Oh! My English: November 2012

Articles

An article (abbreviated art) is a word (or prefix or suffix) that is with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definitenessof the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope.An article is usually considered to be a type of adjective.

Types of articles

Articles are usually characterized as either definite or indefinite. A few languages with well-developed systems of articles may distinguish additional subtypes.

Within each type, languages may have various forms of each article, according to grammatical attributes such as gender, number, or case, or according to adjacent sounds.

Definite article

A definite article indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be something that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may be something uniquely specified. The definite article in English, for both singular and plural nouns, is the.

The children know the fastest way home.

The sentence above refers to specific children and a specific way home; it contrasts with the much more general observation that:Children know the fastest way home.

The latter sentence refers to children in general, perhaps all or most of them.

Likewise,

Give me the book.

refers to a specific book whose identity is known or obvious to the listener; as such it has a markedly different meaning from

Give me a book.

which does not specify what book is to be given.

The definite article can also be used in English to indicate a specific class among other classes:

The cabbage white butterfly lays its eggs on members of the Brassica genus.

Indefinite article

The indefinite article is just the opposite of the definite article. In English, the indefinite articles are "a, an, some, any." They are "indefinite" because they do not refer to a particular thing as "the" does, but simply refer to an object or person in a non-specific way, that is, we do not specify exactly to which person or object we are referring to.

For example:
A white house on a green hill.
A cat ate the sardine

* We are not specifying which cat ate the sardine, it could have been any cat.

Notes:

It is normal to use the indefinite article when we mention someone or something for the first time in our conversation or text.

For example:
I've finally got a good job.
We bought a new computer and it was cheap.
Would you like a drink?

"A" and "an" are also used to refer to a particular member of a group or class.

For example:
She is an English teacher.
He wants to be a dancer.
John is an Englishman.
Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived.
I was born on a Thursday.

We also use the indefinite article to talk about price / weight, speed.

For example:
This car does 240 km an hour.
It is 10 euros a kilo.

Certain numbers in English require the presence of an indefinite article.

For example:
A hundred, a thousand, a million, etc...

With singular nouns, after the words "what" and "such"

For example:
What a day!
What a shame!
She's such a beautiful girl.
Meaning "one", referring to a single object or person

For example:
I'd like an orange and two lemons please.
The burglar took a diamond necklace and a valuable painting.
The choice between "a" and "an"
Depends on the initial sound of the adjective that immediately follows the article:

Use "a" with nouns starting with a consonant. On the other hand, we use "an" before nouns starting with a vowel.

For example:
an umbrella
a table
an elephant
a book

NOTE: If the next word begins with a consonant sound when we say it then we use a. If the next word begins with a vowel sound when we say it then we use an.

For example:
We say "university" with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "youniversity".
=> a university
We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our".
=> an hour

Now it's time for exercise.