Correct use of articles

 

 

In order to improve academic writing style, it is important to understand how to use articles correctly. There are three articles that can be used, these are; the, an, and a. These are divided into two types of articles; the definite (the) and the indefinite (a, and an.)

The definite article is used to indicate something specific whilst the indefinite articles are used to indicate non-specific things. The following examples show how articles can be used to convey different meanings. Refer to extract 1.3

 

This sentence indicates that you can sit at any table However, if it is necessary to make the sentence more specific, it may be useful to use a different article. Refer to extract 1.4

 

When using ‘an’ and ‘a’ it is important to determine the first sound of the next word. If the sound the word will create is a vowel then ‘an’ is used. Refer to extract 1.6

 

Extract 1:

It has been argued that many psychics use cold reading to make their claims.1 Cold reading is a method employed by psychics whereby they are able to convince the sitter they can read their mind when in reality they are making their claims based on the sitter’s body language2, (Hyman, 2007). Psychics can make a vague and highly general claim and sitters will ask ‘are you sure’ or ‘I can take everything but this’, (Hyman, 2007).3 For this reason, more people should consider whether the psychic should have room for mistakes if they are claiming that the spirit is on the stage talking to them.4 Equally, it may be useful to consider that as noted in the introduction, if these interactions are televised they may appear even more credible as the psychic’s mistakes can be cut out. Fortunately 5, this kind of research can help people to approach these situations with less of an open mind. 6