Introduction
Imagine you’re in a huge toy store. Would you say “I want toy” or “I want a toy”? The second sentence sounds better, right? That’s because it uses an article! Articles are small but important words that we put before nouns to make our sentences clear and complete.
Types of Articles
We have three articles in English:
– A
– An
– The
Let’s learn when to use each one!
A and An: The Indefinite Articles
We use ‘a’ and ‘an’ when we’re talking about something for the first time or any one of many similar things.
Using ‘A’
We use ‘a’ before words that start with a consonant sound:
– a book
– a dog
– a pencil
– a university (even though it starts with ‘u’, it makes a ‘you’ sound)
Using ‘An’
We use ‘an’ before words that start with a vowel sound:
– an apple
– an elephant
– an ice cream
– an hour (even though it starts with ‘h’, the ‘h’ is silent)
The: The Definite Article
‘The’ is special because it helps us talk about specific things. We use ‘the’ when:
- Talking about something specific that both the speaker and listener know about:
– “Can you pass me the pencil on the desk?” (We can both see which pencil)
– “The movie we watched yesterday was great.” (We both know which movie)
- ‘The’ is used with the nouns such as: sky, moon, Sun earth :
– The sun rises from the east.
– The moon shines during the night.
- ‘The’ is used with a common noun when it expresses a universal truth:
– The camel has a hump.
– The nightingale sings beautifully
- ‘The’ is used with the superlative degree of adjective:
– She is the prettiest girl in the school.
– He is the fastest runner of his country.
- ‘The’ is used with the names of oceans, rivers, seas, and mountain ranges:
– The Pacific Ocean
– The Ganga River
– The Rocky Mountains
- ‘The’ is used with the ordinal numbers.
– The first day of the week is Monday.
– The first Prime Minister of India was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
- ‘The’ is used with the names of mountain peaks/ ranges
– The Himalayas
– The Alps
– The Mount Everest
- ‘The’ is used with the names of holy books
– The Bible
– The Ramayana
- ‘The’ is used with the names of trains, ships, aeroplanes.
– The Rajdhani Express
– The Titanic
– The Jumbo Bowing 777
- ‘The’ is used with the names of some countries
– The USA
– The UAE
– The UK
- ‘The’ is used with the names of some islands
– The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
– The Lakshadweep Islands
– The Caribbean Islands
- ‘The’ is used with the names of famous monuments/ buildings
– The Red Fort
– The Taj Mahal
– The Eiffel Tower
– The White House
- ‘The’ is used with the names of musical instruments
– The Guitar is an instrument with strings.
