Pedagogical rules for the use of English articles: an evaluation and suggestions for improvement
Pedagogical rules for the use of English articles: an evaluation and suggestions for improvement

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to analyse the grammatical rules for the use of English articles which are offered to students of English as a foreign language and evaluate them from the perspective of their pedagogical effectiveness. The article highlights the most problematic issues and the potential weaknesses of the rules most commonly used in contemporary pedagogical/reference grammars. It is argued that some of the problems identified could be at least partially solved or avoided by the introduction of rules based on Cognitive Grammar. A brief outline of the Cognitive Grammar conception of articles is presented to show how the specific “uses” of articles can be subsumed under more general, broader, conceptually-based rules.

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