English language has two articles, “the and a/an”. An article is
used for a noun. An article like an adjective modifies a noun.
For example, a book, the book, a cup, the cup, an
umbrella, the umbrella
The article “the” is called definite
article and the article “a/an” is called indefinite article.
Types of Articles
There are two articles in English language.
1. Indefinite article: a/an
2. Definite article: the
An article is used before a noun or an
adjective modifying a noun.
Definite Article: (the)
The definite article "the" is
used for a definite, specific or particular noun.
Example. He bought the shirt.
The article “the” before the noun
“shirt” in above sentence means that the shirt, he bought, is a specific or particular
shirt and not any shirt.
Indefinite
Article: (a/an)
The definite article “a/an” is used for
indefinite, non-specific or non-particular (common) noun.
Example. He bought a shirt.
The article “a” before shirt in
above sentence means that the shirt he bought is any shirt and not a specific
shirt.
Rules for using Indefinite Article (a/an)
The article form “a” is used before a word
(singular) beginning with a consonant, or a vowel with a consonant sound.
e.g. a book, a cat, a camera, a university,
a European
The article form “an” is used before a word
(singular) beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or consonant with vowel sound
(or beginning with mute h ).
e.g. an apple, an elephant, an umbrella, an
hour,
1. Before
a singular noun which is countable
e.g. He
bought a book
She is eating an apple.
2. Before
a singular noun which refers to a class of things.
e.g. An orange is
rich in vitamins.
3. Before
a name of a profession
e.g. She wants to be a doctor
He
is an engineer.
4. For
certain expressions of quantity
e.g. a lot of, a few, a couple, a dozen
5. For
certain numbers.
e.g. a hundred, a thousand, a million
6. Before
a singular, countable noun in exclamation.
e.g. What a beautiful
flower!
What a nice shirt!
7. Article a/an is not used
before uncountable nouns
e.g. water, milk,
sand etc
Rules for using definite Article (the)
The article “the” can be used both before a
singular and plural noun according to the following grammatical rules.
e.g. the book, the
books
1. Before
the place, object or group of object which is unique or considered to be
unique and geographical region and points on
globe.
e.g. the earth, the moon, the sky, the stars, the north
pole, the equator
2. For
a noun which becomes definite or particular because it is already mentioned
and is being mentioned a second time.
e.g. The teacher
helped a
student and the
student became happy.
3. For
a noun made specific or definite in a clause or a phrase.
e.g. The old
lady, The girl
with blue eyes, The boy
that I saw, The nice
red shirt
4. Before superlatives, and first, second,..etc,
and only
e.g. The best
day, The only
method, the second
month,
5. Before
a phrase composed of a proper and common noun
e.g. The New York
city, The river
Nile, The library
of Congress
6. Before
the names of organizations
e.g. The
Association of Chartered Accountants, The World Health Organization
7. Before
names of scientific principles, theories, laws etc. e.g. the Pythagorean
theorem, the laws of Newton, The Fahrenheit
Scale. But no article will be used for these
names if written in forms like, Newton’s Law, Dalton’s Law of Partial
Pressures, Hook’s Law of Elasticity
8. Article
“the” is not used for names of universities if written in
forms like Oxford
University, Yale University, Columbia
University. But article
“the” is used if names of university are written
in forms like The University of Oxford, The University of
Yale, The University of
Toronto.
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