ARTICLES IN ENGLISH

Articles come before nouns or noun clauses.

(a) The indefinite article ‘THE’

USES:

(i) When the noun is known to the reader or the hearer

e.g. The sun cast its golden rays in to the clouds

I gave him a letter. He tore the letter into pieces

(ii) Before known natural physical features.

e.g. The Nile, the Amazon, the Indian Ocean e.t.c

(iii) In certain names of countries which may comprise of an adjective and a noun.

e.g. The United Kingdom

The United Arab Emirates e.t.c

(iv) In proper nouns with a plural form.

e.g. The Chinese

The Philippines

(v) Before superlatives

e.g. The best boy

The disciplined girl

(vi) Before an adjective used as a noun to give the meaning ‘all the’

e.g. the youth, the poor, the rich e.t.c

(vii) Before comparatives expressing parallel increase or decrease.

e.g. the older he becomes, the wealthier he gets.

The higher you go, the cooler it becomes.

(viii) Before certain expressions of time.

e.g. the next morning

The day after

(ix) When the noun is considered unique or of its kind

e.g. the Equator, the Rift valley, the Earth e.t.c

(x) Before proper nouns consisting of noun + of + noun

e.g. the Cape of good hope.

The United States of America

(xi) In names of people when referring to a whole family.

e.g. the Mwikali’s ( i.e. all members of her household)

(xii) Before titles containing ‘of’

e.g. the president of Kenya

the Kabaka of Uganda e.t.c

Omission of the:

i. Before names of people except No.( xi) above.

ii. After a noun in the possessive case

e.g. we say the boy’s cousin NOT the cousin of the boy

iii. Before names of games

e.g. we say soccer NOT the soccer

(b) Definite Articles

a / an

Both these articles are used similarly except that ‘a’ is used before nouns beginning with a consonant
sound and ‘an’ comes before nouns beginning with a vowel sound.

(i) The two articles are used before singular countable nouns.
 e.g. a book

a church

an egg

an hour

(ii) They are also used in certain expressions of quantity.

e.g. a dozen

a couple

a glass of water e.t.c

(iii) They are used with numbers such as a hundred, a thousand, a million e.t.c

(iv) Before expressions of distance, Time, speed, ratio e.t.c

e.g. a kilometer, three times a week, three kilometers, an hour e.t.c

(v) In exclamation before singular countable nouns

e.g. such a brilliant boy!

such a dirty toilet!

(vi) Before titles; Mr., Mrs., Miss surname

e.g. a Miss Mutuku

a Mr. Ochieng

This means that the person referred to is a stranger to the speaker.