Articles

1.0Preface

The articles in English are 'the' (definite article), 'a' and 'an' (indefinite articles) and are used before nouns. The articles help the readers to identify a given noun as specific/definite or unspecific/indefinite.

2.0Indefinite Articles

Adjectives a, an and the are called articles. Out of these a and an are indefinite articles whereas the is categorised as a definite article. An article is usually placed before a noun. But indefinite articles are also placed before adjectives and adverbs.

• A handsome actor, an efficient lawyer (A and an are placed before adjectives handsome and efficient)
• A carefully written letter, an eagerly awaited guest (A and an are placed before adverbs carefully and eagerly)
• Singular countable nouns cannot be used without the use of a, an, the before them.
• The use of ' $A$ ' and 'An'

a. Nouns and noun phrases denoting a single but unspecified person or thing: A woman (unspecified person) A book (unspecified thing)

b. A countable noun in the singular number beginning with a consonant sound:

c. One kind of: Birds of a feather flock together. Here a feather means birds of one kind. d. Meaning 'any:' The cat lapped up the whole milk and there was not a drop left in the pot. In the above sentence, a drop means any drop.

e. Before mass nouns to indicate a particular type: A promising career is the demand of the present time. Here the word career is used as a mass noun involving the careers of many students of young generation.

f. Before nouns that indicate a state or action to denote a single instance: Shivam drank ten glasses of water at a stretch.

g. Meaning a type of: Calamine is a lotion for skin.

h. A work of art by: It is a Hussain. It means it is a work of art by Hussain.

i. A certain person: A Ms Brown just called the servant. Ms Brown is a certain person here.

j. For plural nouns if they are modified by few: A few students contested the college election. The use of article an is governed by the vowel sound. We use an before a singular noun beginning with a vowel sound. An ostrich has two-toed feet. an archer, an element, an interview But if a word begins with a vowel and not with a vowel sound, a not an is used before such words.

Read these examples: a uniform, a unit, a university an honour, an honourable man, an M. L. A. In the case of honour and honourable, ' h ' is silent and the next letter ' o ' gives a vowel sound, therefore an is used before these words. In M.L.A., ' m ' is pronounced as 'em' hence it begins with a vowel sound.

It is to be remembered that an is used only in abbreviations and when full forms of abbreviations are written, we do not place an before them.

• Dr Narendra Nath is an M.L.A. of our locality. Dr Narendra Nath is a Member of Legislative Assembly of our locality.
• Udisha is an M.A. in English. Udisha is a Master of Arts in English.
• Read carefully how article a has been used: at a lossin a comain a hurry a headachein a loud voice at a distance a bad colda difficult subject make a noise a pitya nuisancea pleasure a ruthless decision a shamein a whisper

• Articles with abbreviations and acronyms: an FBI agent (a FBI agent) an MBA degree (a MBA degree) Although ' F '/'M' is a consonant, we precede FBI/MBA with 'an' because the first sound we make is an 'eff-sound' and 'emm-sound'. SO, we say, we're going to a PTO meeting where an NCO ('enn-sound') will address us. & we saw a UFO because we pronounce the ' U ' as if it were spelled 'yoo.'

3.0Definite Article

• The is called the definite article because you use it when you're talking about something that is distinguished from other things (in other words, something it, is defined or definite).
• The use of 'The'
• The definite article the is used:

(a) Before singular or plural nouns and noun phrases that denote previously specified persons or things:

The perfume I generally wear has been imported from France.

The house which I purchased is at Vasundhara.

(b) For countable and uncountable nouns:

The boy who killed Neelima lived in her family. (boy-countable)

The information which the lawyer received from his client turned out to be false. (information-uncountable)

(c) For obvious person or thing:

The old vehicles are not even used by people who own them.

(d) Nouns only one of its kind in the universe:

The Tropic of Cancer passes through India.

(e) Superlative degrees:

An owl has the largest eyes.

(f) The names of:

• Directions : the east, the west
• Rivers : the Ravi, the Thames
• Seas : the Mediterranean Sea
• Oceans : the Pacific Ocean
• Mountain ranges : the Vindhyachal
• Valleys : the Doon valley
• Group of islands : the Maldives
• Gulfs : the Arabian Gulf
• Canals : the Suez
• Deserts : the Kalahari desert
• Winds : the monsoon winds
• Holy books : the Bible, the Gita
• Buildings : the Jantar Mantar
• Aeroplanes, ships, trains : the Kanishka, the Titanic, the Pink City

Countries if the name contains a common noun : the United Kingdom, the United States of America (The words kingdom and states are common nouns.)

The whole families (surname) : the Aroras, the Bacchans

Newspapers, magazines : the Times of India, the Femina

(g) Singular common nouns and adjectives of quality to express the whole class:

The Koala chiefly feeds on the leaves and barks of Eucalyptus trees.

• (Koala-a common noun representing the whole class.)

The lame can get artificial legs from Jaipur.

• (Lame - adjective of quality representing the whole class.)

(h) Before ordinals:

The second, the twelfth, the sixteenth

(i) Before phrases like:

The next class, the only son, the following questions, the previous night, the same person.

(j) Before a proper noun denoting only one of its kind:

The Taj Mahal, the Big Ben

(k) Before nouns denoting any of various natural phenomena:

The hail, the thunderstorm, the tempest

(l) Before a title of rank or office:

The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Malfi

(m) Before a qualifying adjective or noun in certain titles:

Akbar the Great, Ivan the Terrible

(n) Before certain nouns referring to familiar features of daily life:

He has been invited for the meeting.

They have developed taste for the continental food.

You ought to listen the poem.

(o) Before nouns denoting parts of body instead of possessive adjectives:

I boxed him on the ear.

(Note-I boxed him on his ear.)

(p) Before nouns denoting personal possessions or pets instead of possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives:

I had purchased the new sofa set last year.

(Note-I had purchased my new sofa set last year.)

(q) Before an adjective or participle extending it to signify a class or group and giving it the function of a noun:

Kamran opened many schools for the blind, the poor, the handicapped and the limping children.

(r) Before certain passive past participle indicating an individual in the specified condition:

The imprisoned man was hanged to death. (imprisoned-passive past participle)

(s) Before certain adjectives indicating an abstract concept:

They spend lavishly on the fantastic lifestyle.

(t) Before a present participle, signifying the action in the abstract:

The village girls are busy in the making of baskets.

(u) Before the comparative degree forming sentences like:

The higher we go; the cooler it is.

(v) Before a singular noun, making it generic (relating to a family and species) :

The human arm; plays the violin.

(w) Before a noun denoting one that is the best, most notable, most desirable of its kind:

Anshul gave the performance of his life as Othello.

(x) Before a noun generally stressed emphasizing its uniqueness or prominence:

That was the show to see this year.

We don't use the with certain common daily routines:

Examples: 

• go to work / school
• be at home
• be at work / school
• go by bus / car
• go home
• watch TV

Articles with Uncountable Nouns

• No article is used with an uncountable noun, if you mean that thing in general. Examples: I need help! I don't eat cheese. Do you like music? English is a universal language. Why is putting furniture in a house necessary?
• You use 'the' with an uncountable noun, when you are talking about a particular example of that thing. Examples: Thanks for the help you gave me yesterday. I didn't eat the cheese. It was green! Did you like the music they played at the dance?
• You cannot put 'a' 'an' with an uncountable noun because uncountable nouns cannot be counted.
• Some nouns can be either uncountable or countable, depending on the context and meaning. Examples: Do you have paper? I want to draw a picture. (uncountable $=$ a sheet of paper) Can you get me a paper when you're at the shop? (countable = a newspaper)
• Uncountable nouns are often preceded by phrases such as: a lot of... (luck), a piece of... (cake), a bottle of... (milk), a grain of... (rice).

Articles with Countable Nouns

• You must put an article in front of a singular countable noun.
• You can put both a/an and the in front of a countable noun.
• You use a plural countable noun with no article if you mean all or any of that thing.
• You usually use a/an with a countable noun the first time you say or write that noun. Examples: Can I borrow a pencil, please? There's a cat in the garden! Do you have an mp3 player?
• You use 'the' with countable nouns: a. The second and subsequent times you use the noun in a piece of speech or writing. b. When the listener knows what you are referring to (maybe because there is only one of that thing). Examples: Where's the pencil I lent you yesterday? I think the cat belongs to the new neighbours. I dropped the mp3 player and it broke. Please shut the door!
• You use an (not a) when the following words (adverb, adjective, or noun) starts with vowel sound. Examples: An amazing movie An innocent child An excellent game An unusually charming prince

Article with Acronym

Generally, the article is not used with acronyms, because once they become pronounced as a name, they are treated like proper nouns, which don't receive an article. NASA - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NATO - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation BARC - The Bhabha Atomic Research Center UNICEF - The United Nations International Children's Emergency fund

• 'The' is used when it is written out in full.

4.0Omission of Articles

The definite article the is not used:

a. Before proper nouns: Greece organised Olympics.

b. Before abstract nouns: Beauty is appreciated by all.

c. Before material nouns: Iron is used in the construction of buildings.

d. Before plural countable nouns used in a general sense: Girls often play with dolls in childhood. But the nouns take 'the' when used with specifications. The girls who had become engineers, easily got the jobs.

e. Before name of meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner: We enjoyed lunch at a five-star hotel. Have you prepared breakfast?

f. Before languages: Hindi is spoken in many parts of the world.

g. Before names of relations: Father and uncle blessed Ankur.

h. Before the names of diseases malaria, typhoid. Malaria is caused by a mosquito bite. But we write- Get the child inoculated against the measles and the mumps.

i. Before the names of days, months and seasons: Sunday to Saturday are symbolic of planets, satellites and stars.

j. Before predicative nouns denoting a unique position, a position that is normally held at one time by one person only: Aadhar was elected President of the working committee. (President-predicative noun denoting a unique position)

k. Before several headlines, notices, telegrams: Last batsman scores century (heading) (The last batsman has scored a century in the match against Sri Lanka.)

l. With these phrases:

• at hand
• by air
• by hand
• on duty
• at last
• by bus
• by mistake
• on foot
• at times
• by car
• in case
• on stream
• at war
• by sea in trouble on strike

m. With verbal phrases:

• to be at fault
• at first sight
• from head to foot
• to be in debt
• to go to bed
• to go home
• to lose heartout of doorsto set foot on
• to make use ofto take care ofto take part in
• to take to heartto take interest in
• to take to task
• to take breathto shake handsto take offence

We don't use an article in exclamations with 'what' plus an uncountable noun:

Examples:

What a beautiful weather! (Incorrect)

What beautiful weather! (Correct)

What a loud music!  (Incorrect)

What loud music! (Correct)