The Advanced Guide To Articles in English Grammar
*Uses
* Rules
* Omission of article THE
If I ask
you What is an Article in English grammar?
The words A, An, The are
Articles. Right? These are very important in the basic English grammar.
All English grammar checkers check
for basic elements. And articles are one of the basic elements in English
grammar.
A and An are called Indefinite
Articles because they usually leave the person or thing spoken of
indefinite.
The Indefinite article
is used to refer to something for the first time or to refer to a particular
member of a group or class.
Worksheet on Articles with answer key
Use A with a consonant, or a
consonant sounding word; as with ‘u’ and ‘eu’ when they sound like you such as
a European, a union, a uniform.
A is used before a consonant sound
that is ; a boy, a girl, a house , a pen
Use ‘an’ before a word
that starts with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) or has a vowel sounding words.
The words ‘hour’ ‘heir’
‘honest’ begin with consonant but they begin with vowel sound. It is the sound
that matters not the spelling. So an hour, an honest, an heir is correct.
The word a/ an is called the
definite article, because it leaves indefinite the person or thing talked
about.
For example;
I want a pen.
In the above sentence, one is asking
about any pen, not asking any particular pen.
The word the is called the definite
article, because it points to some particular person or thing; such as
He met the doctor.
Here in the above sentence he met to
the particular doctor not to any unknown doctor.
When we speak about a person, thing
or a place for the first time, we generally use a/an . But when we speak about
the same person, thing or place again, we generally use the.
Now look at the following sentences.
1. There was a king. The king was
kind hearted.
2. A girl was going on the bicycle.
The girl fell down.
3. A boy ate an apple. The apple was
delicious.
* Use of ‘THE’
1. The general rule says that first
mention of a noun is indefinite , and all following references to the
same noun are definite that is ‘the’
For example;
1. He offered me an ice-cream. The
ice-cream was my favorite flavored.
2. There was a jungle. The jungle
was full of beasts.
2. We use the when it is clear from
the context which person, thing or place we are talking about.
For example;
1. The postman is coming. (We know
which postman.)
2. Let’s go to the temple. (The
temple - where we frequently go.)
3. The is used before superlative
adjectives.
For example
1. He is the tallest boy in our
class.
2. Lion is the strongest beast in
the forest.
3. He is the most important person
in the school.
4. ‘The’ is used before Common nouns
when which are names of an animal, plant, or other thing, is taken as a type of
its class.
For example;
1. The cow is a useful animal.
2. The mango is the best fruit.
3. The kiwi is an expensive fruit.
5. ‘The’ is used with adjectives, to
refer to a whole group of people or which do the work of nouns.
For example;
1. The Indians are kind people.
2. The rich people can afford
luxurious life style.
3. The poor are always in need of
money.
6. The is used with the names of
geographical areas, rivers, mountain ranges, groups of island, canals, and
oceans.
For example,
1. The Ganga is the longest river in
india.
2. The Indian Ocean
3. The Andamans
4. The Black Sea.
7. Use the with countries that have
plural names.
For example;
1. The United States of America
2. The West Indies
3. The Netherlands
4. The Philippines
8. Use the with newspaper names.
For example;
1. The Times of India
2. The Indian Express
3. The Hindustan Times.
9. Use the before the names of
books.
For example;
1. The Quran is the holy book of
Muslim.
2. The Bible is the holy scripture
of the Christian religion.
3. The Wings of Fire is an
autobiography of A P J Abdul Kalam.
10. Use the before the common
nouns which are names of things unique of their kind.
For example;
1. The earth moves around the sun.
2. The moon is a natural satellite
of the earth.
3. The sky is blue in colour.
11. The is used before ordinal
numbers like first, second, third etc.
For example;
1. The last class test will be in
the next month.
2. My brother got the second rank in
annual exam.
3. The first prize is
ten thousand dollar for Master Chef India.
12. Use the before a proper
nou only when it is qualified by an adjective or a definite adjectival clause .
For example;
OMISSION OF ARTICLE ‘THE’
1. Before names of substances and
abstract nouns / uncountable nouns used in a general sense; such as
1. Gold/The Gold is a
precious metal.
2. Honesty/ the honesty is
the best polisy.
3. Copper/ the copper is a
useful metal.
2. before plural countable nouns
used in a general sense; such as
1. Children like chocolates.
2. Computers enable us to deal with
a lot of data very quickly.
NOTE: such nouns take ‘The’ when
used with a particular meaning such as …
1. Where are the children?
2. These are the computers we bought
in last week.
3. Before uncountable nouns do not
take an article when used in general sense such as…..
1. Coffee makes your mind fresh.
2. Faith, hope are great virtues.
NOTE : but they take the when used
in particular sense.
For example…
1. The coffee is boiling.( the
coffee in the kettle.)
2. He looked through her belongings
in the hope of coming across some information.(the hope is used in a particular
reference )
4. Before names of meals (used in a
general sense)
1. Dinner is ready.
2. Did you take lunch?
3. Before names of languages
such as
1. We are learning English.
2. I know Telgu.
3. I can understand Gujrati.
5. Before school, college, church,
hospital, prison, and bed when we think about the main purpose of the place.
Such as
1. He goes to school regularly. (to
study)
2. We go to church on Sunday.
(to pray)
3. She has gone to hospital. (for
check-up.)
4. He was sent to prison for
robbery. (as punishment)
In all above sentences denotes the
main purpose of these places.
NOTE : The is used before these
words when we use the places for any other purpose or in any other way;
For example,
1. The school is near my house.
2. The bed is yours.
3. He has gone to the hospital just
now.
6. Before the most proper nouns
(except those refered to prior), namely,
i) Names of people--- The
Abdul, The Radha
ii) Names of continents, countries,
cities, --- The India , the Mumbai, theAmerica
Names of individual mountains,
islands, lakes --- The mount Everest, The Lakshadweep,
7. In certain phrases which includes
a transitive verb followed by its object:
For example--- to catch fire, to
leave home, to set foot, to send word, to cast anchor, to give ear, to lose
heart, to lay seige, to take offence, to bring word, to set sail, to give
battle, to take breathe.
8. The article may be omitted in
certain phrases consisting of preposition and its object.
For example--- at home, in hand, in
debt, on horseback, on foot, by night, by steamer, by train, at dinner,
at sunrise, above ground, at noon, in jest, in town, by name, at anchor, on
earth, at ease, by river, by land, at sunset, by day.