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 a university.

(II)               Use of ‘a’

(i)                 When 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) 

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

1.      In front of the names of meals, no article 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, article is used.

·         The dinner we had at Karnal Haveli was marvelous.

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.

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 adjective ‘the’ is used.

·         Rubi is the most intelligent girl of 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 news-papers, magazines, religious books, sacred rivers, etc.

Examples:

The Himalyas, the Shivalik hills, The Andaman islands, the Arabian sea, the Pacific ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the U.S.A., The Punjab, 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 superlative degree of an adjective, but, there is a situation when ‘the’ is used in front of 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’                                                                                                                                                                                             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

1.      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 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.

2.      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.

3.      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.

4.      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.

5.      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.

6.      We do not use article ‘the’ in front of some places or building 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 went to the hospital to see a patient yesterday.

(i)                 She goes the hospital to distribute medicines and fruit to the poor patients.

(ii)               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 kms 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...... passenger started bleeding profusely.    ....12........conductor of ......13.........bus whistled at once to stop ...14..... it. 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.

'Conern', 'the concerned person' or 'the person concerned'

Diffrence In Using 'Affect' & 'Effect'

Difference In The Meaning & Uage of 'There' & 'Their'

Reported Speech/Direct & Indirect Speech

Reported speech

Pronouns of the First Person:

             I   my me

             We our us

Pronouns of the Second Person:                    

             You   your    yours

Pronouns of the Third Person

             He     she      it

            His      him    her

           They    their   them 

He says/ said to me, “I will abide by the rules of the state”

He= Subject,

 says/ said to= Reporting Verb

 me= Object

 “I will abide by the rules of the state” = Direct/quoted Speech                                                                                     

1. He says to me, “I have not done my work yet”
2. He tells me that he has not done his work yet.
3. Rohit says to you, “She always goes to temple daily at 7 a.m.”
4. Rohit tells you that she always goes to temple daily at 7 a.m.

Reporting Verbs:

 Says to/ say to / will say to/ shall say to become:

• Tells/ tell/ will tell
• Says/ say /will say/shall say remains the same if the listener (object) is not mentioned.

The speaker is called the Subject

Examples:

She says to me, “You are always late in class”

She tells me that I am always late in class.

Fill in the blanks by supplying missing words:

   Renu says to Mohit, “ It’s not my fault as you say so. It was Rohit who tried to befool you.”

   Renu …..Mohit ….. it ……. not …. .fault as ……. so……..it ……. Rohit who tried to befool……..

Rule 1. The tense of the reported speech does not change if the reporting verb is in the present or the future tense.

   The tense of the reported speech changes if the reporting verb is in Past Tense and the Reported Speech does not contain any fact, immediate reporting or some universal truths.

Reporting verb in past = said to/said

It becomes told if the object or the listener is present before the speaker (subject). If not, it remains unchanged i.e., said.

Examples:

1. You said to me, “You are not following the advice I told you yesterday.”
2. Meena said to Rohan, “You are not doing your work properly.”

Ans. Meena told Rohan that he was not doing his work properly.

3. You told me that I was not following the advice you had told me the previous day.

1.Reporting of Assertive Sentences

Rule 2. If the reporting verb is in the past tense i.e. said to / said and the reported speech does not contain universal truth, etc., its tense will be changed into its corresponding past tense.

• Is/am/are          becomes      was/were
• Was/were         becomes      had been (in continuous tense)
• 1st form of verb                        2nd form of verb
• Do/does                                did in negative sentences
• Has/ have                              had
• Can/may                               could/might
• Will/ shall                             would
• Today                                    that day
• Tomorrow                             the next day
• Yesterday                              the previous day
• The next day                          the following day
• This/ these                             that/those

Examples

1. She said to her husband, “You are not listening to me carefully”

She told her husband that he was not listening to her carefully.

(1) Simple Present Tense becomes Simple Past Tense

• 1st form of verb becomes 2nd form of verb
• Do/does becomes did in negative sentences

1. He said to you, “I go to school daily on time.”
2. He told you that he went to school daily on time”
3. Sonakshi said to you, “I do not listen to rubbish”
4. Sonakshi told you that she did not listen to rubbish.

(2) Simple Past Tense becomes Past Perfect Tense

• 2nd form of the verb becomes had + v-3

1. Jennifer said to Rohit, “You finished your pending work when I was sleeping.”
2. Jennifer told Rohit that he had finished his pending work when she had been sleeping.

(3) Present Continuous Tense becomes Past Continuous Tense

• Is/am/are + v-1(ing) becomes was/were+ v-1(ing)

(i)                              I said to you, “You are not going to scold your brother”

         I told you that you were not going to scold your brother.

(4) Past Continuous Tense becomes Past Perfect Continuous Tense

1. Rekha said to her mother, “When you returned home yesterday, I was cooking food in the kitchen.”
2. Rekha told her mother that when she had returned home the previous day, she had been cooking food in the kitchen.

(5) Present Perfect Tense becomes Past Perfect Tense

1. Ruhi said, “I believe that you have not changed your behaviour towards the children who are younger to you.”
2. Ruhi said that she (Ruhi) believed that you (you) had (have) not changed your (your) behaviour towards the children who were (are) younger than you (you).

(6) Past Perfect Tense is not changed.

(7) Future Perfect Tense (will have/ shall have + v-3)

1. I said to Rashi, “I will have finished my work by the time you return home tomorrow.”
2. I told Rashi that I would have finished my work by the time she returned home the next day.  

 Change of Modal Verbs in Reported Speech

If the reporting verb is in the past tense and the reported speech does not contain any universal truth, the modal verbs also get changed in their past tense.

   can                                    becomes        could

   may                                  becomes         might

   shall/will                                                 would

 

   Could/should/would  remain the same

                                                               

   Must                                  becomes         had to

2.Reporting of Interrogative Sentences

·         If the reported speech begins with an auxiliary verb to form a question, then, make changes as explained below:

·         Change said/ said to in ‘asked’

·         Put conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’

·         Remove commas

·         Transform the question in assertive form of the sentence. Verb will come after the subject.

1.      He said to me, ‘Are you trying to force me to do wrong?”

   He asked me if/ whether I was trying to force him to do wrong.

2.      He said to me, “Are you not a stupid fellow to believe so blindly on beggars?”

   He…….me…………….not a stupid fellow to believe so blindly on beggars

3.        She said to you, “Am I not very careful about my studies?”

    She ………. you………… not very clear about …..studies.

   See the following sentence:

   Reshma said to Shera, “Where are you going at this time?”

   In the above sentence, the reported speech begins with ‘W’-’Wh’-’H’-type question, i.e. ‘where’, etc.

So the change will be as shown below:

•           Said/ said to will become asked/ enquired, etc.

•           Don’t use conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’: use the same i.e. ‘W’-’Wh’-’H’ word.

•           The question form of the sentence will become assertive: the verb will come 

        after the subject.

•           Do not put sign of interrogative (question mark) at the end of the sentence.

Now see the same sentence again:

• Reshma said to Shera, “Where are you going at this time?”

Reported speech will be:

Reshma asked Shera where he was going at that time.

• Rajat said to his friend, “How much sugar is needed for making a cup of tea?”

3.Reporting of Imperative Sentences

Imperative sentence is also called:

1. Command or order (to do or not to do something or forbidding  somebody to do something)
2. Request
3. Advice (persuading or forbidding  somebody to do something)

Command/order:

• She said to me, “Bring some vegetables from the market before the guests arrive home”
• She ordered me to bring some vegetables from the market before the guests arrived home.

Said/ said to becomes ordered

Conjunction will be ‘to’

The tense of the clause/clauses will be changed according to the previous rules.

Request

Request begins with ‘please’ or ‘kindly’.

• He said to Mohit, “Please show me your note-book.”
• He requested Mohit to show him his note-book

Said/said to becomes requested

In place of a conjunction, ‘to’ will be written.

Advice (persuading or forbidding somebody)

 I said to my younger brother, “Don’t indulge in gossiping.”

• I advised my younger brother not to indulge in gossiping.

• Ritika said, “Do good and have good”
• Ritika advised us to do good and have good.

Said to/said becomes advised not to/ advised to

In place of the conjunction not to or to will be written.

4.Changing exclamatory sentences

What are exclamatory sentences?

The sentences showing strong feelings are called exclamatory sentences.

Exclamatory sentences may begin with the following words:

   Oh!, Ah!, Alas!, Fie!,  Pooh!, Bravo!, Hurrah! What……! How……..!

The words showing surprise: Oh!, Ah!, What….!, How…..!

•          The above words get deleted and said/ said to becomes:

              exclaimed with surprise/ wonder/ astonishment.

•           The exclamatory sentence becomes a simple statement.

Example:

• Suku said to his sister, “What a beautiful rainbow is!”

           Suku exclaimed with surprise to his sister that the rainbow was very beautiful.

The words showing extreme joy: Hurrah! Bravo!

Said/ said to becomes:‘exclaimed with joy that…’

The exclamatory sentence becomes a simple statement.

Example:

1. The captain of the team cried/said, “Hurrah! We have won the match.”

2. The captain exclaimed with extreme joy that they had won the match.

Words showing disgust/ hatred: Fie!, Pooh!

Said/ said to become: exclaimed with extreme disgust/ hatred

Example:

“Fie on you! You have disgraced the honour of your family.” said Mr. A to Mr. B

Mr. A exclaimed with hatred by saying that Mr. B had disgraced his family. 

The soldier cried, “O for a glass of water!”

5.Sentences beginning with ‘let’

1. Ritika said to her husband, “Let us go for a walk”

Ritika proposed to her husband that they should go for a walk.

2. He said to me, “Let us do our home work.”

He suggested / proposed to me that we should do our home work.

If the sentence in the Reported Speech begins with ‘let us’, make the following changes:

1. Change said/ said to in suggested/ proposed to

2. Remove commas and put ‘that’ as conjunction.

3. If either of the subject and the object is in first person (i.e. I/ We), change ‘us’ in ‘we’ otherwise make it ‘they’.

4. The helping verb in the reported speech will be ’should’

Examples:

Sonu said to Monu, “Let us decide who will speak first”

Sonu suggested to Monu that they should decide who would speak first.

Pncorrect: Sonu suggested to Monu that we should decide who would speak first.

Incorrect: She proposed to you that we should go on a tour.

Incorrect: I suggested to Rohit that they should work hard.

(b) If let is not followed by ‘us’:

1. Change said to/ said in requested/ advised/told, etc. according to the sense conveyed in the sentence..

2. Do not remove ‘let’ and use ‘to’ in front of ‘let’.

3. Pronouns will be changed according to the previous rules.

Examples

1. I said to Rohit, “ Let me sit beside you”

      I requested Rohit to let me sit beside him.

2. She said to her teacher, “ Let me come in, Sir”
3.      She respectfully requested the teacher to let her come in.

Exercise Mixed

1. He said to me, “I have eaten my lunch and now I can go with you.”
2. Madan says to me, “I will meet your friend tomorrow’
3. Rohit said ,“India got freedom in 1947.”
4. Rajni said to Sugandha, “My mother is coming tomorrow.”
5. He said, “Are you a deaf person?

6. “Why are you sitting here?” said he to me.

1. Rajesh says to me, “I love my country.”
2. Shubham said to you, “Are you not over-reacting in this matter?”
3. He said, “No, I am not over-reacting.”
4. “Why were you laughing too much in the class?,” said the teacher to Rohit.
5. He said, “What a lovely flower it is!”
6. She said to them, “How foolish you are!”

Ankit said to you, “ let us go for a walk”

Renu: No, I am busy at this time. Wait for me for about half an hour.

Ankit: I am in a hurry. My other friends are waiting for me. I must go at once.

Renu: Then , why are you standing here? Go to please your friends.