The Articles And Their Uses Part-1

 

ARTICLES

 Articles are considered adjectives. They are also included among determiners. There are three articles in English: a, an and the.

 KINDS 

1. Indefinite Article: (a, an) 

2. Definite Article: (the)

* There was a cottage near the lake. 

*A snake bit him.

* The boy in the black dress is my friend.

* I ran to catch the tramcar. 

USES OF INDEFINITE ARTICLE (A, AN) 

A or an = one. They are used before singular countable nouns only. 

(a) : We use a before a word beginning with a consonant. 

*: She saw a cat. *

He is wearing a green shirt. *

There is a woman on the housetop. 

(An): We use an before a word beginning with a vowel sound.*

 An aeroplane crashed last year in France.

 *There is an apple in the basket. 

*My brother works in an office. 

*Can you fly an F7 aircraft? 

:. We also use an before words beginning with h when it is not sounded. We say a hero (because h is sounded here) but an hour (because the h sound is omitted here). 

Similarly:

 A hotel, not an hotel 

:. Some other words in which h is not sounded and which take an before them: heirs, heiress, honest, honorarium, honorary, honourable:

• Sajjad is an honest boy.

• *Faiza is an honorary secretary of the club. She gets an honorarium. 

• A foreign tourist is an honourable guest.

• **When the initial vowel in a word is spoken like the y in yet take a before them, not an:

• She is a European. (not an European) 

• The postman is wearing a uniform. (not *an uniform) 

• The labourers have formed a union. (not *an union)

• She teaches at a university. (not *an university) 

• I bought an umbrella. 

• She has an Australian friend. 

• She lives with an uncle of hers. 

**: We must also use a or an when there is an adjective before a noun. In such cases a or an is placed before the adjective. If the first sound in the adjective is of a consonant, we use a; if it is that of a vowel, we use an.

• A boy                                     A small boy

• An intelligent boy               An honest boy

• A big owl                             An owl

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