Using articles in a list

[JaneSister23]

Is it grammatically correct (enough) to leave articles off in a list, in a sentence like: My family includes father, mother, sister and brother. Or should articles be used? This question actually applies to all kinds of lists which are included in a sentence. How big a mistake is it to use articles in a wrong way? How does a native speaker feel about this? Of course I understand the possible misunderstandings, but the incorrect use of articles in "harmless" situations is what I mean.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is it grammatically correct (enough) to leave articles off out in a list, in a sentence like no colon here "My family includes my father, mother, sister and brother" or should articles be used? This question actually applies to all kinds of lists which are included in a sentence. How big a mistake is it to use articles in a wrong way incorrectly? How does a native speaker feel about this? Of course I understand the possible misunderstandings, but the incorrect use of articles in "harmless" situations is what I mean.

If the sentence is understandable, the omission of [some] articles isn't a problem for comprehension. However, it would mark someone out as a non-native speaker. Grammatically, in your sentence, something needs to come before "father". The natural word would be "my". At a push, I'd accept "a" but it doesn't really work with "My family". It would be OK in something like "A traditional family used to consist of a father, a mother and two children".