6th Class English Articles Article

 

Article

 

Articles

In English language there are three articles. They are: ?A?, ?An? and ?The?. These three articles are divided into two parts:

 

(i) Indefinite Articles ? ?a? and ?an?

(ii) Definite Article - "the"

 

Indefinite Articles "A" and "An"

?A? is used before a word which starts with a consonant or a vowel which sounds like a consonant.

 

·                     Example

A book, a pen, a chair, a one rupee note, etc.

?An? is used before a word which starts with a vowel or a consonant which sounds like a vowel.

 

·                     Example

An apple, an egg, an honest man, etc.

See the following examples:

A one eyed man

Here ?a? is used before ?one? because "one" sounds like Wone or Vone which is a consonant.

A university

Here University sounds like Yuniversity which is a consonant.

An M.L.A.

Here M.L.A. sounds like Am al a' which is a vowel.

 

See some other uses of indefinite articles.

 

1.            We use ?a/an? when we use noun/pronoun for the first time in a sentence.

He is wearing a suit and a tie.

They have a cat.

 

2.            We use ?a/an? to say what kind of person or thing someone or something is (often with an adjective or to say it belongs to a particular group).

You have a nice house.

That?s a very expensive car!

A cat is an animal a bus is a vehicle.

 

3.            We use ?a/an? to talk about someone's job.

My wife is an optician.

She works as a mechanic.

 

Remember

 

(i) Indefinite Article are not used with uncountable noun.

(ii) Article is not used before the name of games. For example: She plays ludo.

(iii) Article is not used before some diseases like cholera, malaria, fever and typhoid,

etc.

(iv) Article is not used before the name of festivals.

(v) Article is not used before plural Countable Nouns when they indicate a class.

(vi) No article is used before the names of language.

(vii) No article is used before Proper Noun, Material Noun and Abstract Nouns.

 

Definite Article ?The?

 

Definite Article: Definite Article (the) points out a particular person, animal, thing or place.

 

1.            ?The? is used before a noun beginning with a consonant or a vowel sound.

For example:

 

?The apple you ate was rotten.?

?Did you lock the car??

 

2.            The is used when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

For example: Ashoka was a king. The king was great.

 

3.            We use ?the? to talk about geographical points on the globe.

For example: The North Pole, the equator, etc.

 

4.            We also use ?the? before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing.

For example:

The rain, the sun, the wind, the world, the earth, the White House etc.

However, if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use ?a/an?.

For example:

?I could hear the wind.? / ?There?s a cold wind blowing".

?What are your plans for the future?? / ?She has a promising future ahead of her."

 

5.            ?The? is also used to say that a particular person or thing being mentioned is the best, most famous, etc. In this use, "the" is usually given strong pronunciation:

For example:

?Harry?s Bar is the place to go.?

?You don't mean you met the Tony Blair, do you??

 

Determiners

 

Those words which modify in some manner the nouns with which they are used are called determiners.

See the following examples:

1.            I have got a friend in Paris.

2.            Evans has little knowledge about astronomy.

3.            These apples are not rotten.

4.            Have you seen my wallet