Teaching The English Article to non-native speakers: differences between English and Romanian article
Firoiu Denisa-Maria, anul I, Master Limba Engleza-Studii teoretice si aplicate
1.Abstract: Unlike the other Latin-based languages, Romanian possesses enclitic definite articles, this article provides a short listing of the functions that the definite, indefinite and zero articles have. The examples that we give consist in some comparisons between Romanian and English in order to point out the difficulties that the English as a second language teachers keep in mind while planning the article lessons. Moreover, in order not to confuse the omission of the article with zero articles, we pay attention to the situations when the lack of the article is neither compulsory, nor a mistake, but a stylistic device. Although it might seem that the article’s main concern is how to express nouns with accurate articles, it actually highlights the importance of communication due to the fact that each characterization of the articles contains a short list of idiomatic expressions meant to develop the students’ fluency.
2. Introduction
Both in English and Romanian, the category of determination occurs from the necessity of indicating a specific element from a category (the building ). (-Cf. Georgiana Gălăţeanu, Ecaterina Comişel ,1992).
The purpose of this article is to show the differences between the English article and the Romanian one in different contexts. Without knowing the functions of the definite, the indefinite and the zero articles, non-native English speakers face many difficulties in communicating their ideas in an accurate form. Articles are used for expressing unique reference when a specific member of a category is identified: The ceiling coffers can be washed. We also use the article for an individual reference:
-for countable and uncountable nouns.
Where is the project you were working on by this time yesterday? /...