Articles

Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are the main skills that need to communicate in any language. Being very good at only one of these skills will not help you to communicate effectively. We have designed the learning process of General English, USE OF ARTICLES through basic grammar and MCQ test of English grammar for self-assessment.

BASIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR- Articles

Article

'A', 'an' and 'the' are known as articles in the English language.
These are two kinds:
(A) Indefinite Articles — A or An
(B) Definite Article — The

'A', 'an' and 'the' are known as articles in the English language.

  • The use of 'a' and 'an' is related with the sound of pronunciation of words. 'A' is always used before word that begin with consonant sound, no matter whether their first letter is a vowel or a consonant.

    • 'A' is always used before words which begin with consonant sound, no matter whether their first letter is a vowel or a consonant.

    Examples

  • a man
  • a boy
  • a pen
  • a dog

    • Examples:- Letters starting with vowels but pronounced as consonant

  • a university
  • a European
  • a useful thing

    • 'An' is always used before words that begin with vowel sound, no matter whether their first letter is a vowel or a consonant.

  • an apple
  • an egg
  • an elephant

    • Letter starting with consonant but pronounced as vowel sound

  • an hour
  • an M.A
  • an honourable man

'A' and 'an' are weak forms of 'one'. 'A' and 'an' are always used before countable singular nouns.

Some more uses of A/AN

  1. A/AN is always used before the countable and singular nouns which are used for the first time.
    2. (i) I have a pen.
    (ii) She lives in a cottage.
    (iii) She saw an old man.
    (iv) Mr Shah is an umpire of this match.
  2. A/AN is always used before singular noun complements which singnify a business / profession.
    3. (i) She is a nurse.
    (ii) Raman is an engineer.
    (iii) Deepa is a doctor.
    (iv) She is an actress.
  3. A/AN is alwyas used before expressions of price, speed, repetitions, etc. (a = per) As :

    4. two rupees a kilo
    six times a day
    80 rupees a dozen
    20 kms an hour
  4. A/AN is used before numerical expressions.
    5. half a dozen
    a lot of
    a great deal of
    a great many
    a quarter
  5. A/AN is always used before singular countable in exclamatory sentences.
    6. 1. What a beautiful flower!
    2. What a pretty colour !
    3. What a cold day !
  6. A/AN is always used before abbreviated form of degrees and posts.

    7. (a) If the word begins with vowel sound then 'an' is used.
    (b) If the word begins with consonant sound then 'a' is used.
    an L.L. B.
    an M.L.A.
    an S.D.M.
    an L.D.C.
    a B. Com.
    a B. Sc.
    a U.D.C.
    an M.A.
    an M.Sc.
    an M. Com.
    an S.P.
  7. 'A' is always used before Mr/ Mrs/ Miss + Surname, if the person is not well acquainted with the speaker.
    8. a Mr Sinha
    a Mrs Mathur
    a Miss Gupta

    A Mr John refers a person to whom the speaker is not introduced. If the speaker knows him, he should say 'Mr Sinha' instead of 'a Mr Sinha'.

Use of 'The' — Definite Article

'The' is called definite articles and it can be used before singular and plural nouns.

  1. 'The' is used before nouns introduced earlier.

    2. She saw a lion. The lion was sleeping under a tree.

    They heard a noise. The noise came from a neighbour's house.

  2. 'The' is always used before superlative degrees of adjectives.

    3. Gita is the best singer in the school.

    Sachin is the best crickter in the world.

    If possessive adjectives like my, his, her, their, your, our, etc. it have been used before superlative degree, 'the' is not used.
    Example
    He is my best friend

  3. The' is used before singular comman nouns (which signify the whole class or race.)

    4. The elephant has a long trunk.

    The dog is a faithful animal.

    These sentences can also be written using a plural noun without any article.

    Elephants have a long trunk.

    Dogs are faithful animal.

  4. The' is used before proper nouns.

    5. Carver lives in the United States.

    He lives near the Pacific Ocean.

    The Ramyana is a holy book.

  5. The' is always used before ordinal numbers, religious books, musical instruments

    6. Who was the first woman to win a Bharat Ratna?

    The first half of the film was more interesting than the second half.

    The Geeta is holy book for the Hindus.

  6. The is used before the names of things which are unique and only one in the world.

    7. The sun, the sky, the moon, the earth, the world, the Taj, the Great Wall of China, etc.

  7. 'The' is always used before names which are in combination of adjective + noun.

    8. The National Highway.

    The beautiful garden.

    The foolish man.

  8. 'The' is always used when a proper noun is compared with another well renowned proper noun, that well renowned proper noun acts as common noun and 'the' is used before it.

    9. Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India.

  9. The' is always used before the names of religious communities, castes, nationality, political parties, ships, trains, aeroplanes, etc.

    10. The Hindus, the Sikhs, the Jats.

    The Indians, the Americans, the Congress

    The Titanic, The Ashoka

  10. The' is used before the dates and days of national importance.

    11. The 15th August, the 26th January, the Independence Day

  11. The' is used before nouns which come after the words like all, some of, one of, each of.

    12. All the boys, one of the girls, some of the students, each of the winners.

  12. The' is used before combination as noun + of + noun.

    13. The temples of Mathura, The Bay of Bengal.