names in their original 1669 Morton order. He added titles (Mr. or Capt.) to 11 names that were given those titles by William Bradford in

3168-466: The first part of Mourt's Relation , including its version of the compact, so he wrote two of the three versions. The wording of those two versions is quite similar, unlike that of Morton. Bradford's handwritten manuscript is kept in a vault at the State Library of Massachusetts. The text as presented in modern sources is as follows: IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN . We, whose names are underwritten,

3234-403: The grammatical definiteness of the noun phrase, but in many languages, they carry additional grammatical information such as gender , number , and case . Articles are part of a broader category called determiners , which also include demonstratives , possessive determiners , and quantifiers . In linguistic interlinear glossing , articles are abbreviated as ART . A definite article

3300-604: The hook of Cape Cod in Massachusetts , however, as it was unwise to continue with provisions running short. This inspired some of the non-Puritan passengers (whom the Puritans referred to as "Strangers") to proclaim that they "would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them" since they would not be settling in the agreed-upon Virginia territory. To prevent this, the Pilgrims determined to establish their own government, while still affirming their allegiance to

3366-526: The indefinite articles in the Romance languages —e.g., un , una , une —derive from the Latin adjective unus . Partitive articles, however, derive from Vulgar Latin de illo , meaning (some) of the . The English indefinite article an is derived from the same root as one . The -n came to be dropped before consonants, giving rise to the shortened form a . The existence of both forms has led to many cases of juncture loss , for example transforming

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3432-401: The item is specific. This is also true when it comes to the reference of a specific person. So, although the definite article used to describe a noun in the Tokelauan language is te , it can also translate to the indefinite article in languages that requires the item being spoken of to have been referenced prior. When translating to English, te could translate to the English definite article

3498-498: The languages in this family do not have definite or indefinite articles: there is no article in Latin or Sanskrit , nor in some modern Indo-European languages, such as the families of Slavic languages (except for Bulgarian and Macedonian , which are rather distinctive among the Slavic languages in their grammar, and some Northern Russian dialects ), Baltic languages and many Indo-Aryan languages . Although Classical Greek had

3564-407: The latter is not selected, unfocused, already known, general, or generic. Standard Basque distinguishes between proximal and distal definite articles in the plural (dialectally, a proximal singular and an additional medial grade may also be present). The Basque distal form (with infix -a- , etymologically a suffixed and phonetically reduced form of the distal demonstrative har-/hai- ) functions as

3630-428: The list of passengers at the end of his manuscript. The following list of signers is organized into the six short columns of Morton (1669) with the numbers and titles of Prince. The names are given their modern spelling according to Morison. Use the numbers for the order used by genealogists and half of unnumbered lists (Samuel Fuller will be the eighth name), but merge the half columns vertically into full columns for

3696-408: The names were placed on two successive pages forming six short columns, three per page. In subsequent editions, these six short columns were combined into three long columns on a single page in two different ways, producing two different orders in unnumbered lists of signers. The second (1721) and third (1772) editions changed the order of the first edition by combining the first and fourth columns into

3762-414: The noun: Examples of prefixed definite articles: A different way, limited to the definite article, is used by Latvian and Lithuanian . The noun does not change but the adjective can be defined or undefined. In Latvian: galds , a table / the table; balt s galds , a white table; balt ais galds , the white table. In Lithuanian: stalas , a table / the table; balt as stalas , a white table; baltas

3828-557: The order used by the other half of unnumbered lists (John Turner will be the eighth name). On November 23, 1920, at a commemoration ceremony for the 300th anniversary of the Mayflower landing, then Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge , who became the 30th U.S. President a few years later, said the following about the Mayflower Compact: The compact which they signed was an event of the greatest importance. It

3894-527: The original a napron into the modern an apron . The Persian indefinite article is yek , meaning one. Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compact , originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth , was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony . It was written by the men aboard the Mayflower , consisting of Separatist Puritans , adventurers, and tradesmen. Although

3960-558: The same Old English system. Old English had a definite article se (in the masculine gender ), sēo (feminine), and þæt (neuter). In Middle English , these had all merged into þe , the ancestor of the Modern English word the . An area in which the use or non-use of the is sometimes problematic is with geographic names : Countries and territorial regions are notably mixed, most exclude "the" but there are some that adhere to secondary rules: In Middle English,

4026-648: The ship's 101 passengers; the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod . The Pilgrims had originally hoped to reach America in early October using two ships, but delays and complications meant they could use only one, the Mayflower . Their intended destination had been the Colony of Virginia , with the journey financed by the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London . Storms forced them to anchor at

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4092-425: The speaker would be satisfied with any book. The definite article can also be used in English to indicate a specific class among other classes: However, recent developments show that definite articles are morphological elements linked to certain noun types due to lexicalization . Under this point of view, definiteness does not play a role in the selection of a definite article more than the lexical entry attached to

4158-624: The trademark in August 2019 after the Marc Jacobs company attempted to do the same. In August 2021 Ohio State and Marc Jacobs agreed the high-end fashion retailer could use "THE" on its merchandise, which was different from what the university would sell. Still, the university took almost an additional year to convince the United States Patent and Trademark Office that the use of "the" was "more than ... ornamental". Since "the"

4224-563: The “ te ” The article ni is used for describing a plural indefinite noun. ‘ E i ei ni tuhi? ’ translates to “ Are there any books? ” Articles often develop by specialization of adjectives or determiners . Their development is often a sign of languages becoming more analytic instead of synthetic , perhaps combined with the loss of inflection as in English, Romance languages, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Torlakian. Joseph Greenberg in Universals of Human Language describes "the cycle of

4290-447: Was signed simply by inspecting it. Morton's arrangement of names might not have been the arrangement on the original document, and the names on the original may not have been arranged in any orderly fashion. Prince's numbers are based solely on Morton, as he himself stated. Morton's list of names was unnumbered and untitled in all six editions (1669–1855), although their order changed with successive editions. In his original 1669 edition,

4356-404: Was the foundation of liberty based on law and order, and that tradition has been steadily upheld. They drew up a form of government which has been designated as the first real constitution of modern times. It was democratic, an acknowledgment of liberty under law and order and the giving to each person the right to participate in the government, while they promised to be obedient to the laws. But

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