The legend of Articles
The Legend of Articles and How They Developed
Once upon a time, there were no articles. Old Germanic tribes, the Anglo-Saxons who settled the British islands, used the numeral ‘one’ and the pronouns ‘this, that, these, those’. But they were heavy drinkers, and after drinking great quantities of their homemade beer (which was really strong), their articulation started to be rather unclear. Instead of one, they mumbled “eh,… eh… n” [ə ə ə…],which developed to “a/an”. Instead of the pronouns this, that, these, or those, they mumbled just the beginning of them: “th…eh”, which developed to “the”. And that is why we have articles in English – because of the strong beer the Anglo-Saxons drank!
So if you are not sure what article to use, try to put ‘one’ or ‘this, that,these, those’ instead – it may help you. 