 Callie, everybody's hearing you right now, just telling you. Oh, if you could please let me know, welcome to Learn English Live and let me know in the chat if you can hear me and see me. I would greatly appreciate it, so if you can give me a thumbs up or say, yes, I can hear you, I can see you, that would be fantastic. So let's take a look and see who we have here today in the chat. Let's see, so we have, of course, the winner of the Gold Star, Anna, was the first to arrive today. Thanks for stopping in early. Good morning to you. It's evening time. That is 7 p.m. Central Standard Time in my time zone and my family is wrapping up dinner right now, so I can still hear some noises that my son, he's doing his chores. And hello, Gritrudis, welcome. Let's see, we've also got Alex, Alex, hello, Jonathan, Samira, hi Samira, how are you doing? Alex, I am not talking about at tonight, at will be, that should be a different lesson. Rohit, welcome Rohit, hello. Thanks for stopping in and Samira says yes, I can see you in here, thank you so much. So let me know where you are located today if you would like to share that information in the chat. Natalie, great to see you, thanks for joining, hello Layla, good morning Layla. For some of you I know it's very early in the morning and for others it would be dinner time or maybe late evening, so thank you, okay, so Gritrudis, if you say you've had a lot on your plate you would say I have a lot on my plate. If you say I have a lot of food on my plate then people would think that you literally have a plate with a lot of food in it. The slaying or the idiom would be I have a lot on my plate right now. Dan Samira says she's perfect, I'm doing great today, oh gosh, Alex, 2am, yikes. You and Samira are night owls, Samira doesn't get a lot of sleep. So let's 4.32, I wake up around 4.30 to teach 2 days a week and that is really hard. So welcome everyone, if you are new to this lesson my name is Sherry and I am an online teacher and I am so excited to kick off the new year with a lesson with you. So let's take a look at our topic for this evening. Welcome, great to see you. We are going to talk about the articles today. Now the articles are often something that is reviewed early in a person's English language journey but I wanted to start with the articles because I have many students that I interact with online who they forget to use the articles in their sentences, often in writing and sometimes even in speaking. They will not use the articles, they will omit the articles. So let's take a look at the rules for using the definite and indefinite articles which are A and the. Livestream, I'm not going to scream on this live but I will have a live stream. Jonathan, you are in the same time zone as I am but your weather is much nicer in your beautiful country. So let's talk about what are they, what are the articles. We'll begin with a definition. The definition is that articles are words that describe a noun as specific or unspecific. So let's get started with talking about the types of articles. We have both the definite and the indefinite articles and the word the is the definite article. So we're going to talk about that Alex in a moment, just hang tight, we'll get to that at the towards the end of the lesson. The word the is used and a way to limit the meaning of a noun to one particular thing. So one particular thing is when we would use the definite article of the. It can be used with singular nouns, plural nouns and uncountable nouns. So let's remember when a noun is uncountable that means literally it's difficult to count but for examples we would have something like sugar, sugar. You cannot count all of the grains of sugar. You would not talk about water, you'd say I would like some water. You don't say I would like three water, no. Now you could say I would like three glasses of water. So the is for a specific thing, yes. So for example, are you going to the game tomorrow? In this example, game is our noun and the is the article for game. The game is a specific game tomorrow. And when you would use this sentence, your listener understands the context. They know the game is only one game. There's a big game tomorrow at your school or university and your friend says, are you going to the game tomorrow? And everyone knows what the game is. It's the big game that everyone wants to go and watch. I hope that in the coming months that schools will be able to return to having extracurricular activities for students. So let's now talk about the indefinite articles. The indefinite articles are used with a noun that refers to a general idea rather than a particular thing. A general idea rather than a particular thing. Our examples for the indefinite articles would be the words a and an. The letter a, but it's pronounced as the schwa, a, a. Okay, so this is a nose. This is a nose, an, an. So when do we use a or a and an? When do we use them? We would use the a when it precedes or is before a noun that begins with a consonant, okay? So a consonant sound, a car. So I have a car, a car. So we would use the article a or a when the word after our article starts with a consonant, a car, okay? So let's look at some more examples and we have some exercises to do later. So hang in there. More examples would be a storm. We are going to have a storm soon outside, a kiss and a child, a child. So I'm going to give a kiss to a child. So this means that I am going to give a kiss to any child. It's not a specific child, it is a non-specific child. So let's take a look in the chat. We've got students who are listing some sentences perfect. So we have, yes, Jonathan is an avid bicyclist. He says I have a bike and Layla says your car is a cute car. Thank you. My toy car is a cute car. Carrie, hello. Can I say a snow? Can I say a snow? If you were to say a snow storm, you would say we're expecting a snow storm, yes. But snow is a collective noun so you wouldn't need to use that article. You would say it is going to snow or I like snow, snow is coming. So let's do an exercise. Now I'm going to look here because I have a friend who said that he was going to attend the lesson and I wrote this sentence for him but I don't see him here in the lesson yet unless he's being quiet. We're going to choose in the chat, I want you to type your answer to this sentence. I have, is the answer, I have a friend in Ecuador, is it or is it, I have a friend in Ecuador. Samira is fast on the keyboard today. So let's take a look. I have a friend in Ecuador. I have a friend or I have a friend in Ecuador. Yes, Rohit, welcome. Race, yes, excellent. Alright so let's look in the chat. We have Anna when we are referring to a single of uncountable nouns. We use a or an for example, the hair. Now remember we need to talk about specific. So if you say I'd like a new, I'd like to get hair refers to a collective noun. So I want to do something to my hair. We wouldn't really say a hair unless I have a hair in my mouth. I have a hair in my mouth. So we would use a and I think I answered your question there. Alyssa, great to see you here Alyssa. We are talking about the articles today Alyssa, a and the definite and indefinite articles. So Anna, I hope I answered your question there. I had to think it through. I haven't done a live lesson for a while. So now let's review when to use an. We use an when it precedes a word which is a noun that begins with a vowel. We use the article an when it is before our noun that begins with a vowel. So we have an egg, an egg. Hello, hello, hello, welcome from Poland. That's excellent. Tosia, is it Tosia? Let me know if I pronounced your name correctly Tosia or Tosia. I'm not sure. I really like to make sure that I can pronounce students names correctly. My name is spelled very and a little unusually and a lot of times people will say cherry with the ch sound. Specifically many of my Latino friends will say cherry. But my name starts with the sh sound, sh, sherry, even though it's spelled with ch. Yes, Alex. We're going to talk about that as well. Hang on there, Alex. Just hang on there. I know it's 2 a.m. Teresa. Okay, Teresa. Welcome Teresa. Thank you for coming to the lesson. So more examples that we have when we would use an. We have an elephant, an elephant. We also have an apple. So now I have a question. Let's type in the chat another example of when we would use an. Give me the word an followed by a noun in the chat and let's see what you students can come up with here today. I have not had my dinner yet, but my son, he made eggs for dinner as part of our dinner. Yes, we're going to talk about that, too. Hang in there, guys. We're going to get there. We're totally going to get there. An angel. Yes. An eagle. An artist. Perfect. Excellent. And I do want to call attention to thank you so much for our special subscribers. So we've got Jonathan and Anna and Layla and Dwi. Thank you so much. Your special subscriptions to our channel help Robin do more of what we are doing with offering free lessons. An animal, an excellent student, Natalie says an airplane, an octopus, Alex, an actress. Samira, would you like to be an actress? When I was young, when I was in grade third grade, I was the lead in a play. And then later in high school, I was in a play as well. It was a lot of fun. An event, an awesome night. An awesome night is an awesome night because I get to share it with you, with you, the students. I'm so excited to get started again. All right. So I think you guys have done an amazing job using the article and correctly. So let's go ahead and take a look at another exercise here. I understand, Aviar. No worries at all. An injection. Ooh, I received an email today that I am able to get the vaccine. So I need to think about that. That will be an exciting moment. An aunt and Layla says, I am an artist. Yes. Okay. So let's take a look at our exercise here. And if you would please type in the chat box again. It's very important to be an active learner. So instead of just listening, watching and reading what other people are saying, go ahead and type in the chat. That helps you be an active learner. She's reading an old magazine or she's reading an old magazine. Then we have, I bought a pair of shoes or I bought an pair of shoes. So an old magazine, Alex says, and Grotrudis is giving us an example of an hour, which is one of the tricky words we'll talk about in a moment. A pair of shoes. I also liked, but my mother was disagreeing, so I chose English, but she still doesn't like that. But I love it. Okay, Samira, I need to go back and see what that comment is referring to. She's reading an old magazine and yes, good. I love shoes. Now I am not a person that, I don't spend a lot of money on clothing. When I was younger, I did, but I don't anymore. I have four kids, so I just can't, but I love shoes. I love nice, comfortable shoes. I don't spend a lot of money on them, but that is my one thing I do like to buy, handbags and shoes, but shoes is at the top of my list. I also like sunglasses. I'm kind of an accessories kind of person. Accessories are things like belts, shoes, sunglasses, handbags, those are all accessories that we wear. She's reading an old magazine, an old magazine, a pair of shoes that is correct. That work. And so let's continue. Yes, Alyssa, I'm a little bit of a shoeaholic. Yes, Leila, I hope you're able to get some new shoes. I have to tell you, this is my medical side of me coming out. I do have some medical background. It's so important to wear comfortable shoes that support your feet. If your feet are not happy, your body will not be happy. So it's important to wear comfortable shoes. Oh, yes, okay, refers to being an actress. Thank you. I understand now. So now let's get to the tricky situation. Alex was asking, Gertrudez mentioned it as well. So let's talk about the tricky situation. Sometimes the noun may start with a consonant, but it sounds like a vowel. And Gertrudez used this word in one of her examples. It will take me an hour to finish. So if we look at the word hour, hour starts with the letter H, which is a consonant. But it doesn't sound like, it sounds like, ow, the vowel sound, ow, it will take me an hour to finish. Yes, so it will take me an hour to finish. This is one example of a tricky word that starts with a consonant, but it sounds like a vowel sound. So you need to go with what it sounds like. If it sounds like a vowel, then we need to use, and if it sounds like a consonant, we use a, or a. So yes, that is correct. You would say, so if we're going to talk about university, what sound does the first letter make in the word university? Yeah, yeah, which is a consonant sound. It is spelled with the U, but it sounds like yeah. So you would say, a university, a university, and an honest man, an honest man is perfect because again, H is a, a, and Layla says I need an hour to get to the hospital. Yes, that is correct. A university, Samira, yes, I'm going to go to a university when I graduate from high school. Yes, it has the Y sound that is correct. And Julie, welcome Julie, welcome to the page, welcome to the channel. So yes, MP3, the letter M, we have the letter M, but it starts with eh, eh, the vowel sound. So you would use an, an honor. Anna, it is an honor to be teaching you this lesson. Yes, Alex. So let's continue. You guys are, you're already borrowing some of my words. Okay, so let's continue with it's tricky. Every time the noun begins with the vowel, but it sounds like a consonant. So for example, and I need to get my letter out here. When I was young, I wanted to ride a unicorn. I have all these fun letters that I use with my students that are the shape of animals and different fun things. And my U has a unicorn on it. Let's see if I can find it. Here it is. I wanted to ride a unicorn. I collected unicorns. I had a stuffed unicorn that was very soft and its horn was golden. So we need to use ah, the letter A, the article A, before the word unicorn because the U makes the, yeah, yeah, sound, unicorn, ha, a match, yes, because mm, makes the consonant sound. So let's practice some together. You guys, you, you guys are all over this. Okay. This is, we started off with maybe an easier lesson because I know last year students would say, oh, this lesson is kind of hard. So we're going to start off a little bit slower. Yes, I like that. I am going to go on a European vacation. E, it starts with E, Europe, but it sounds like year, year, perfect. If you would say, Sherry is an honorable woman, you would use the word honorable. Well, there he is, Andreas decides to make an appearance. You missed your sentence earlier. Um, Alyssa asked the same question, yes, a university, and we have a, we saw a bad accident last night. It's always terrible when you're driving and you come upon an, an accident, the scene of an accident. We saw a bad accident last night. Perfect. Okay. And how about this example sentence? I heard a and or the, I heard a and or the amazing story today. A eulogy. Good. Alyssa. Yes. Andreas. A unique situation. Yes. Hmm. You are very unique and I heard an amazing story today. Yes. I heard an amazing story today. So let's flip it a little bit. Okay. So let's flip it. And we could, if the context was provided to the listener about an amazing story, then you could use the word the, I heard the amazing story today, right? If the context is provided, someone is telling you a story, you could say, Oh, I heard the amazing story today. Also the Bible is sometimes called the amazing story, but for this sentence, the answer, the correct answer, I heard an amazing story today. Okay. So let's take a look at this example sentence. Now remember, we need to talk about definite and indefinite, specific, not specific or unspecific. That is blank guy. I told you about that is guy. I told you about, hmm. Let's look at the context of the sentence. You've got some answers coming in. Carrie, I would love to know where you're coming from. If you feel comfortable sharing, I don't think I've met you, Carrie. Andres, that, I think maybe you typed incorrectly, the, okay. So yes, this is a sentence that I have used recently. I showed a picture of a man to a friend and I said, that is the guy I told you about. That is the guy I told you about. It's a specific person. That is the guy I told you about. Okay. That is the guy I told you about. And you know, flip side. That is the girl I told you about. That is the story I told you about something very specific. That is the guy I told you about. Okay. So let's move on now, guys, I'm going to challenge you, okay. You can do it. This is easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Okay. In the chat box, write a sentence using the definite article. So in the chat box, I want you to write a sentence using the definite article. So let's take a look while you're doing that. I am going to have a drink. Remember you can support the channel here. The information is in the links up above. You can also find Robbins. He's got a website now and we have our information there. I'm on TikTok here on YouTube, Learn English Live and Learn English with Sherry. And also I'm on Instagram. Follow me if you have not, please. Okay. We use the for specific things. Yes. The other person knows about it. Okay. So, Samira, with your example, the word the is referring to other. And Apple a day keeps the doctor away. Okay. And now we're working on the definite article. Okay. So the definite article would be the. The. Yes. So if you were to say, um, I want to go to the USA. I want to go to the USA. That's a definite, a specific country. Last night I saw cat. The cat was too poor. Okay. Yes. But Layla, I would like for you to change your sentence. Okay. Um, you're using, I think maybe those could be two sentences. Last night I saw a cat. Period. The cat was too poor. Or you could say, last night I saw a cat, semi-colon, the cat, it was too poor. The cat was too poor. Hello, Diego. Great to see you. Welcome. We have few people from Ecuador in the group tonight. Everyone has problems in a life. Okay. Dweet. You need to use the definite article, which is the. Okay. The UK, Alex, yes. This is the dog I found in the box. Yes. So the cola is, yes. So you could say, um, um, actually I would like to change your sentence. You would not need to use an article in that sentence. You would just say, cola is Sherry's favorite drink. But if your question is, is cola Sherry's favorite drink? Ah, phrases and idioms. Great. Yes. I'm actually, I have reading through a book on that as well to help me with some lessons. Ah, I bought the book. Yes. That you advised me recently to purchase. Yes. Um, Javier, um, questioning, you're saying, ah, maybe you're behind in the lesson. I don't know. Everyone's internet speeds a little different. Joseph likes to wear a hat. Okay. That's the indefinite article. We want to use the definite, which is the, I'd like to go to the UK. Yes. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Yes. Okay. I was, do we, Anna, I apologize. I was looking at Apple. Yes. You are correct. The president of USA is Donald Trump. Yes. Um, just for a couple more days. Hello, Alex. Nice to meet you here. So let's move on. Now let's use one of the indefinite articles. Now remember the indefinite articles are a and an or a. Yes. That is correct Theresa. My sister is in the kitchen. So let's write a sentence in the chat box using an indefinite article a or an. The apple is not far from, okay. So Alyssa, that is one of my favorites as far as ADMs go. You would say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, which means that a child is similar to the parent. And so in my school, I have teachers that I work with who have been teaching a long time. I have not quite been teaching long enough to teach children of former students, but other teachers have. And so if they have a student and they also taught the parents, they may say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because the parent and child may have been similar students in their classroom. Okay. So let's take a look at people in the chat again. The people wear, okay. So jewelry is an uncountable noun and it's not being specific here. So you would say the people wear jewelry to make themselves more attractive. You would not use the. I love to read the book that you suggested me. Great Layla. That's perfect. So that was the building which was destroyed last month. You're specifically referring to an event that happened with one specific building. Yes, Samira. That is the, but we're using a and an. This is an exception to the rule. Great. We. Anna. Oh, you make me laugh. So I don't get flowers from anyone. You're the, I mean, I don't get real flowers, but you give me virtual. Flowers. Thank you very much. I met a boy. Layla, did you really meet a boy? Playing piano is an awesome hobby. Yes, it is. I love playing piano. I have one sitting right over there, but I haven't used it and I have not played in many years. Oh, great. I'm so glad that this is a beautiful English YouTube channel. Thank you, Andres. You make me blush. Gratuitous. A child is playing with a ball. Yes, it's not a specific ball. You're just, yes, that's perfect. Michael Jackson was a famous singer, mm-hmm. So Alex, so when you say watching Sherry's Lawsons is a unique experience, be careful because your sentence is grammatically correct. It's perfect, okay? But I just want to share with you, sometimes the word unique when it is used, it can be interpreted as meaning negative. Sometimes when people say, yes, it was a unique experience. What their meaning is, it was unusual. It was different. I didn't really like it, but your sentence is grammatically correct. And then other times when people say it was unique, they mean it in a positive manner. Yes, Layla. There's a song by Beyonce that I really like and I can't sing because I'll get in trouble with YouTube. Plus, I'm a terrible singer, but it's called If I Was a Boy and it's a really interesting song. I like it. I like it a lot. You received, I received an exclusive invitation from a friend of mine. Oh, Alex, no worries. That's why I'm sharing this just so you'll know because I didn't know when I was meeting with my friend that a word in English, it sounds the same in Spanish and that word means something totally different. Salmon is a fish, but apparently it's something completely different in another language. Ah, thank you. Thank you very much, Jui. Great sentence. We were driving home yesterday. We saw an accident. The accident was serious. Rockstar. That's a great example of how to go from a non-specific situation to a specific, using an indefinite to a definite. All right, great exercise. Okay, so now let's move on to examples of tricky words. Someone already mentioned earlier how I think it was, they said, I'm going back in the chat to see. Somebody talked about M and how you would have to use, we had a university, an hour. I'm not finding it. So do you guys know the candies, M and M's? M and M's? M and M's are a chocolate candy. And I have a story about M and M's that maybe I'll share. M and M's, eh, eh, it starts with a vowel sound even though it has the letter M. So the candy actually has M and M on the label. So you would say, if you wanted one, you'd say, can I have an M and M? And you want one little piece of candy, can I have an M and M? URL, URL is an address on the internet. We would talk about URLs. And the letter is U, but it starts with the yes sound, U-R-L. And then yes, university, very unusual. Oh, an MP3, thanks Anna. I'm finding that now. So, I cute. Javier, I'm not sure what, I think I know what you typed. In the group's point of view, he is an infamous guy, ah, infamous. Great word. Layla, I am wearing an old jacket. Old jackets are the best. I had a jean jacket once that was my father's, and so it was very old. But it was so worn and soft, and it was frayed, it was so cool. And then a boy ruined it. He wrote on it, he had a crush on me, and he wrote on it in junior high. And it ruined the coat. I was so sad. Ah, okay, an MP3, yes, an MP3 player. So what about university? I want to talk a little bit about university. So when we talk about the word university, and remember if it's an indefinite article, we're not referring to anything specific. I want to go to a university when I graduate from high school. But let's say that you want to go to a specific university that is in your local area. I want to go to the university, I'm going to go to the university, and people will understand, oh, you want to go to the university that is in your area. So do we, yes, okay, I see that, okay, an M&M, a-u-r-l, a-u-r-l. Because u starts with the letter u, but it sounds like ya, ya, the y sound, okay. So let's continue. All right guys, we got through this lesson really quickly, the Oxford University, yes. So I also want to talk about when we are pronouncing our letters. So let's do something a little bit unusual. I don't usually stray from the lesson too much, but let's just go ahead and we will add a new slide. Because I'm feeling kind of, kind of, kind of crazy. So let's, let's branch out a little bit here. And we will talk about the pronunciation of the, uh, so if we see the a, we would say a car, a car, but it's actually pronounced a car. This is a car. Now in English, if you want to be really specific and stress something, you could say, I want to go get a car because you want to be really specific about it. It's something that's stressed. But typically in conversational speech, you would say a car. This is a car. This is a fast car. The same thing goes with the word the. So if we were to talk about the word the, and I have a specific example that I want to talk about with this. So pronunciation for the. So again, T-H-E, so we've got the schwa at the end, the, or the a sound. So we'd say the university. Now there are certain instances where people will change it to the when they want to stress something. So for example, oftentimes, uh, let's see, last night was the college football championship game. Not soccer, but actual football, American football. It was last night. And at the beginning of a game, all of the players on the team that are on the starting roster. So they're the players who are going to begin the game on the field. They announced them. They will show their picture in a video and the player will say, my name is Brett Johnson and I attend the Ohio University. But typically people would say I go to the university. But when they're talking about the specific university and they are wanting to stress because they're really proud of where they attend. I attend the Ohio State University. Yes, that is correct, Leila. In the evening. Yes. Okay, so the pronunciation issue is, is not something that is a hard and fast rule. It's something that you could do, but I will tell you in conversational running speech, the letter A, the article is often most often pronounced, uh, mm-hmm. Okay, so I want to open up the floor. Do you guys have any questions for me about the lesson or I can give you guys about five minutes? If there are other questions that you would like to ask, I will open up the floor for that. Feel free to ask away. Let's just see who's in the chat here. While I am waiting for that, I want to take a quick drink. These lights are a little bright tonight. My dinner, I can smell it. I'm going to have some bacon and scrambled eggs and toast. So let's see what we have here in the chat. Thanks again for stopping by Learn English Live. I do live lessons every Tuesday at this time on Learn English Live. I also have live lessons on my personal YouTube channel, which is Learn English with Sherry. And I am always producing videos for my TikTok and Instagram. Those, of course, are very short lessons. So let's take a look and see if anyone has any questions. If you guys would like to talk about anything else, phrasal verbs or idioms. I would be happy to do that as well. Let's just see here. Looks like we have a variety of students from some new students and some students who are definitely returning. On the flip side is like the other hand. See you later, Jonathan. Thanks for coming. And hey, Jonathan, I'd love to see a photo of your newborn daughter sometime. Yes, on the flip side. So you could say, um, I'll see you on the flip side means that I'll see you next time or I'll see you tomorrow. Yes, I wish we had a washing machine. Mm-hmm. That is correct, do we? All right, guys. Yes, Samira, you do. Thank you so much for the love, Samira. You're great at sharing my posts with the WhatsApp group. If you would like to participate in a chat group in the links on Learn English Live, there are links for WhatsApp groups that Robin Shaw hosts. He's a great moderator of those groups. OK, so that is perfect, Layla. Great question because I often will hear people say, put this on the TikTok. OK, so TikTok, you're not going to use the. You're going to just say, put this on TikTok. You're not going to say, put it on a Twitter. You're just going to say Twitter because it's very specific. You're welcome, Gertrude. You're welcome. Mm. OK, so I use OBS for my streaming. And I have used some virtual backgrounds before, Alex, but I don't like how it pixelates. You know how it's when you move, because I tend to move a lot and it gives that distortion. Also, I have a Mac, so I have to be really specific on what type of streaming I use and also so I can't use Manicam and things like that. But good point. Thank you for sharing that. All right, guys, I think I'm going to go ahead and wish you all a great day. Good evening. Good night. Thank you so much. Make sure that you check back because I will post a homework lesson for you tomorrow on this feed. There will be, it takes about 24 hours for the lesson to show up on Learn English Live. Come back tomorrow and I will post a homework lesson and anyone who does post, I always respond on my social media or here on YouTube. So please make sure you do that. Yes, Samira, I understand. Thank you so much, everyone. Oh, thanks, Natalie. Let me know how you're doing. Do we an usher and usher? There are unused. There is a user. Okay, there are ushers and usherettes at the wedding reception. Is it correct we use it? We use and twice. You would not use and because yuh is a consonant sound. You would say there is a usher and usher. Okay, you're right. It's us. So user, you spelled it wrong. I'm sorry. Usher is U-S-H-E-R. Okay, cool. Yes, see you. Thank you so much, guys. Keep practicing. Don't give up. You can do it. Have a great one. See y'all later. Thanks for joining. See you next week. Goodbye.