def remove_article(text=u''):
 return re.sub(u'(?i)^(?:(?:A(?!\\s+to)n?)|The)\\s(\\w)', u'\\1', text)

def remove_article ( text = u'' ) : return re . sub ( u'(?i)^(?:(?:A(?!\\s+to)n?)|The)\\s(\\w)' , u'\\1' , text )
remove the english articles from a text string .