Articles

Notes For You

‘ A ’ , ‘ a ’ and ‘ the ’ are articles. They are used in front of nouns. ‘ A ’

and ‘ an ’ mean one.

(a) ‘ A ’ is used before a noun that begins with a consonant sound.

Examples :
* a bicycle * a fox * a jug

(b) ‘ An ’ is used before o noun that begins with a vowel sound or a

silent ‘ h’.
Examples :
* an apple * an elephant * an hour
Note: a university (when ‘ u ’ sounds like a consonant, we use ‘ a ’.)

(c) ‘ The ’ is used when we are clear about the person, the place or the
thing that we are talking about.

Examples :

Aishah will wear the long dress.

They are going to the school

library.
 The vase is broken.

Eddy is getting on the bus.

(d) ‘ The ’ is used when we talk about a person, a place or a thing for the
second time.
Examples :
* I have a storybook. The storybook is about a brave boy.
* She bought a handbag yesterday. The handbag is made of leather.

(e) ‘ The ’ is used for a person, a place or a thing of which there is only
one.
Examples :
* The earth moves around the sun.
* The king will celebrate his birthday next week.

(f) We do not use ‘ the ’ with names of people, places, days of the week
and months of the year.
Examples :
* He comes from Australia.
* The accident happened on Monday.
* Harry will go overseas in March.
Exercise A
Look at the pictures. Fill in the blanks with ‘ a ’or ‘ an ’.

ostrich orange

raincoat tall man

oval table island

camera egg

Exercise B
Circle the correct answer.

I have ( a / an ) pet dog. Its name is Rover. Rover has ( a / an ) orange

ball. I bought ( an / the ) orange ball at ( a / the ) pet shop. Rover also
has ( a / an ) rubber bone. Rover likes to bite ( an / the ) rubber bone.

Every evening I take Rover to ( a / an ) park. Many children in ( a / the )

park like to play with Rover. ( A / An ) old man in the park often gives
dog biscuits to Rover.

Everybody says Rover is ( a / an ) good dog.

Exercise C
Write ‘ a ’ , ‘ an ’ , ‘ the ’ or ‘ - ’ in each blank.

Uncle Richard comes from (1) Toronto, which is

(2) city in (3) Canada. His house is on (4)
quite street in (5) residential area. (6)
street is called (7) Wesley Street and
(8) house is nearly one hundred years old!

He works as (9) teacher at (10) private

school near (11) centre of (12) city.
He teaches (13) English. He likes (14)
books, music and football.

He does not often cook at (15) home. He likes to try

different kinds of food. His favourites are seafood salad and roasted
chicken.

Exercise D
Circle the correct answer.

1) Moon is shining brightly.

AA
B An
C The
D-

2) All his friends say he is is unhappy man.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

3) There is tree beside his house.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

4) clock on wall is out of order.

AA
B An
C The
D-

5) scooter belongs to my uncle.

AA
B An
C The
D-

6) They went to Hong Kong last week.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

7) The maid is cutting onion.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

8) I learnt to bake cake yesterday.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

9) I need bag to keep my books.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

10) We make our clothes smooth with iron.

Aa
B an
C the
D-

Exercise E
Cross the error in each sentence. Then, rewrite the
sentence using the correct article.

1) There is the dictionarcy on the desk.

2) A ambulance took the injured driver to hospital.

3) A herbivore is the animals that eats only plants.

4) The Japan is a beautiful country.

5) She does not know an address of the company.

6) Mr. Johnson was born in a small town. A town is near London.

7) No one knows an answer to the question.

8) Please put the book on a second shelf.

9) A wind was blowing strongly last night.

10) I listen to a radio every morning.