Articles
The English language has three articles: a, an and the. Articles are used to signal nouns and noun groups.
For Example:
A cat is sitting on the table.
An interesting speech was made by the principal.
The lovely lady helped me down the stairs.
There are rules about when we use the different articles.
For Example:
A cat is sitting on the table.
An interesting speech was made by the principal.
The lovely lady helped me down the stairs.
There are rules about when we use the different articles.
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a
A is only used with singular nouns
eg. a hat, a blue ball, a pencil. A is indefinite as it refers to something that is not known by the reader or listener eg. Could you get me a red pencil please? The speaker is not talking about a specific pencil, just any pencil as long as it is red. A is used before a word that starts with a consonant sound. The important thing is not whether the first letter of the word after a is a consonant but whether the first sound pronounced is a consonant sound. eg. a bag, a cow, a uniform. The article a comes before words like uniform that start with a vowel because the letter u says its name. The very first sound we say when making the long u sound is y as in yooh. |
an
An is only used with singular nouns eg. an egg, an exciting story.
An is indefinite as it refers to something that is not known by the reader or listener eg. I need an egg for the cake. The speaker just needs one egg, it doesn't matter which egg. An is used before a word that starts with a vowel sound. The important thing is not whether the first letter of the word after a is a vowel but whether the first sound pronounced is a vowel sound. eg. an amazing film, an umbrella, an hour. The article an comes before words like hour that start with a consonant because the h is silent. The very first sound we say is the vowel sound ou (ow). |
the
The is used with singular and plural nouns eg. the mountain, the birds.
The is definite as it refers to something that is known or has been made known to the reader or listener eg. the sky [something known to all of us], the beautiful princess [once she has been introduced she is known to the reader or listener.] |
Using Articles in Oral and Written Texts
There are rules about using articles when speaking or writing texts like narratives. A character, setting or major event in a story for example is usually introduced with the article a such as a boy, a talking crocodile, a beautiful horse, a rundown hut, a deserted town, a bike race, a town fair. Once the character, setting or major event has been introduced it can be referred to as the boy, the talking crocodile, the beautiful horse, the rundown hut, the deserted town, the bike race or the town fair because it has been made known to the reader.
There are rules about using articles when speaking or writing texts like narratives. A character, setting or major event in a story for example is usually introduced with the article a such as a boy, a talking crocodile, a beautiful horse, a rundown hut, a deserted town, a bike race, a town fair. Once the character, setting or major event has been introduced it can be referred to as the boy, the talking crocodile, the beautiful horse, the rundown hut, the deserted town, the bike race or the town fair because it has been made known to the reader.