Articles

A, An and The
Our English Class
Mrs.H.C.Abeywickrama
 Article:
There are two types of articles:
 Indefinite Article - a & an
 Definite Article - the

Indefinite Article - a & an

A & an - make the noun something general and indefinite.

 Give me a ball.
(Here, the speaker is telling someone to give him/her a random ball about which the listener
is not particularly aware of, and she/he might ask ‘which/what kind of ball you want?’.)
 Give me an egg. (It can be any kind of egg – the possibility is open.)

Using Indefinite Article: a & an

Rule 1:
A common noun in the singular number always requires an article before it. But a plural
common noun does not require an article always. A plural common noun can have the article
‘the’ if we want to particularise that noun.
 I saw a snake. (Refers to a random snake)
 I saw snakes in a zoo. (No article is required)
 I have seen the snake again. (Refers to the snake I have already seen earlier)
 I have seen the snakes again before leaving the zoo. (Refers to the particular snakes
of the zoo which I saw earlier.)

Rule 2:
The choice between the two indefinite articles – a & an – is determined by sound. Words
beginning with consonant sounds precede ‘a’ and words beginning with vowel sounds precede
‘an’. There are some special cases also.
 A university  A one day holiday
 A union  A one year holiday
 A useful book.  An MA,
 A unicorn  A BA,
 A uniform  An LLB,
 A one way road  A BSC
 A one-dollar note  An MP
 A one-man army

Rule 3: A or an –
sometimes makes a Proper Noun a Common Noun. Proper nouns generally do not take any
articles, but when a proper noun needs to be used as a common noun, you must bring a or an -
for it.
 He thinks he is a Shakespeare. (Here, ‘Shakespeare’ does not refer to the actual
person but someone like him.)
 He seems to be an Australian. (‘Australia’ is a proper noun but ‘Australian’ is a common
noun because there is only one Australia but a million of Australians.)

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Rule 4: Sometimes indefinite articles are used to refer the number ‘one’/’each’/’per’.
 I earned a thousand dollar in that job. (One thousand dollar)
 I have a car. (One car)
 It goes 50 miles an hour. (Per Hour)

Rule 5: Indefinite articles often precede descriptive adjectives.

 He is a good boy.
 What a nice car!

Rule 6: ‘A’ sometimes comes before determiners,

for example: a few, a little, a lot of, a most, etc.
but in the case of many, a or an - comes after.
 I have a few friends coming over.
 There is a little milk in the jar.
 Many a fan welcomed

Definite Article - the : The makes the noun something particular and definite.
 Give me the ball.
(Here, the speaker is telling someone to give him/her a particular ball about which the
speaker and the listener both are aware. There is no possibility of the ball to be anything
else rather than the speaker and the listener idea of that particular ball.)

Using Definite Article: the

Rule 1: ‘The’ is used to indicate a particular person(s) or thing(s) in the case of common
nouns. Proper nouns generally do not take an article.
 The man is running. (A particular man)
 I saw the boy stealing.
 Where is the pen I gave you last year?
 I gave him a ball, but he lost the ball. (‘a ball’ became ‘the ball’ in the second clause
because that ball was not a random ball anymore.)

Rule 2: Sometimes ‘the’ is used to generalize a group/whole class.

 The dog is a faithful animal. (Refers to the whole species of dog.)
 The English are industrious. (Refers to the people of England as a nation)
 The honest are respected. (The+adjectives = plural noun)
 The poor are not always dishonest. (The+adjectives = plural noun)

Rule 3: To particularise a non-count noun ‘the’ is required before it.

 The water of the Arctic Ocean is freezing.
 Please return the money I lent you last year.

Rule 4: ‘The’ is mandatory before a thing which is only one of a kind in the universe.
 The moon is shining tonight.
 The earth is moving around the sun.

Use of ‘the’ before geographical places :

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Rule 5:Using ‘the’ with geographical nouns generally depends on the size and plurality of the
things those nouns refer to. ‘The’ is generally used everywhere except some cases. So, it’s
better to know those exceptions first.

‘The’ must not precede:

 Names of continents:
 Asia  South America
 Europe  North America
 Australia  Antarctica
 Africa

 Names of countries:
 Australia  France
 Bolivia  Spain
 England  Sri Lanka

 Names of states, cities, or towns:

 Colombo  Sydney
 Los Angeles  London
 Alaska  Nugegoda

 Names of streets:
 George Street  New Town Street
 Albion Street  Main Street

 Names of single islands:

 Easter Island,  Bird Island,
 Bare Island,  Fatima Island
,
 Names of languages:
 Spanish  English
 Russian  Sinhala
(When ‘the’ precedes these nouns, they refer to the population of those languages.)

 Names of sports:
 Cricket  Basketball
 Football  Badminton

 Names of discipline/subject of studies

 Biology  computer science
 History  mathematics,
Note:
‘The’ is a widely used article in English. Except for the list mentioned above and proper
nouns, ‘the’ is used before almost all the nouns which mean something definite/particular. The
above list has some opposite factors also. Those factors are explained in the following
list:

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‘The’ must proceed:
Names of oceans, gulfs, seas, and rivers:
 The Pacific  The Persian Gulf
 The Atlantic  The Nile
 The Coral Sea  The Murray River
 The Timor Sea  The Darling River

Names of countries with united

 The United States of America  The United Arab Emirates

(The USA) (The UAE)
 The United Kingdom (The UK)

Names of great lakes:

 The Great Lakes
 The African Great Lakes

Names of mountain ranges:

 The Himalayas  The Andes,
 The Alps

Names of a group of Islands:

 The West Indies  The Philippines
 The Andamans  The Maldives

Fill in the blanks using A – An:

1. ________ car. 11. ________ window.
2. ________ toy. 12. ________ student.
3. ________ engineer. 13. ________ driver.
4. ________ apple. 14. ________ orange.
5. ________ notebook. 15. ________ hour.
6. ________ umbrella. 16. ________ uncle.
7. ________ girl. 17. ________ watch.
8. ________ aunt. 18. ________ ring.
9. ________ table. 19. ________ car.
10. ________ university. 20. ________ computer.

Write A, AN or (/) for "no article" for each blank below,

1. ____ bed 7. ____ vacation

2. ____ chair 8. ____ investigation
3. ____ egg 9. ____ computers
4. ____ fish 10. ____ old letter
5. ____ answer 11. ____ very sad story
6. ____ song 12. ____ web site

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13. ____ Internet conference 17. ____ unusually small head
14. ____ extremely large dog 18. ____ funny joke
15. ____ light meal 19. ____expensive purse
16. ____ fantastic answer 20. ____ hard lessons

Write A, AN or (/) for "no article" for each blank below,

1. ____heavy suitcase 11. ____ unhappy person

2. ____hamburger 12. ____ university student
3. ____ honest mistake 13. ____ union
4. ____ hungry man 14. ____ underground garage
5. ____ hourly wage 15. ____ European hotel
6. ____ H 16. ____ experienced teacher
7. ____S 17. ____ educated men
8. ____ B 18. ____ 8
9. ____ R 19. ____ 4
10. ____ Z 20. ____ 84

Write A, AN or (/) for "no article" for each blank below,

1. ____ elephant 11. ____police

2. ____ milk 12. ____ pencil
3. ____ trouble 13. ____ vitamin
4. ____ magazine 14. ____ advice
5. ____ information 15. ____ violence
6. ____biology 16. ____ table
7. ____ passport 17. ____ furniture
8. ____ flower 18. ____ computer
9. ____ flour 19. ____ weather
10. ____pen 20. ____ idea

Write the correct article a or an :

1. I am going to ____ concert tomorrow. 13. Sarah is ___ excellent teacher!

2. My boyfriend is ____ actor. 14. That's ____very funny joke.
3. Her cousin has ______very good job. 15. She is ____ really good cook.
4. That was _____ interesting game. 16. We have ____exam tomorrow.
5. She is ____ honest person. 17. I have ____ appointment at 3:00 PM.
6. We had __ really good time yesterday. 18. She wants ___ puppy for her birthday.
7. Bring ___ umbrella. It is going to rain. 19. I waited for ____ hour.
8. Tomorrow will be __ hot day. 20. The doctor had __friendly smile.
9. Mary is __ good friend.
10. I want to eat ___ apple.
11. I spoke to her for ___ long time
yesterday.
12. She was wearing ___ old dress.

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