SAINT PAUL’S SCHOOL, RAJKOT

Chapter 4: Articles
Std :III Div :____ Subject : English I (Grammar) Name:______________ Roll No.:___

Read these dialogues:

Pintu: The teacher wants book.

Chintu: Which book? What is the title of the book? How many?

Pintu: There was man in car.

Chintu: Which man? Someone whom we know? Which car?
Is it our car or some other car?

Pintu: Old lady who knit sweater for baby.

Chintu: Which old lady? Which sweater and how many? Which baby?
Is it some baby or is it a baby we know?

Pintu: Why are you asking me questions all the time?

Chintu: That is because I cannot understand who or what you are talking
about? Please be clear about who or what you are referring to. Were
you talking about a book, man, car, old lady, sweater,
baby in general, or anyone or anything in particular?
If you don‘t say this, it is confusing.

What does Chintu find missing in

what Pintu is saying? Why does
he ask a question every time
Pintu says something?

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 Pintu: How do you want me to say it?

Chintu:Simple. Use a, an, or the, and I will know who or what you are
referring to.

Pintu: You mean I must use articles a, an, or the.

Chintu:There again! You must use the articles a, an, or the.

Pintu:Alright, I get what you are saying.

Let us learn about the use of the articles a, an, or the. A and an are the
indefinite articles. The is the definite article.

There are 26 letters in English alphabet: a, b, c, d……… x, y, z. Out of these 26

letters there are five letters which we call vowels. These vowels are:

The remaining 21 letters of English alphabet are known as consonants.

Use of „a‟

 ‘a‘ is used before the words beginning with a consonant sound.

 ‗a‘ is used for one thing.

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Use of „an‟

 ‘an‘ is used before the words that begin with a vowel sound.
 ‗an‘ is used for one thing.

‗a‘ and ‗an‘ are called indefinite articles, because they are not used to refer to
any particular person, place or thing.

Use of the Indefinite Articles a / an

 We use the indefinite article a or an before nouns when we are

referring to them for the first time.

For example:
 I saw a man in a car.
 We saw an ostrich in a zoo.

 The indefinite articles a and an are used to refer to a member of a

class of things.

For example:
 A dog wags its tail when it is happy.
 An owl hoots.

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  The indefinite articles a or an can be used in exclamations before
describing a noun.

For example:
 What a beautiful room!
 What an awful pile of trash.

 The indefinite article is used when we are talking about only Singular
(one) person, place, animal or thing.
For example:
 Billy has a brother. (meaning one brother)
 I want an apple. (meaning one apple)

 The indefinite article is also used when we

talk about someone‘s profession.
For example:
 Varun is an architect.
 My sister is a chemist.

Exercise A Fill in ‗a‘ or ‗an‘ in the blanks to complete the poems.

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 Let us now go a step further.

The use of a and an really depends on the sound with which a word begins, not
on the actual letter with which it starts. If it begins with a vowel sound, we use
an before it; if it begins with a consonant sound, we use a before it.

 We use an before a word that begins with a vowel

sound:
We saw an owl last evening.
The hen laid an egg.

 We use a before a word that begins with a consonant sound:

I have a sister.
A ball is round.

 That it is the opening sound that matters will be clear if you look at the
following examples:

a unicorn a useful thing a uniform a European

an hour an honest man an honour

We use a before the words unicorn, useful, uniform and

European, for though the first letters of the words are
vowels —u, e— when the words are spoken, the opening
sound is that of a consonant: ―yu‖

yu—nicorn yu—niform yu—seful yu—ropean

We use an before the words hour, honest and honour, for though the first
letter of each is a consonant –h— that h is silent. So, when the words are
spoken the opening sound is that of a vowel.

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Exercise B Complete the sentences with a or an.
1. ___________ European came to visit our school yesterday.

2. They live in ___________ igloo.

3. That was _________ easy question.

4. This is ____________ empty tin.

5. There was ____________ ugly duckling in the story.

6. Mummy bought Ritu __________ new uniform.

7. Jatin will come in the park after __________ hour.

8. I have __________old trunk at home.

9. I saw ____________ woman in the street.

Exercise C
Fill in each blank with ‗a‟ or ‗an‟.

1. _______ egg sleeping in ______ basket.

2. _______octopus hiding under ______ rock.

3. _______ fox riding on ______ elephant.

4. _______ bear flying _______ aeroplane.

5. _______ monkey holding _____ umbrella.

6. _______owl working at ______ computer.

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The is called the definite article.
(a) This is the book that I was reading.
(b) The city John lives in is called London.
(c) The girl, who won the race, is a student of Class III.

In (a), not any book but a particular book, the book that I was reading, is being
pointed out.

Similarly, in (b), a particular city— the city in which John lives— is being named.

In (c), a particular girl — the girl who won the race—is being referred to.

Use of “The”

 ‗the‘ is used when we speak of some definite or particular person,

place or thing.

 We use the before objects that are unique such as the moon, the
Earth, the air, the sky etc

 When we introduce a person or thing for the first time, we use a

or an, but when we speak about that person or thing again we use
the.

 ‗the‟ may be used for one or more things(singular or plural).

Eg: The boy was playing football.
The boys were playing football.

 It is used before a noun that describes a whole class of persons,

places or things.
Eg.: The tiger is a fierce animal.
The police help to keep law and order.

 The is used before the names of some statues, building, places,

musical instruments, famous books, etc.
Eg.: We went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
The Himalayas are to the north of India.

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Remember –

 When ‗the‘ is put before a vowel its pronunciation is changed to

‗thee‟.

Eg: the(thee) Earth, the (thee) Alps

OMISSION OF THE ARTICLE

1. No article is used before Proper Nouns; as,

 Beijing is the capital of China.

 Mahatma Gandhi was a freedom fighter.

2. No article is used before the names of languages; as‘

 Hindi is the official language of India.

 English is widely spoken all over the world.

Exercise D
Fill in the blanks with „a‟ or „an‟.
1. Rahul asked for ___________ cup of milk.

2. It takes ___________ hour to reach the school.

3. If you add ___________onion to the gravy, it tastes good.

4. He lives in __________ hut.

5. Mother gave me _________ ice cream.

6. He ate ___________ egg and ___________ toast for breakfast.

7. I decided to go for _________ movie.

8. I bought ___________ notebook from the market.

9. We must not talk to _____________ stranger.

10. I have _________ colourful quilt.

11. My aunt is _________ excellent cook.

12. We should give __________ useful gift to Radha

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 Exercise E
Fill in the three columns A, B and C with nouns. The nouns are
given in the box at the bottom of the page. Choose correctly.

Article A Article An Article The

Orange Bible Alligator Sky Earth Melon Oyster

Ox Gown Moon Ice-tray Uniform Unicorn Children

Flower Sun Car Ostrich Berry Alps Bunch

Anchor Owl India

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Exercise F
Make sentences. Choose the first part of the sentence from Box A and the
second part from Box B. Add a or an as appropriate.
Box A
Box B

1. Aunt Janvi teaches in

a. bicycle.

2. I do not know how to ride

b. apple every day.

3. Jeeva wants to ask you c. surgeon

4. Dr. Smith is d. interesting question.

5. To keep the doctor away e. school.

you must have

1. _____________________________________________________________________

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2. _____________________________________________________________________

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3. _____________________________________________________________________

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4. _____________________________________________________________________

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5. _____________________________________________________________________

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