Articles in category: Sentence and word structure

What Are Qualifiers? | Examples & Meaning

Published on January 27, 2025 by Nicole Routh, M.Ed

Qualifiers are a type of adverb that amplifies or weakens the meaning of other words in a sentence (e.g., “barely noticeable”). A qualifier provides information about the intensity, frequency, or likelihood of an action or description. Some of the most common qualifiers include “very,” “really,” and “almost.”

In sentences, qualifiers usually go right before the adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs that they modify.

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Cardinal Numbers | Meaning & Examples

Published on January 27, 2025 by Nicole Routh, M.Ed Revised on February 13, 2025

A cardinal number is a whole number (e.g., “three”) rather than a fraction (e.g., “one third”) or an ordinal number (e.g., “third”). In writing, cardinal numbers are determiners that show the quantities of nouns (e.g., “three cups of coffee”).

Cardinal numbers can go right before the nouns they modify or before other modifiers (e.g., adverbs and adjectives). When a noun has multiple determiners—such as the definite article “the” or the possessive adjective “my”—they always go before a cardinal number.

Depending on the style guidelines you’re using, you can write cardinal numbers as words (e.g., “seven”) or numerals (e.g., “11”). Some style guides recommend words for the cardinal numbers one through nine and numerals for 10 and greater.

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What Is a Definite Article? | Meaning & Examples

Published on January 18, 2025 by Nicole Routh, M.Ed Revised on March 18, 2025

The definite article “the” is a determiner that goes before a specific rather than a general version of a noun. The noun can be singular (e.g., “the house”) or plural (e.g., “the cars”). Definite articles can also modify countable nouns (e.g., “the song”) or uncountable nouns (e.g., “the music”).

The rules about when to use definite articles depend on two factors.

1. Singular, countable nouns always need a determiner:
   • The definite article “the” or another determiner (e.g., “Paul’s” or “that”) for a specific version (e.g., “I enjoyed the first song on Ringo’s new album”)

• • An indefinite article—“a” or “an”—for a general version (e.g., “I hope he releases a new album again soon”)

2. For plural nouns and uncountable nouns (nouns without a plural form), you have these options:
   • The definite article “the” or another determiner for specific versions (e.g., “The salt I bought today is from Portugal”)

• • Zero determiner for general versions (e.g., “I’m craving salt” or “Pretzels make me thirsty”)

In a sentence, “the” is located before the noun it modifies (if there are no other modifiers), the noun’s first adjective, or an adverb that modifies the noun’s first adjective.

To use “the” correctly, follow the definite article guidelines below, or use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker.

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What Is an Indefinite Article? | Meaning & Examples

Published on January 16, 2025 by Nicole Routh, M.Ed Revised on March 18, 2025

An indefinite article is a type of determiner that goes before a singular, countable noun. The two indefinite articles in English are “a” and “an.” Indefinite articles are for general or unspecified versions of nouns, and the definite article (or another determiner) is for specific versions (e.g., “a book” rather than “the book that I read last week”).

You can use an indefinite article before one of these words:

• The noun it modifies (if there are no other modifiers)
• The first adjective that modifies the noun
• The adverb that modifies the noun’s first adjective

When a noun has multiple modifiers, the article or other determiner is always the first modifier.

The choice between “a” or “an” depends on the pronunciation of the next word. Use “a” when the next word begins with a vowel sound and “an” when the next word begins with a consonant sound.

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Is vs Are | Grammar, Use & Examples

Published on December 3, 2024 by Tom Challenger, BA Revised on April 11, 2025

We use is with singular nouns and “he,” “she,” and “it” (third-person pronouns) but are with plural nouns as well as “you” and “they.” However, deciding what is singular or plural, or which pronoun to use, can sometimes be tricky.

• Collective nouns are typically treated as singular, especially in American English.
• We often introduce a list with there is if the first item is singular but there are if the first item is plural.
• Use is with uncountable nouns like “information” or “advice.”
• They are can refer to an unspecified person (the “singular they”).
• Use are with compound subjects joined with “and.”
• In formal English, use is with amounts of money, distances, weights, and spans of time, even when mentioning plural “units.”
• We say “a number of X are.”

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Active Voice | Examples, Definition & Use

Published on October 22, 2024 by Tom Challenger, BA Revised on January 28, 2025

Sentences can be in the active voice (e.g., “He made the breakfast”) or the passive voice (e.g., “The breakfast was made by him”).

In the active voice, the grammatical subject of the sentence is the “doer” of the action described by the verb (“He made…”), but in the passive voice, the subject is the “recipient” of this action (“The breakfast was made…”).

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Passive Voice | Definition, Examples & Use

Published on October 11, 2024 by Tom Challenger, BA Revised on February 14, 2025

Sentences can be in the passive voice (e.g., “The window was cleaned”) or the active voice (e.g., “He cleaned the window”). In the active voice, the “doer” of the action described by the verb is the grammatical subject of the sentence (“He cleaned…”), but in the passive voice, the subject is the “recipient” of this action (“The window was cleaned…”).

Choosing the passive voice allows us to make the sentence or clause “about” the recipient rather than the doer (or “agent”).

You construct the passive by using a form of the auxiliary verb be (e.g., “was”) and the past participle of the main verb (e.g., “cleaned”). If you want to mention the agent in the passive voice, it comes after the preposition by (e.g., “…was cleaned by him”).

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Object Complement | Examples & Definition

Published on August 22, 2024 by Kayla Anderson Hewitt, MA Revised on September 14, 2024

An object complement is a noun or adjective that follows a direct object to describe or rename it (e.g., “That makes me angry”).

Object complements are essential to the meaning of the sentence. If they are removed, the sentence is incomplete (e.g., “That makes me”).

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Either Or | Meaning, Use & Examples

Published on August 13, 2024 by Kayla Anderson Hewitt, MA Revised on December 16, 2024

Either … or is a correlative conjunction that is used to present two options or say that one of two things is true (e.g., “I’d like either ramen or sushi”).

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that are used to show the relationship between two words, phrases, or clauses. Others include neither … nor and not only … but also.

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Neither Nor | Meaning, Use & Examples

Published on August 13, 2024 by Kayla Anderson Hewitt, MA Revised on March 7, 2025

Neither … nor is a correlative conjunction that is used to indicate that two things are not true (e.g., “The candidate appeared neither prepared nor interested”).

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that are used to show the relationship between two grammatically equal parts of a sentence. Others include either … or and not only … but also.

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