Articles

English Grammar Articles

What Are Articles?

An article is a word that describes or tells more about the Noun. It is used before the noun to show whether it refers to something specific or general. So, in a way, articles can also be described as a type of adjectives as they also tell us something about the nouns, like adjectives. Articles are also known as Determiners.

 

 Article are of two types:

1 Indefinite Articles 

2 Definite Article 

1 Indefinite Articles - A/An - Indicate to general things or persons.

The things or persons which are not sure / not particular / not certain or not specific.
A and an, are the indefinite articles, which are used to refer to a single and unspecified entity. 

 

Use A before nouns (or adjectives) that start with a consonant sound.

 

A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object.

 

Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence

Words like small, blue, and sharp are descriptive, and they are all examples of adjectives. ... Because adjectives are used to identify or quantify individual people and unique things, they are usually positioned before the noun or pronoun that they modify. Some sentences contain multiple adjectives.

 

Example:

1.   A battery .                             (before a noun)

2.   I am a builder.                      (before a noun)

3.   He is a cricketer.                          (before a noun)

4.   He is a good cricketer.                 (before an adjective)

5.   A small swimming pool.              (before an adjective)

6.   A famous College.                        (before an adjective)

7.   He wants to be a dancer.            (before a noun)

8.   John is a doctor.                  (before a noun)

 

An is used before nouns (or adjectives) that start with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or vowels sound.

Example:

1.   It is an Elephant.                                   (before a noun)

2.   It is an old scooter.                               (before an adjective)

3.   I am an English teacher.                       (before a noun)

4.   An apple.                                       (before a noun)

5.   An elephant.                                  (before a noun)

6.   An orange umbrella.                    (before a adjective)

7.   Mary is training to be an engineer.    (before a noun)

 

2 Definite Article –The - Indicate to particular things or persons.

The things or persons which are certain / particular or specific entity.

The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns.

 

For example,

1.   Please pass me the bottle of water.

In this example, you are pointing to the specific bottle of water. So we are using the definite article “the”.

2.   The boy sitting next to me raised his hand.

3.   Thank you for the advice you gave me.

4.   May I go to the college?”

5.   “I saw him in the school. The boy was weeping.”

6.   “The rose has beautiful smell.”

7.   She is the brilliant student.

8.   He is the first man to win Oscar award.

 

Consider the following examples:

1.   After the long day

2.   The cup of tea tasted particularly good.

By using the article the, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was long and One specific cup of tea that tasted good.

1.   After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good.

By using the article a, we’ve created a general statement, implying that any cup of tea would taste good after any long day.

 

UNIT 4 Grammar Marks: 20

1.   Articles 05

What Are Articles?

An article is a word that describes or tells more about the Noun. It is used before the noun to show whether it refers to something specific or general. So, in a way, articles can also be described as a type of adjectives as they also tell us something about the nouns, like adjectives. Articles are also known as Determiners(a determiner is a word that introduces a noun. It always comes before a noun).

 

 Article are of two types:

1 Indefinite Articles 

2 Definite Article 

 

1 Indefinite Articles - A/An - Indicate to general things or persons.

The things or persons which are not sure / not particular / not certain or not specific.
A and an, are the indefinite articles, which are used to refer to a single and unspecified entity. 

 

Use of “a”

“A” is used:

Before a singular noun beginning with a consonant.

For example,

1.   He owns a car.

2.   She drives a taxi.

 

Before a singular noun beginning with a consonant sound.

For example,

1.   She is studying in a University.

2.   The word University begins with “Yee” sound where “y” is a consonant. So we use a university.

3.   She lives in a European country.

 

Before some number collectives and numbers.

For example,

1.   A dozen of apple.

2.   Is it safe to drink a gallon of water a day?

 

With nouns to form adverbial phrases of amount or quantity

For example,

1.   She is a bit depressed after the incident.

2.   I am a bit disappointed by her behavior.

 

Use A before nouns (or adjectives) that start with a consonant sound.

Some more examples,

1.   A battery .                                 (before a noun)

2.   I am a builder.                          (before a noun)

3.   He is a cricketer.                               (before a noun)

4.   He is a good cricketer.            (before an adjective)

5.   A small swimming pool.          (before an adjective)

6.   A famous College.                    (before an adjective)

7.   He wants to be a dancer.                (before a noun)

8.   John is a doctor.                       (before a noun)

 

Use of “an”

“An” is used:

Before a singular noun beginning with a vowel.

For example,

1.   An Apple.

2.   An amazing day.

3.   An auspicious day.  (suggesting a positive and successful future)

4.   I want an ice cream.

 

Before a noun starting with silent “H”.

For example,

1.   An honest man.

2.   An hour to go.

The nouns beginning with silent “H” begins with the O sound which is a vowel nd hence

we use “An” before it. 

An M.Tech, an MBA, an MLA, an MA, an MSc.

 

For example,

The above mentioned words begins with M and has an “em” sound where e is a vowel and hence we use an before the above mentioned words.

 

An is used before nouns (or adjectives) that start with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or vowels sound.

Some more examples,

1.It is an Elephant.                           (before a noun)

2.It is an old scooter.                                (before an adjective)

3.I am an English teacher.                        (before a noun)

4.An apple.                                        (before a noun)

5.An elephant.                                  (before a noun)

6.An orange umbrella.                     (before a adjective)

7.Mary is training to be an engineer.     (before a noun)

 

2 Definite Article –The - Indicate to particular things or persons. The things or persons which are certain / particular or specific entity. The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns.

Use of “the”

“The” is used:

 

To denote a specific entity.

For example,

1.   Please pass me the bottle of water.

 In this example, you are pointing to the specific bottle of water. So we are using the definite article “the”.

2.   Please shut the window.

3.   Please close the door.

 

When the entity being denoted is previously mentioned.

For example,

1.   I am going to wear the new dress that I bought yesterday.

In this example, the dress bought the previous day is being denoted and hence we will use “The”.

2.   I went to the market.

3.   I like the dress you gave me.

 

In a sentence having uncountable or plural form of the noun.

For example,

1.   The curry is very delicious.

2.   The boxes are kept in the backyard.

 

To denote a group of people.

For example,

1.   We should help the poor people.

2.   We should help the needy people.

3.   We should try to spread knowledge among the uneducated people.

4.   With the names of river, sea and oceans

5.   The Ganga, The Nile river, The Bay of Bengal, The Pacific ocean, The Arctic ocean.

 

With the names of geographical areas.

1.   The north, The west, The east, The north east.

2.   Have you ever been to the Tropical rainforests?

 

With the names of point on Globe.

1.   The equator, The Tropic of Cancer, The Tropic of Capricorn, The Arctic circle.

 

Name of Gulf, Forest, Peninsula, Mountain, Desert.

2.   The Gulf of Kutch, The Sahara Desert, The Thar Desert

 

Some more examples,

1.Please pass me the bottle of water.

In this example, you are pointing to the specific bottle of water. So we are using the definite article “the”.

2.The boy sitting next to me raised his hand.

3.Thank you for the advice you gave me.

4.May I go to the college?”

5.“I saw him in the school. The boy was weeping.”

6.“The rose has beautiful smell.”

7.She is the brilliant student.

8.He is the first man to win Oscar award.

 

Consider the following examples:

1.   After the long day

2.   The cup of tea tasted particularly good.

By using the article the, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was long and One specific cup of tea that tasted good.

After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good.

By using the article a, we’ve created a general statement, implying that any cup of tea would taste good after any long day.