Learn English – Article usage — need help on how to best explain these examples

articlesdefinite-articleindefinite-article

I'm struggling to find a decent explanation for a student on the following:

'The test is really hard.' (we use definite article to specify which test, assuming listener knows which one we mean). But…

'This is A really hard test.' (we can't use the definite article in this statement and it would look very wrong, but I can't explain why).

Secondly, article rules say that mountains and rivers, lakes etc take the definite article (Eg we went camping in the Dordogne), but we would say "Mount Hood is A volcano". Again, although as a native speaker I understand it myself, I'm unable to explain to the student why this is, in a way that he will understand. He is pre-intermediate and I am used to teaching B2/C1 level learners who rarely ask me such questions!

Any help much appreciated 🙂

Best Answer

As far as I know, the article the comes from the old English word for that (if something has a the in front of it, you can point at it). So, you can kind of mentally substitute the with that (or those for things that are plural) and if the whole thing still makes sense, then the usage is most likely correct. The indefinite article a/an, again, comes from the old English word for one. I usually think of it like this:

Volvo is a car. It is a car because it is just one of many possible cars that exist.

or

Volvo is a car. It is a car because it is one example of the nebulous idea of car.

Another example:

I'm gonna buy a car. I'm gonna buy just one out of many cars that exist.

With the, I think, we will typically be able to add some very specific information about the object we are talking about. For example:

I saw the man again. (The man that we met yesterday and his name was John.)

Where are the kids, honey? (The kids that are named Jimmy and Bobby because they are our sons.)

Compare that with examples using a:

I saw a man again. (maybe in my dream) (just a man, one of the class man)

What do kids like most of all, honey? (just kids in general, not our children or our future children)

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