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Articles

Articles are used before nouns to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness. There are three articles in English - a/an, the, and no article. A/an is used before singular countable nouns to indicate indefiniteness. The is used before nouns to indicate definiteness or uniqueness. No article is used before uncountable nouns, plural nouns, proper nouns, and in some other cases. The correct use of articles depends on the context and meaning.

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38 views

Articles

Articles are used before nouns to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness. There are three articles in English - a/an, the, and no article. A/an is used before singular countable nouns to indicate indefiniteness. The is used before nouns to indicate definiteness or uniqueness. No article is used before uncountable nouns, plural nouns, proper nouns, and in some other cases. The correct use of articles depends on the context and meaning.

Uploaded by

hemaravi1970
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Articles

Articles are used to point out a particular person or the thing. It comes only before nouns.

Articles --- A, AN, THE

A / an, - means one – indefinite article (because they don’t point out anything in particular)

eg. Once there lived a king I saw an elephant in the forest.

 A or an is used only with singular countable nouns: A book, an umbrella, a year,


an eye, an hour
 A or An can’t be used with uncountable nouns like rice, sugar, salt
 It’s used in the sense of ‘one’ a book, a pen, a man, a girl, a country
 With words ‘little’ and ‘few’ a little milk, a few people
 In the sense of ‘every’ rs. 2000 a month, five times a year

A, e, i, o, u (5) --- vowels or with words starting with any vowel sound – – place ‘an’ before
the word.

Bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyz (21) – consonants or words starting with any consonant sound –


place ‘a’ before the words.

An Indian boy, A Japanese coin, An Asian Writer, An American dollar, A German


writer.

THE - definite article (Points out a noun in particular)

Eg. The boy who is coming there is my friend.

 ‘The’ is used to denote which is unique or uncommon: The sun, the moon, the
Principal, the red chair, the tallest boy.
 When a singular noun is used to indicate a whole class; the cow is a useful animal;
the tiger is a ferocious animal.
 Before names of rivers, ranges of mountains, group of islands, oceans, gulfs, bays
The Ganges, the Indus, the Alps, the Himalayas, the Hebrides, the Andaman and
Nicobar islands, The Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the Persian Gulf.
 Before the names of magazines, newspapers and holy books: the Bible, the
Bagavat Gita, the Hindu, the Indian Express, the Spectator.
 Before the names of ships and trains: the Rajdhani Express, the Deccan Queen, The
Indian Airlines
 Before the names of public buildings, institutions, associations: The Red Fort, the
University of London, and the United Nations.
 Before Superlative degrees: the hottest day of the month, the best student of the
class
 With ordinals: the first, the last, the third, the next
 Before a proper noun only when it is qualified by an adjective: the wise King
Solomon, the immortal Shakespeare, the Great Caesar

Omission of articles:

 Proper nouns: Raja, Teju, Chennai


 Abstract nouns: honesty, wisdom, happiness
 Common nouns: people, children, women
 Material nouns: iron, gold, silver
 Languages: Tamil, Hindi, French
 Relations: father, mother, uncle
 Prepositional phrases: in order that, in reference to
 Names of meal: lunch, dinner, breakfast
 Names of games: cricket, hockey, basket ball
 Names of diseases: fever, cold
 Names of colors: red, blue, black
 Names of senses: hearing, seeing, smelling
 Names of seasons: summer, winter, spring
 Days of the week & months of the year: Sunday, Wednesday, April, September

Exceptions:

 Vowels that sound as ‘yu’ has ‘a’ before it. Check with the sound it gives in
Tamil (vowel Sound) even if the word starts with a vowel.) (Eg: a useful person, a
unit, A European lady, A uniform, a university, a union)
 When it sounds like ‘wa’ has ‘a’ before it. eg: a one - rupee coin, a one-eyed giant,
a one – way traffic.
 Words beginning with a vowel sound, (or) a silent ‘h’ or when the accent is not in
the first syllable it has ‘an’ Eg: an honest man, an hour, an honorable man, An
MLA, an heir.
 Usage of ‘The’ in different sounds: – ththa – before vowels The – thee –
before consonants

Eg: I saw __ girl. ____ girl was playing.

Near my school there is __ temple and ___ hospital. ___ temple and ___ hospital are
unclean.

1. ________ day before yesterday I went to ________ station to receive ________old


friend of mine who was ________Secretary I ________Ministry of Defense. He was
coming by ________ Frontier Mail. When I reached________ station, I was told by
________ station master that ________train was on time and would arrive
________few minutes.
2. ________ motor car passed me just now. It was ________ Ambassador car I think
________driver who was ________ young man was driving it very fast ________
passengers in ________ car seemed frightened.
3. ________ public meeting is going to be held in ________ Town Hall at 5’o clock in
________evening in aid of ________ victims of ________flood. ________meeting
will be presided over by ________ Mayor of Delhi. Are you going to attend
________meeting?
4. ‘Can you tell me ________ nearest way to ________ station?’ ‘Yes, turn to
________right when you get to ________ Post office and continue until you see
________ old church. Then turn to ________ left and you will see ________ station
in front of you.’
5. I have just written ________letter to ________old friend to mine in ________United
States asking him to send me ________copy of ________book which has been
recently advertised in ________Times of India.
6. Do you mind if I close ________windows? ________ train will be going through
________ tunnel soon and we don’t want ________smoke to enter ________carriage.
7. ________sheets on this bed look rather dirty. It appears they have not been sent to
________ laundry for ________past two weeks. At ________expensive hotel like this
I don’t expect such ________thing. I shall have to make ________complaint to
________manager about it.
8. Yes, I’ve had ________ very pleasant weekend. I went into ________ country and
played ________game of golf with ________friend on Saturday. Yesterday we went
for ________ long motor drive in ________valley.
9. When ________Principal saw Cheton beating Abu mercilessly, he expelled Chetan
from ________ School. ________action taken by ________ principal was
________unexpected one. ________ parents of Chetan were sent for during
________school hours. They came within ________hour.
10. ________scene at ________third class booking office was unforgettable. There was
no queue. ________ passengers had gathered together at ________same time around
________ticket window. ________passengers pushed one another. They seemed to be
suffering from ________train fever. Poor fellows! They didn’t know that
________train was ________hour and ________half late. Some passengers started
strolling on ________platform.

Fill in the blanks with a, an, or the whichever is suitable. If no article is required put X
in the blank.

1. We make ______ cake with ______ milk and ______ eggs.


2. For his breakfast he takes ______ apple, ______ eggs and______ cup of
______coffee only.
3. ______ handkerchief is made of ______ piece of ______ cloth.
4. ______ ring is not made of ______gold or ______ silver.
5. ______ old man gave me ______cup of ______tea without ______ sugar in it.
6. ______ Ganga is ______ sacred river of ______ Hindus.
7. I enjoy ______ work I do. In ______ evening I play ______tennis.
8. ______ earthquake sometimes causes ______lot of ______ damages to ______ high
buildings.
9. ______ accident took place on ______ mall ______ hour and ______half ago.
10. ______ Andamans are ______ group of ______ islands in ______ Bay of Bengal.
11. ______ English is ______ language of ______ people of England.
12. ______ book on ______ shelf is ______ interesting book on ______ history of
______ wild tribes ______ world.
13. She always drinks ______ glass of ______ milk at ______ night.
14. He is ______ officer in ______ Ministry of foreign affairs. He is posted in ______
United States. He is ______ younger officer there.
15. I met ______ Frenchman and ______ American last week. ______Frenchman was
here on ______ pleasure trip but ______ American was here on ______ business.
16. There was ______ university student on ______ train with me yesterday. He was
reading ______ book on ______ achievements of ______ United Nations.
17. I met ______ Russian yesterday who had left Moscow after ______ Revolution and
has been driving ______ taxi in Paris for ______ several years.
18. Has ______ newspaper come? I’m anxious to read ______ news about
______elections in ______United States of America.
19. Someone in ______crowd threw ______eggs at ______speaker. ______egg hit him
on the ______.
20. At ______end of ______street stands ______old house built of ______stone.

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