ARTICLES (A, An & The)

- The words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are called Articles. - ‘A’ is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound or a vowel with a

consonant sound

. A word with a consonant sound A vowel with a consonant sound

a badge a uniform a country a university a hotel a European man

NOTE: The Eu and u in some words like ‘European’, ‘uniform’, and ‘university’ sound like the consonant yu

. - ‘An’ is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound or words beginning with a

silent ‘h’

. A word with a vowel sound Words beginning with a silent ‘h’

an apple an heir an egg an hour an iron an honest boy

- Basically we use ‘a’ or ‘an’: 1. to introduce a noun for the first time

He has a parrot. I saw an eagle flying yesterday.

2. to indicate or show weight, number or time a day a litre of juice a hundred days

3. to describe occupation, religion or nationality Mary’s son is a lawyer. Jacob is a Christian. Jan is an Australian.

We use ‘the’: 1. to refer to a particular thing or person, or one already referred to.

There is a boy knocking on the door. The boy says that he must see you now. The girl cried when you teased her yesterday.

2. to refer to unique things the West the sun

3. with the superlative form of adjectives

the longest line the biggest car

4. to use before musical instruments (in general sense) I play the violin. Can you play the guitar?

5. to use a singular noun to represent a whole class

The coconut tree is a useful tree. The horse is a noble animal and 2002 is the Year of Horse according to the

Chinese lunar calendar.

6. to use before some proper names Ocean and seas – the Atlantic and the Black Sea Rivers – the Amazon and the Nile Deserts – the Sahara Countries – include words like Republic and Kingdom) – the United Kingdom, the

Republic of China

7. to use before the names of certain books the Sutra the Quran

8. to use before an adjective when the noun is understood

The poor are always being neglected. The rich become richer.

9. to use with ordinals

The eighth chapter of this book is very interesting. He was the first in class for the 100m event.

10. to use before the names of the communities and nations

The Muslims The Hindus The Chinese The Malays

No article is used in certain cases. The following table shows instances when no article is used and when is should be used.

No Articles or Zero Articles

No Article Definite Article (a) Meals Lunch is served at noon. The lunch we had yesterday was

tasty. (b) Times of day I study at night. We have supper in the evening. (c) Mountains Mount Fuji The Himalayas (d) Roads, streets High Street The main road (e) Countries Sweden, France The Philippines* (f) Languages Malay, English The Malay language (g)Places Myra is going to court.

Mother went to market. They gathered outside the court. The market was crowded.

(h) Methods of travel I will go to Penang by train. I will take the early train tomorrow.

(i) Abstract Noun beauty, honest, ugliness NOTES: *the is used before names of seas, rivers, groups of islands or mountains, kingdoms, republics, deserts, plural names of countriesthe River Thames, the Netherlands, the Arctic (land and sea), the Antarctic

: the Atlantic Ocean,

(land and sea), the Alps, the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, the Sahara, the United Kingdom, the Nile, the Gobi Desert.

(j) Proper Noun Muhammad, Shakespeare (k) Before a noun used in a wider sense

Man is mortal. Woman is tender-hearted.

(l) Before nouns in certain idiomatic phrases

at dawn catch fire

(m) Before the name of diseases, sports and sciences

AIDS, cholera, football, cricket, Chemistry, Biology

(n) Days of week, months and festivals

Friday, Sunday, Thaipusam, Hari Gawai

(o) When the Collective Nouns are used in general sense.

Cattle Society Mankind

(p) With materials when they are considered in general sense

wine, glass, gold, wool