Today we will talk about Articles: A, An, The. I think it’s a little bit confusing? No, it’s too easy. So, today we learn some exciting ways of using articles a, an, the, grammar in your daily sentences and your conversations. They’re crucial in grammar, so there’s no way to avoid these words. I’ll help you, don’t worry. So, let’s begin with these three essential words A, An, The.
What are Articles in English Grammar?
A, An, the are the articles, and these three words come before a noun, (a noun is a person, a place, or a thing) okay, so I’m going to generalize here and say that, before a noun, In a proper English sentence we use these when we speak when we write. These words A, An, The describe a noun as specific and unspecific.
For example, If I say, ” Let’s read the story, ” I mean a specific story.
If I say, “let’s read a story, ” I mean any story rather than a specific story.
Point to remember: using article The in specifically and using article A generally.
There are two types of Articles in English grammar, so let’s discuss them below with full details.
Definite Article (The)
Definite Article “The” is used in a particular person, place, or thing. It generally points out a specific person, place, or thing.
For example: when you go shopping for a sandal.
You don’t go into the sandal store and say just a pair of sandals, please just a pair of sandals don’t care about size and color.
No, we want to go through all of the sandals we want to try them all on. We want to get a handbag or our clothes and match them with our sandals and choose the sandals of our dreams, so you’re going not to say a pair of sandals you’re going to say The sandals.
Because we have chosen a specific & particular pair of sandals, so here we’ll use The sandals Okay.
Definite Article(The) points out both singular, plural and uncountable nouns.
Examples of “The” use of Articles
- Unique peoples/Objects: The Earth, The Moon, The president, The sky, The world, etc.
- Adjectives referring to a whole group of people: The young, The old, The poor, The rich, etc.
- With famous monuments, buildings, and museums: The Eiffel Tower, The Taj Mahal, The Globe, etc.
- With Superlative degrees of an adjective: The lowest, The highest. The oldest, The youngest, The nearest, etc.
- With Ordinal numbers: The first chapter, The last time, The second member, The third occasion, etc.
- With countries, the names of which include kingdom, states, or republic: The united states, The united kingdom, The Republic of Ireland, etc.
- With countries that have plural names: The Netherlands, The Philippines, etc.
- With Rivers, canals, and oceans: The Gangas, The Nile, The Atlantic, The Pacific, etc.
- With names of Families: The Khans, The Tatas, The Ranas, The Guptas, The Jacksons, etc.
Indefinite Article (A, An)
‘A’ the very first letter of our alphabet A.
The article “A” is seen with nouns that begin with consonants sounds.
For example, A bus, A cow, A girl, A zoo, etc.
“A” and “An” are usually seen with one person, one place, one animal, and one thing.
Thus, we can say that articles “A” and “An” introduce a singular noun.
“An” likes to listen to nouns beginning with vowel sounds.
For example, An umbrella, An octopus, An ink bottle, An elephant, etc.
We have five vowels in English A, E, I, O, and U.
If the word begins with a Vowel sound so, we used An.
What is a vowel sound?
For example
The word Hour we do not even say the H-word.
It sounds like we’re saying, Our.
Because this word Hour sounds like a Vowel
because the H is silent, we have to say An hour, okay, you got it.
You’re with me an hour, so we used before a vowel or before a vowel sound.
Essential points
A- using A begins with a consonant sound.
An- using An begins with a vowel sound.
The- using The begins with a consonant sound.
Thi– using Thi begins with a vowel sound.
Click here to practice Articles Quizzes.