Articles

Articles

The small words "a", "an" and "the" are called the articles. They are not separate parts of speech. They are only adjectives.

"A" and "an" are the shortened forms of "one"; and "the" is the shortened form of "this", "that" and "these", and "those".

The first two forms of articles, "a" and "an" are called Indefinite Articles as they do not refer to any particular person or thing. The third form "the" is called the Definite Articles as it refers to a particular person or thing, particular persons or things.

THE USE OF INDEFINITE ARTICLES

(before vowels and consonants)

We use "a" before a word beginning with a consonant sound; and "an" before a word beginning with a vowel sound.

Example :-

•      a boy, a cat, a tiger, a half, a school, (Also) - a union member, a European, a one rupee note, (as these words begin with consonant sound namely yunion, yuropian, wun rupee, when they are pronounced).

•      an egg, an orange, an uncle, (Also) - an hour, an honest man, an MP, an LIC agent, an NCC cadet (as these words begin with vowel sound when they are pronounced).

THE USE OF INDEFINITE ARTICLES

(before singular nouns only)

Article "a" and "an" are only singular forms. So, they are used before singular nouns only. We use the Indefinite Article before a noun of a thing or person which we speak for the first time.

Example :-

•      Once there was a woodcutter.

•      A dog ran after a cat.

•      A boy took a book from a library.

•      An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

•      I saw an elephant yesterday.

THE USE OF DEFINITE ARTICLES ‘The’

The Definite Article "the" is used before singular and plural nouns. It is used,

a. before a noun of a particular person or thing, persons or things known, or already mentioned

•      A dog ran after a cat.

Then the dog bit the cat

b. before a noun of a thing which exists only one.

•      The sun rises in the east.

c. before an adjective in the superlative degree :

•      Kali is the tallest boy in the class.

d. before ordinal numbers (including "next" and "last")

•      He got the first prize.

Fill in the blanks with suitable articles :

1.    I saw some tigers and some elephants in ..... forest. .... tigers are young and strong, but .... elephants are old and weak.

2.    ...... doctor gave .... injection to .... old patient. ..... old man was alright the next day.

3.    There was some lions in ..... forest. .... hunter shot some of .... lions dead.

4.    My brother is .... union president. He has ...... European friend.

5.    ..... moon shines in night.

Md : Shamim Mahmud

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