definition Articles- A, An, The

Articles- A, An, The

Articles There Are 2 Types:

·         Definite

·         Indefinite

First, lets study the rules:

A and an are articles, they are use with singular nouns.

A and an= 1

Such as : a book=1 book

               an apple=1 apple

But how do we know when to use a and when to use an?

It’s simple:

Use a with words that begin with a consonant sound:

a cat/c/        a house/h/    a ball/b/

use an with words that begin with an vowel sound:

an apple/e/    an hour/a/     an interjection/i/

there are example a and an:

a cat                           a truck

an elephant                an airplane

an envelope               an M.B.A

a flower                     a monkey

The Indefinite Article “A” Or “An”

a or an is used with countable nouns to indicate one:

such as:

·         She’s a lawyer.

·         He’s a teacher.

·         A is not used before a plural noun.

(NOT I’ve got a sons)

·         A is not used before uncountable nouns.

(NOT I want a petrol, please)

The Definite Article “The”

·         The is used:

a.       When a word is used a second time:

He gave me a knife and a spoon. The spoon was dirty.

I bought a pen and a some paper, but I left the pen in the shop.

b.      When only one object exist:

The earth, the sun, the river thames

No article or the before names of place

·         A and the is not usually used before names of villages, towns, streets, cities, countries, or continents.

Such as:

She lives in paris.

We went to India.

·         The is used before names of seas, rivers, groups of islands and mountains, kingdoms, republics, deserts, plural names of countries: the atlantic ocean, the river thames, the Netherlands, the artic ( land and sea ), the alps, the united states of America, the united arab emirates, the sahara, the united kingdom, the nile, the gobi desert.

·         We usually say the before the places we visit in a town: the cinema, theatre, disco, opera, post office, bank, names of shops: baker’s, grocer’s, supermarket, chemist, butcher’s, dentist’s, doctor’s and toilet.

Words using  “no article”

·         There is usually no a or the before: school, college, university, home, work, church, bed, hospital, prison town, mosque.

 He doesn’t like going to school.

 I think she’s at home now.

 I usually get to work at 09.30.

Do you go to mosque?

Did you have the baby in hospital.

 References: Mr.Wong Videos