The Use of Articles-a-an-the

 The Use of Articles-a-an-the

 The Use of Articles

Two types: 1. Indefinite 2. Definite

Indefinite articles: 1. An 2.  A

(I)               The Use of ‘An’

(1)                         ‘An’ is used in front of singular countable nouns which begin with the following vowel sounds:

(i)               ‘A’ as in army 

(ii)             ‘e’ as in ‘enemy’

(iii)           ‘I’ in Indian

(iv)          ‘o’ in officer

(v)            ‘u’ in ‘umbrella’

An inkpot, an engineer, an apple, an ambassador, an island, an onion

(2)                        There are some words in English, that begin with consonants but sound like vowels. We use ‘an’ in front of such words also.

(i)               His father is an M. L. A.

(ii)             Is your father an S. D. O. in P.W.D. department?

Similarly we have, an honest person, an heir

(3)                         The word ‘university' begins with a vowel letter, but it gives the sound of a consonant, so, ‘a’ will be used in front of it.

·       This is ……………. university.

(II)           Use of ‘a’

(i)               When a singular countable noun is mentioned for the first time a/an is used in front of it.

(a)                  He lives in a hut.

(b)            I need a car these days.

(i)               When a singular countable noun is used to represent a class or a type, a/an is used.

(a)                                  A television is necessary for all the families.

(b)                        A motor-cycle is very useful.

(c)          A computer needs careful handling.

(ii)            In front of the names of professions, a/an is used.

(a)                                  My father is a teacher.

(b)                        Is he a businessman?

(c)           He is a singer.

(d)                       You are a very good comedian.

 

(iii)          With the expressions like:

A lot of, a great deal of, many a, a great number of, a few, a little, a little bit of, a couple of days, a pair of, one and a half kg , such a ...., What a ....., a Mr. Khanna ( a person who is called Mr. Khanna) 

1.    There are………………………..lot of students in our school.

2.    There  are…………………………..few men working in the fields.

3.    There is ………little water in the jug.

4.    What………..beautiful scene it is!

5.    He is such …………………person as cannot be believed.

6.    ……….Mr. Khanna came to meet you.

7.    I bought ……..pair of shoes from the market yesterday.

8.    In …………couple of days, I will come to meet you.

In the following situations a/an and ‘the’ is not used.

1.    In front of the names of meals, no ‘a’ or ‘an’ is used.

·       I eat dinner at 9 p.m.

·       Have you eaten breakfast?

In the above sentences, dinner and breakfast are usual features of a routine. So, no article is needed here.

2.     But for specific breakfast, lunch, and dinner, an article is used.

·       The dinner we had at Karnal Haveli was marvellous.

Use of the Definite Article ‘the’

It can be used in front of both, singular and plural nouns

1.    ‘the’ is used in front of unique things:

The railway station, the bus stand, the earth, the moon, the east, the west, the north, the south, the sun, the pole star, the equator, the stars,

2.    Sometimes a noun or a noun phrase is made specific by adding a phrase or a relative clause to it. Then ‘the’ is used before it.

·       The boy who is wearing a red shirt is my friend.

·       The lady with flowers in her hands is a stranger.

·       ………….. dog which is standing outside is very smart.

3.    Repetition of a noun also makes it unique or particular.

·       There was a king. He had four sons. The sons were very lazy. One day the king decided to make his sons active.

4.    In front of the superlative degree of the adjective ‘the’ is used.

·       Rubi is the most intelligent girl in her class.

·       Alice is the wisest girl in her family.

5.    In front of the ordinal number ‘the’ is used.

·       She is the first girl of this village to have been selected as the leader of a mountaineering team.

·       My father will return from abroad on the twenty-second of this month.

6.    In front of famous mountain ranges, mountains, seas, islands, meaningful names of some states and countries, famous newspapers, magazines, religious books, sacred rivers, etc.

 

Examples: The Himalayas, the Shivalik hills, The Andaman Islands, the Arabian sea, the Pacific ocean, The Bay of Bengal, the U.S.A., the Uttar Pradesh, The Tribune, The Times of India, The Illustrated Weekly, The Time, The Gita, The Quran, The Ramayana, The Ganga, The Sarswati, etc.

7.    In front of some adjectives when used as nouns:

The poor, the rich, the downtrodden, the deprived, the oppressed, etc.

8.    When a famous person’s name is used as an adjective, ‘the’ is used.

·       Kalidas is called the Shakespeare of India.

·       Neha is the Lata of our school.

9.    In front of ‘whole’ and after ‘both’ and ‘all’, ‘the’ is used.

·       The whole world knows.........

·       All the boys of this school........

·       Both the friends.........

10.                        Usually, ‘the’ article is used in front of the superlative degree of an adjective, but, there is a situation when ‘the’ is used in front of the comparative degree of adjective.

The higher you go, the cooler it is.

11.                        When context is already clear to the listener, ‘the’ can be used.

A. (to B): Where is your father?

B.: He is in the study.

Similarly, A:  Where is the book? B:  It is lying on the table.

Omission of the definite article ‘the’

1.    In front of proper nouns, ‘the’ is not used.

(a)            Delhi is the capital of India.

(b)           Solan is not a far-off place from Chandigarh.

(c)            Rohit studies in class X

2.    In front of abstract nouns, names of games, meals, and material nouns, we should not use ‘the’. But in their particular use ‘the’ is used.

(a)            Honesty is the best policy.

But we can say:

·       ‘The honesty in Mr. .. is marvellous.

·       ‘The artist in him is still alive.’

·       Kapil plays golf as well as cricket but the cricket in him

is vigorous.

·       I usually eat simple dinner at 9 p.m. but the dinner I ate at Sapphire was very spicy.

·       Gold is a precious metal. But we can also say, ‘The gold of this necklace is not pure.’

·       Wheat is sown in the month of November. The wheat which I sowed in Nov. last year did not grow properly.

3.    Before parts of the body, no article is used, but, in particular use, ‘the’ is preferred.

(a)            The teacher hit the child on the head.

(b)            He patted his back.

(c)The ball hit him on the forehead.

4.    When man and women are used in general sense, ‘the’ is not used, but in particular case, ‘the’ is used.

Man is a social animal.

Women are worshipped in civilized societies.

5.    When we mean human nature by the word ‘nature’, we can use ‘the’. But when we mean the world of vegetation, mountains, fields, and all the creatures associated with nature, ‘the’ is not used.

·       William Wordsworth was a great worshipper of Nature.

·       The nature of Mr. Khanna is very good.

6.    In front of languages, we do not use ‘the’, but in front of nationalities, we use ‘the’.

·       The French speak French.

·       The English speak English.

7.    We do not use articles the in front of some places or buildings if the speaker uses them for their basic purposes.

Such buildings and places are school, hospital, church, temple, mosque, office, market, etc.

For example, a school is built for the purpose of imparting education. If the speaker goes to school as a student, he/she cannot use ‘the before it.

(i)               I did not go to school yesterday.

(ii)             At what time do you go to office?

(iii)           I went to hospital yesterday.

(iv)          I often go to market in the evening.

(v)            She goes to church every day.

(vi)          I go to bed at 10 p. m. daily.

(vii)        His son went to sea 10 years ago and has not returned yet. (as a sailor or an employee at a ship)

But, ‘the’ can be used when these places are visited for not their basic or primary purposes.

  (i) I went to the hospital to see a patient yesterday. (ii) She goes to the hospital to distribute medicines and fruit to the poor patients. (iii)  We go to the sea daily in the evening. (for strolling on the sea beach)

 

Exercises on the use of articles:

Exercise 1. Use (a) an (b) the (c) a (d) x

1.    His father is ...........businessman.

2.    I met ................ old friend of mine yesterday.

3.    .........Shivalik hills are near Chandigarh.

4.    .........Mount Abu is in Rajasthan.

5.    His brother is ...........idealist.

6.    Rajjaq is .................heir to the property of his father.

7.    I took a patient to ............. hospital yesterday.

8.    He loves playing ................... cricket.

9.    Usually I go to ...................bed at 10 p.m.

10.     He went to............sea when he was just of 17.

11.     In our country,  .......... poor are becoming poorer and ............. rich are becoming richer day by day.

12.     I bought ........... necklace, ............... umbrella and some fruit from ............ market yesterday

13.     He threw .................. ball which hit ................ man who was coming from ............ opposite direction.

14.     East or west, home is .............. best.

15.     Atul is ................ most intelligent boy in his class.

Exercise2.

I went to .....1..... village yesterday. It is 10 km from here. I reached ....2....... bus stand to catch .......3....... bus. While walking, I found some children playing near ......4..... bye-pass road. One of them picked up....5..... stone and threw towards ......6......bus  coming from Ambala.   .......7..... stone hit ......8......passenger who was looking out of .....9....window.    ........10.......head of .....11......passengers started bleeding profusely.    ....12........conductor of ......13.........bus whistled at once to stop ...14..... bus. It was stopped in no time. Some passengers got down of ...15.....bus and ran towards ......16.......children who also had already started running as they had seen ....17....... bus stopping and ......18..... passengers coming towards them.