ARTICLES

Indefinite and definite articles - a & an & the

THERE ARE 3 ARTICLES

A

and an are known as indefinite articles. is known as definite article.

The In

this unit, we will learn about Indefinite articles - a and an Definite article the

HOW TO USE ARTICLES?

We

use a , an and the before nouns that we want to introduce. (Nouns are names of people, animals, places or things.)

Examples:
This

is a table.

The cow is a useful animal.

That

is an umbrella.

HOW TO USE ARTICLES?

Use

a for nouns beginning with a consonant. (Consonants are letters that are not vowels. Consonant letters are b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y and z.)

Examples:

I have a cat. (Letter c is a consonant) There is a garden in my school. (Letter g is a consonant) It is a lion. (Letter l is a consonant) Ram has a storybook. (Letter s is a consonant)

HOW TO USE ARTICLES?

Use

an for nouns beginning with a vowel. ( a, e, i, o and u are Vowels)

Examples:

I have an umbrella. (Letter u is a vowel) There is an apple in my bag. (Letter a is a vowel) It is an elephant. (Letter e is a vowel) Preethi is eating an ice cream. (Letter i is a vowel)

Use of the definite article the

We

use the when we speak of a particular person or thing, or one already referred to

Examples: Let us go to the club. The cat loves milk. The lion is the king of the jungle.

POINTS TO NOTE!
is used before the names of unique things, some abstract nouns and superlatives. Examples: The Ganga is considered holy by the Hindus. The Himalayas lie to the north of India. The sun rises in the east. The darkest cloud has a silver lining.
The

POINT TO NOTE!

Pronunciation changes the rule, it is the sound that matters and not the spelling!

POINT TO NOTE!

If a word begins with a consonant sound, we have to use a.

Example: The word university begins with a vowel but the vowel has a consonant sound of you. Correct: a university Wrong: an university

POINT TO NOTE!

If a word begins with a vowel sound, we have to use an.

Example: The word hour begins with a consonant h but we do not pronounce the h so the word has a vowel sound of our. Correct: an hour Wrong: a hour

End of presentation