Articles
The correct use
of articles is one of the most difficult points in English grammar. Changing
one article for another, or leaving one out, can cause misunderstanding. For
example, if you say ‘I like English’ you mean ‘The English Language’ but
if you say ‘I like the English’, you mean ‘the English people’. See how
much difference the simple word makes! Here we have three typical words ‘the’,
‘a’, ‘an’ called articles.
The is called the Definite Article because it refers
to a particular person, place or thing.
Ex: Give me the brown book.
A or an is called the Indefinite Article
because it leaves indefinite the person, place or thing referred to.
Ex: Give me a brown book.
Give me an umbrella.
We use ‘a’
before:
1) A word
beginning with a consonant sound:
Ex: A boy, a girl, a man, a woman, a cat, a dog, a
horse, a pen.
2) A word
beginning with a vowel which has a Y (yoo - consonant) sound.
Ex: a union, a useful article, a uniform, a
European, a eulogy (high praise), a ewe
(female sheep) etc.,
3) A word
beginning with a vowel which has a W (consonant) sound.
Ex: A one rupee note, a one eyed beggar, a one-sided
argument, a one-way
road etc.
We use ‘an’
before:
1) A word
beginning with a vowel which doesn’t have a Y or W sound.
Ex: an orange, an umbrella, an urgent piece of work,
an inn, an eel, an apple, an urn.
2) A silent
‘h’: an hour, an honor, an hotel (‘h’ followed by an unstressed syllable
and ‘a’ before the stressed syllable - a hall), an heir, an historical novel
(but a history lesson).
3) A consonant
in an abbreviation which begins with a vowel sound
Ex: an M.A., an M.Sc., an M.P., an ‘L’ board, an
S.I., but a B.A., a B.Sc.,
The use of the
Indefinite Article
The Indefinite
Article is used
1. In its original meaning of one:
Ex: There are three feet in a yard.
It needs a
hundred rupees.
Not a hair of
his head can be touched.
2. In the sense of a certain:
Ex: I met a magician last week.
An uncle of
yours asked about you.
A book was
taken by the boy.
A train was on
the platform.
3. Before a common noun in the singular to denote a
class:
Ex: A tiger is fierce (all tigers).
A cow is a holy
animal (all cows).
A rose is a
beautiful flower (all roses).
A dog is
faithful (all dogs).
4. In the sense of the same:
Ex: Birds of a feather flock together.
They were of a
size.
Our shirts are
of a size.
5. Before a name to indicate that the person is
known to the speaker by name only:
Ex: A Mr. Smith is on line.
A Miss Lily has
come for you, dad.
(A Mr. Smith
means ‘a man called Smith’ and implies that he is a stranger to the speaker.
‘Mr. Smith’ without a, implies that the speaker knows Mr. Smith or knows of his
existence).
6. With a proper noun used as a common noun:
Ex: He thinks he is a Napoleon. (a great general)
A Daniel has
come to judgment. (a wise and upright judge)
7. Before the name of a profession, a trade, an
occupation, a class, and a religion:
Ex: a clerk, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a
farmer, a Hindu, a Muslim.
8. Before the numbers, dozen, score, gross,
hundred, thousand and million:
Ex: I ordered a thousand sheets of paper. She bought
a dozen pencils.
9. With plurals used as singulars:
Ex: an amends, a means, an innings, a gallows, a
barracks, a shambles, but news.
10. In expressions of price, speed, ratio, etc.,
where it means ‘every’:
Ex: a rupee, a dozen, sixty miles an hour, four
times a day.
11. In exclamations before singular, countable
nouns:
Ex: What a hot day!, What a pretty girl!, Such a
pity!
12. To avoid ambiguity:
Ex: A black and a white kitten (Two kittens, one
white and the other black).
A black and
white kitten (one kitten, whose colours are black and white).
13. In apposition phrases, where the noun is being
explained:
Ex: Tagore an Indian poet wrote ‘Gitanjali’.
14. With few and little in a positive sense. These adjectives
are used without the indefinite article in a negative sense:
Ex: My brother has a few friends (some).
My brother has
few friends. (Not many).
I have a little
time (some).
I have little
time. (Not much).
15. In certain phrases before singular nouns:
Ex: I have seen many an accident.
He dislikes
such a statement.
The use of the
Definite Article
The Definite
Article ‘the’ is used
1. To point out a thing known or already referred
to:
Ex: One night a wolf fell in with a dog.
The goat was all skin and bones, while the dog
was as fat as he could be.
2. Before nouns of which there is only one:
Ex: the sun, the moon, the sea, the ocean, the
earth, the sky, the world.
3. Before a noun which, by reason of locality, can
represent only one particular thing:
Ex: Mary is in the garden (i.e., the garden of this
house).
He was ill and
sent for the doctor (i.e., his own doctor)
4. Before a common noun made definite by the
addition of a phrase or clauses:
Ex: The boy who won the race.
The man on the
donkey.
The book that I
bought.
5. Before a singular noun which stands for a whole
class:
Ex: The lion is ferocious (lions’ as a class).
The cow is
sacred to the Hindus (cows as a class).
6. Before superlative use as nouns:
Ex: This is the most any man can do.
It is the worst
for a long time.
7. Before a superlative adjective if the adjective
qualifies a noun directly or (it is) followed by of:
Ex: Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
Sita is the
shortest girl in the class.
We are the best
of friends.
8. Before adjectives used as nouns to express an
abstract idea or a quality:
Ex: The good lives on after a man has died.
A poet is
constantly searching for the beautiful in life.
9. Before adjectives used as nouns to denote a
whole class:
Ex: The rich should help the poor.
This adventure
is for the young.
10. Before ordinal numbers in titles:
Ex: Pope John the twenty first
King George the
sixth.
11. Before common nouns followed by a proper noun:
Ex: The River Godavari is in spate.
The novel ‘War
and Peace’ is a master-piece.
12. Before a proper noun when it is used as a common
noun:
Ex: Kalidasa is the Shakespeare of India (the
greatest dramatist).
Bombay is the
Manchester of India (the biggest cloth-producing centre).
13. Before a proper noun only when it is qualified
by an adjective:
Ex: The great Shivaji.
The immortal
Shakespeare.
The wise
Solomon.
The famous
Napoleon.
14. Before the names of certain well-known books:
Ex: The Vedas, The Bible, The Koran, The Ramayana.
15. Before the names of musical instruments in such
contexts as the following:
Ex: He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet. Do
you play the piano?
16. Before trades and professions following a proper
noun:
Ex: Byron, the Poet
Newton, the
Scientist
Dr. Hero, the
eminent Surgeon.
17. Before plural proper names:
Ex: the Johnsons; the Smiths; the Tagores.
18. Before the names of ships, trains, aero planes,
rockets, etc.:
Ex: the Golden Arrow; the Vaijayanti; the Gnat; the
Krishna Express.
19. Before the names of shops, hotels, inns,
restaurants, theatres, clubs:
Ex: the Savoy; the King’s Restaurant; the Princess
Theatre; The Lion’s Club; the Astro Hotel.
20. before the names of gulfs, rivers, seas, oceans,
chains of mountains, groups of islands, plural names of countries or where the
type of government is mentioned, and some provinces:
Ex: The Persian Gulf, the Ganges, the Thames, the
Black sea, the Red sea, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, the Himalayas, the Alps,
the Andaman, the West Indies, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the Indian
Republic, the United Provinces, the Punjab, the Deccan.
21. Before districts when the noun which originally
accompanies the proper noun has been dropped:
Ex: the Sahara (desert), the Gobi (desert), the
Crimea (peninsula) etc.
22. Before countries and districts from which the
adjective has been dropped:
Ex: the (Belgian) Congo, the (Anglo-Egyptian) Sudan,
and the (Austrian) Tyrol.
23. When the initials are used:
Ex: the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R., the U.N., the W.H.O.,
the I.A.S., the U.P.S.C., the S.R.
24. Before a noun to give the force of a
superlative:
Ex: This is the book on the subject. (i.e., the best
book).
This is the man
for the job. (i.e., the best man).
25. Adverbially in such sentences as:
Ex: the fewer, the better; the more, the merrier;
the more they have, the more they want or the less they spend.
Omission of the
Article
The article is
not used:
1. Before proper nouns:
Ex: India is a great country.
Tagore wrote
verses in Bengali.
2. Before titles followed by a proper noun:
Ex: President Kennedy was assassinated.
Doctor
Hahnemann invented Homoeopathy.
Elizabeth II
became Queen of England after the death of her father.
3. Before common nouns in the plural number used in
a general sense:
Ex: Boys are generally naughty (general). Dogs are
faithful animals (general).
4. Before common nouns in the singular number used
in their widest sense:
Ex: Man is mortal.
Woman is man’s
companion in life.
Science tries
to discover the laws of nature.
5. Before material nouns used in a general sense:
Ex: Gold is a valuable metal (material general).
Cotton is
cultivated on a large scale in India (material general).
But the gold in
my ring is too soft (material-particular).
6. Before abstract nouns used in a general sense:
Ex: Wisdom is the gift of heaven (Abstract-general).
Honesty is the
best policy (abstract general).
But The
Wisdom of Solomon is well known (Abstract noun particularized)
The honesty of
those boys is gratifying
(abstract noun emphasized)
7. Before the names of sciences, etc., when they
are used in a general sense:
Ex: Mathematics is a very interesting subject.
Logic is not
taught in all schools.
Do you learn
history at school?
8. Before superlative adjectives and adverbs used
predicatively:
Ex: He knows best (adverb-superlative of ‘Swell’)
That is best
(adjective-superlative of ‘good’).
9. Before a noun in the possessive case, i.e.,
before the person or thing possessed:
Ex: the girl’s aunt
the boy’s
uncle.
10. Before a noun preceded by a possessive
adjective:
Ex: my book, my pen.
11. Before places of assembly such as church,
school, market, exchange, person, college, hospital, university, etc., when
these places are visited for their primary purpose:
Ex: We go to school (to study), to market (to sell
or buy), to church (to pray), to prison (as a punishment).
But when these
places are visited for any other purpose, the article is used:
Ex: You will get a bus at the church.
I went to the
school to see the headmaster.
He returned
from the prison, where he had been visiting his brother.
12. In certain verbal phrases:
Ex: to catch fire; to take breath; to give battle;
to send word; to give ear; to leave school; to set sail; to lose heart; to set
foot; to leave home,
13. In certain prepositional phrases:
Ex: in hand, at home, in bed, in debt, at school, by
day, by night, at sunrise, at sunset, at night, at interest, on earth, in
heaven, by land, by sea, by train, by boat, by name, on horseback, on foot, at
dinner, at table, in love, in court, for money.
14. Before names of meals, unless specially
qualified:
Ex: Dinner is ready. We can talk it over at lunch,
but will you bring in the tea?
(i.e., the tea
we are waiting for).
15. Before names of seasons:
Ex: Winter is the best time for reading.
16. Before a few nouns denoting time, especially in
connection with school life:
Ex: term, break, prayers, hall (dinner),
preparation. The same applies to day, night, morning, evening dawn, twilight,
dusk, when used in an abstract or general sense, and in some prepositional
adjuncts: Come Ionic during break, will you? Term was drawing to a close. We
always got up at dawn.
17. Before nouns like day, the names of the days of
the week, night, week, month, year, preceded by next or last, except sometimes
when starting from a point of time in the past or future:
Ex: I propose to meet him next Sunday. I met him at
a concert last week. But: The next day she was still feeling weak and giddy.
18. Before concrete nouns like Heaven, Hell,
Paradise, Parliament, and Congress:
Ex: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Fate had decided otherwise.
19. Before uncle, mother, aunt, etc.:
Ex: Father is angry, Uncle is cross with us, Mother
is kind.
20. Before ‘home’ when it means the home of the
speaker, or the person spoken to:
Ex: Go home, Stay at home.
