INDEFINITE A/AN DEFINITE THE

When choosing a or an, think about not

letter but SOUND:
e.g. He is British but he thinks of himself as a
European. [j]
__a__ University ю -> (й+у) consonant+vowel
__an__ hour
__a__ union
__a__ hunter [х]
0) After to be, to have, there is/are
1) To refer to smth that it is mentioned for the 1) To refer to smth that it is mentioned for the
1st time in a conversation. 2nd/3rd/Nth time in a conversation.
e.g. I’ve got 2 pets – a crocodile and a snake. e.g. I’ve got 2 pets – a crocodile and a snake.
The crocodile is 2 metres long and the snake is The crocodile is 2 metres long and the snake is
4 metres long. 4 metres long.
In a small town lived an old doctor. The doctor was known to everybody in the
town.
When I entered the room, I saw a man The man was rather short, stout, wearing a
standing at the window. worn-out coat.
(there is something in the text that refers to
some room mentioned in the text before; in
the room there is usually one window.)
2) any of the kind. 2) Smth that is known to both partners.
e.g. Show me a map of Europe (any map). e.g. Jane, yesterday I washed the car.
Open a window, please. (any window in Open the window, please. (it’s evident which
the room) one I mean because there is only window.)
3) something unique
3) before professions and job titles. e.g. He is
e.g. the sun, the moon, the Earth, the Saturn
a fitness instructor.
or the only in the situation.
NOTE: But we don’t use a before adjectives
e.g. When the ship started sinking, the captain
about work:
evacuated all the crew.
e.g. He’s unemployed.
She's retired.
4) when all the objects of the category are
He's sick.
meant
4) when you mean an object which is one of
e.g. Give me a list of the students.
the category
The giraffe is the tallest of all the animals in
e.g. In autumn I wear a hat, but in summer I
safari.
wear a cap. I eat with a spoon and a fork.
5) generalization of the objects in the category
5) when you mean every representative of
6) when an adjective has the meaning of the
the category (представитель)
plural noun:
e.g. A child can understand it. A square has
e.g. The poor in New York live in slums.
four sides.
6) when it is an appositive (приложение).
e.g. Mr Jones, a student of our institute, took
the first place in the Olympiad.
NOTE: when you highlight the object and
clarify which one you mean, you use THE
7) when you say what an object is like.
e.g. This is an object that is used for cracking
nuts.
This is a dictionary which explains foreign
words.
More rules:
about “one”
One person told me. A person told me.
I will come in an hour.
He didn’t say a word. (ни одного слова)
He bought a pound of sugar (1 фунт).
He bought 5 pounds of sugar. It cost $4 dollars
a pound (for 1 pound)
The sick are queuing in the corridor of the
hospital.
e.g. Give me the book which is on the window
sill.
I painted the walls of the room (the walls
which are in the room)
7) when an appositive is referred to a
personality that is wide-known.
e.g. Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian
poet, was born in 1799.
8) the superlative of an adjective.
e.g. It is the best day of my life.
The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world.
9) the last,
the very (тот самый),
the following,
the next,
What a wonderful world! the only
It’s such an interesting book. the first/the second/the fifteenth
She’s quite a young girl.
It’s rather a long snake.
But: What wonderful kids!
Did you ever see such weather.
It’s not so simple a problem. It’s too urgent a
matter to postpone.

NO ARTICLE
1)With plurals
e.g. There are trees in the forest.
2)To talk about smth in general
e.g. I’m afraid of heights.
Mouse loves cheese.
3) Before countries/names/languages
BUT: She speaks the English language fluently.
4)With uncountable nouns
e.g. What beautiful weather!