Articles - English-see.blogspot

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The words a, an and the are called articles.
These are the determiners and point out the names. Articles are used before a noun.

There are two types of articles.
  • Indefinite Articles 
  • Definite article
Indefinite Articles: 'A' and 'an' are known as indefinite articles in English. They are used before singular, countable and common noun.

Examples:
a boy, a book, an elephant, an island

Uses of indefinite articles: 

  • A is used before a word beginning with consonant letter and vowels with consonant sounds.
Example: a flute, a university, a European, a lion, a child etc...
  • An is used before a word beginning with vowel letter and consonants with vowel sound.
Example: an apple, an iron, an egg, an honest man, an hour etc...
  • Some abbreviations take 'an' before them if they are pronounced with vowel sound, otherwise they take 'a' before them.
Example: an MLA, an MA, an LLB, a BA etc...

Definite Article: 'The' is definite article in English.

Uses of definite article:
  • The is used before a noun that is used earlier.
Example: Ramesh painted a picture. The picture depicts sceanary.
  • We use 'the' with ordinal number
Example: Jane is the second daughter of Tom and Jill.
  • Adjectives with superlative degree take 'the' before them.
Example: Sita is the cleverest girl in the group.
Asia is the largest continent in the world.
  • We use 'the' with unique nouns 
Example: the soon, the moon, the Earth etc...
  • Before the names of rivers, seas and oceans
Example: The Ganges, the Bay of Bengal, the Pacific Ocean
  • Nationalities or the religious group
Example: the British, the Christians
  • Famous buildings, monuments or heritage site
Example: the White House, the Taj Mahal, the Qutub Minar
  • Groups of countries
the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union
  • Countries with plural names
Example: the Netherlands, the Philippines
  • Newspaper dailies
Example: the Gorkhapatra, the Kathmandu Post, the Hindustan Times
  • Holy books and epics
Example: the Gita, the Mahabharata, the Iliad
  • Title, awards and honours
Example: the Nobel Prize, the Padmabhushan, the Indian Idol
  • Well-known events
Example:  the South Asian Games, the World Cup
  • Trains and ships
Example: the Titanic, the Rajdhani Express etc... 
  • Before the names of Mountain ranges
Example: the Himalayas, the Alps, the Western Ghats etc..
Omission of articles:
We do not use articles with the followings:
  • With proper nouns such as Nepal, India, England, Mahatma Gandhi, GP Koirala etc..
  • With abstract nouns such as intelligence, bravery, honesty etc...
  • With Material nouns such as salt, sugar, gold, copper etc...
  • Before plural common nouns such as: dogs bark, goats eat grass etc...
  • Before the names of meals such as dinner, breakfast, supper, lunch.
  • Before the names of seasons and festivals such as: Winter is the best time for excursion. Summer is the dullest time.
Repetition of articles:
  • When two or more nouns or adjectives refer to the different identical person or thing, article is used before each of them respectively.
Example:
The principal and the teacher are coming.
I have a white and a black car.
He is a better teacher than a speaker.

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