The Article

There are 3 types of articles in English.


The definite article                 -                       THE

The indefinite article              -                       A or AN

The zero article                      -                       no article at all

Here are the rules for when to use A, AN or THE:

• a  =  indefinite article (not a specific object, one of a number of the same objects).  It is used with consonants.
• Examples:      She has a dog.
                          I work in a factory.

 

• an = indefinite article (not a specific object, one of a number of the same objects).  It is used with vowels (a,e,i,o,u).
  Examples:      Can I have an apple?
                          She is an English teacher.

 

• the = definite article (a specific object that both the person speaking and the listener know).
• Examples:      The car over there is fast.
                          The teacher is very good, isn't he?

 

• The first time you speak of something use "a or an", the next time you repeat that object use "the".
  Examples:      I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
                          I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.

 

• DO NOT use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as "The United States".
  Examples:      He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
                          They live in northern British Columbia.

 

• Use an article with bodies of water, oceans and seas.
  Examples:      My country borders on the Pacific Ocean.

 

• DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about things in general.
  Examples:      I like Russian tea.
                          She likes reading books.

 

• DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about meals, places, and transport.
  Examples:      He has breakfast at home.
                          I go to university.
                          He comes to work by taxi.

MORE NOTES ON THE ARTICLE

 

• A and AN are always used with common nouns.  You can never find A or AN with proper nouns.
• A and AN are always used with singular nouns  E.g.  a dog (1 dog)

                                                                                             an apple  (1 apple).

·         A and AN can NEVER be used with plural nouns.  E.g.  a dogs is wrong.

·         A is always used with a noun that begins with a CONSONANT SOUND.

      E.g.  a boy  /b/

              a tree  /t/

              a university  /j/

 

**The first sound of the word ‘university’ is /j/ and /j/ is a consonant, so ‘university’ must take the article A.

 

·         AN is always used with a noun that begins with a VOWEL SOUND.

      E.g.  an apple   /a/

               an evening  /e/

               an heir  /e/      (heir = werriet)

 

**The first sound of the word ‘heir’ is /e/ and /e/ is a consonant, so ‘heir’ must take the article AN.

REMEMBER

·         We use THE when we are talking about a specific thing.

·         We use A or AN when we are talking about ‘one of many’.

 

Examples

1. Tim sat on THE most comfortable chair.

                        Which chair???  The most comfortable one.

                        There can only be one chair which is

                        THE MOST COMFORTABLE.

 

1. Tim sat on A chair.

                     Which chair???  There is no answer to this question.

                        Here we can imagine a room full of chairs and Tim

                        Simply sits on ANY ONE OF THEM, NOT 1

                        IN PARTICULAR.

Du-te Inapoi la Low - intermediate