Articles

By Dr. Snehasis Banerjee,

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

• What is an article?
An article is a word that comes before a noun to show if it’s specific or general.

• Specific nouns use the article the (definite article)

• General nouns use the article a or an (indefinite article)

We use 𝒂 before a 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 sound We use 𝒂𝒏 before a 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐥 sound

• Some Examples of a/an:

i) a ticket
ii) a ball
iii) an apple
iv) an address
v) an egg
vi) a pen
vii) a friend
viii) an hour (sounds like ‘our’; vowel sound)
ix) an American
x) a hospital
xi) a hand
xii) a house
xiii) an uncle
xiv) an umbrella
xv) a university (sounds like you-niversity; no vowel sound; Similar examples: a
unicorn, a uniform, a European, a useful book,
xvi) an orange
xvii) an office
xviii) a one-rupee coin (sounds like wun-rupee; no vowel sound)
xix) an MLA, an MBA (sounds like ‘e’; vowel sound)
xx) an LCD display, an HR department
xxi) a UK-based company (sounds like you-K; no vowel sound)
xxii) a URL

• Some Examples of the:

the is used with both singular and plural nouns and with both
countable and uncountable nouns when the noun is specific

i) There is a pen. Please give me the pen. (when first time the noun is mentioned use a,
while in subsequent sentence use the)
ii) He would like to live in a large house. The house should have at least three bedrooms.
iii) The book that I read last night was nice. (the reader is saying about a specific book)

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 Articles
By Dr. Snehasis Banerjee,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
iv) The books donated to this school are very useful
v) The advice you gave me was very helpful
vi)

Note
before a consonant, we pronounce 𝑡ℎ𝑒 as 𝑑𝑒 (like the end of mother)
before a vowel, we pronounce 𝑡ℎ𝑒 as 𝑑𝑖 (it rhymes with see)

i) Buildings: the Eifel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Hemingway house, the Curzon Gate,
the Writers’ building
ii) Places: with collective or plural names (the United States, the Philippines, the United
Kingdom, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the Bahamas) and if the places
contain the word of (the Statue of Liberty, the Republic of China, the University of
Chicago
iii) Mountain ranges, the Himalaya, the Alps
iv) Deserts: the Sahara Desert, the Gobi
v) Oceans: the Atlantic Ocean
vi) Seas: the Arabian sea, the Black sea, the Caspian sea, the Bering Sea
vii) Rivers: the Ganga River
viii) Collectives of islands: the Hawaiian islands, Barmuda island (no article because it is
a single island), Sicily island (same as before)
ix) Collectives of lakes: the Great Lakes
x) Zoos: the Alipur zoo, the Nandankanan
xi) Musical Instrument: the piano, the flute, the drum, the harmonica
xii) Unique features: the Sun, the Earth, the moon, the law of mass action, the theory of
relativity, the Statue of Liberty
xiii) Points on the globe: The Equator, The North Pole.
xiv) Superlative adjectives. The tallest, the best, the greatest, etc.

No article
i) We use no article with uncountable nouns when we are referring in general
a. Water is an important resource.
b. I love democracy
c. He loves to listen music
d. I like coffee very much
e. Sumita needs furniture in her house at Kandra (furniture is an uncountable noun).
ii) We use no article with plural countable nouns when we are referring in general
a. Dogs are very friendly animals
b. Rich people think and behave differently
c. Flowers make Srijita sneeze.
d. Airports are horrible places.
e. People expect good service
iii) We use no article with the names of language
a. Bengali is more difficult than English.
b. I can speak French fluently

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 Articles
By Dr. Snehasis Banerjee,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
iv) We use no article with the names of meals (except: when adjectives are present, article
may be used, we cannot use meal without an article!)
a. Lunch is ready!
b. Let's go out for dinner tonight
c. I'll have fruit for lunch
d. I had a quick lunch at Hyatt Regency.
e. The meal was served at half past seven.
v) We use no article with the names of games or sport
a. I love swimming
b. Let’s go to play baseball

vi) Do not use article before noun + number

a. Please meet Anurati at Gate 5 of Salt Lake stadium
b. The laboratory is in room 6 on the third floor
vii) We use no article with the names of days, months, seasons, holidays and parts of the
day in general use (except: when adjectives are present, an article may be used)

a. See you on Monday.

b. Many Americans celebrate Halloween on October 31.
c. I love winter.
d. On Environment Day, everybody wears green.
e. Are you coming over for Christmas?
f. Mother’s Day celebration in Kolkata takes place on May 10.
g. The stars shine at night.
h. The sun had set, and dusk settled over the ocean.
i. it was a beautiful sunset (adjective present)
j. I like to walk in the morning /in the evening/in the afternoon (exception)
viii) Mountain (single): Ajadhya,
ix) Lake (single): He lives near lake Baikal
x) Street: He resides at 12, S.P.Mukherjee street
xi) Park
xii) Country/Town/City Name: Germany, France, Africa, Europe, Delhi, Kolkata (except:
the Maldives, the Philippines, the Netherlands, the Gambia, the Sudan, the United Arab
Emirates, the Bahamas, the Comoros
xiii) Name of University: [note: if the name is like university of ….. use the]
a. Teesta studies at Harvard
b. Ritoja is an engineering student at Jadavpur University
c. Srijita goes to Oxford University
d. The students of the University of Calcutta are very smart. [‘of’ is there, so article the]
e. bheri is a chemistry student at CU [when abbreviated form, no article, though CU
implied university of Calcutta]
xiv) We use no article with academic subjects
a. Abheri studies chemistry at CU
xv) Transport: We go to school by bus/train

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 Articles
By Dr. Snehasis Banerjee,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry

The nouns in the following list omit the article when use ‘as a
participant’
(MUST MEMORISE)

in bed in/at school

in/at church, to (service) at sea (Compare "on board" a ship, train,
in class aircraft, etc)
at/in college in town
in court at university
at home at work
in hospital (British English; Americans say 'in
the hospital')
in prison

𝐴 𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝒐𝒇 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝒕𝒉𝒆

Practice Test
1. ……… people who finished their income taxes early are very happy. (a/the/no
article)
2. Could you close …… door? (a/the/no article)
3. I want …. car that has a sunroof. (a/the/no article)
4. Do you play……………….piano (a/the/no article)
5. ……….. harmonium has forty-two keys (a/the/no article)
6. I always remember ………. Monday when I joined in this school (a/the/no article)
7. How much is …………..red coat? (a/the/no article)
8. Stuti is looking at ……………moon (a/the/no article)
9. She arrived in …………..old taxi (a/an/the/no article)
10. I hate ………. exams.
11. Can you open ………. door, please?
12. Do you speak ………. Chinese?
13. What do you usually have for………. breakfast?
14. Bedangshi can play ………. guitar.
15. I like ………. rice in this restaurant.
16. See you later! I’m going to ………. work now.
17. I like ………. coffee very much
18. Buenos Aires is ………. capital of Argentina.

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 Articles
By Dr. Snehasis Banerjee,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
19. Jhunuk was tired. She went to go ………. home.
20. ………. mangoes are my favorite fruit.
21. ………. Eiffel tower was built in 1889.
22. She is going to select ……… furniture that she needs (specific furniture)
23. We are going to see …….. Statue of Liberty this weekend
24. To go from Labony to Falguni Abasan, needs …….. U-turn.
25. ……. car stopped and ……. driver got out.
26. ……….. Prime Minister is to make a statement.
27. ……. sun was shining.
28. We were at home in …….. garden.
29. I'm just going to ………… post office
30. He lives in …….. house beside the park (hint: there may be other houses beside the
park)
31. He lives in …….. house on the corner (hint: clear definition of the location of house)
32. Tina has got a job in ………television/radio (hint: Television and radio as institutions
do not take an article)
33. There was …….. television/radio on the shelf. (hint: here television/radio is a
physical thing, use article normal in the normal way)
34. Rahul turned on ……….. radio/television.
35. Adrika is …….. doctor. (use a/an for a persons’s job)
36. I thought you were ………..socialist.
37. I love going on holiday to .......... Maldives.
38. Do you still live in .......... Delhi?
39. I’ve had .......... terrible headache all day.
40. The book is about someone who lives on .......... small island.
41. She lives in .......... Scotland now, but is from .......... Netherlands.
42. They speak .......... Chinese.
43. I’d love to go sailing along .......... Ganges river.
44. Who is that woman in .......... photograph?
45. Can I have .......... sugar in my coffee please?
46. The student goes to …………school (hint: students goes for primary purpose, while
other may have different reasons)
47. The mother is going to ……… school.

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 Articles
By Dr. Snehasis Banerjee,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
48. There are …… rats under the table (a/an/the/some/no article) [hint: some is used
before countable plural nouns according to need.]
49. ………old people often forget …….. things
50. I like talking to ……….. old ladies who live in that house.
51. ………. books are expensive in my country.
52. 'Where shall I put ……. books?' 'On the floor.'
53. Japanese is a difficult language for ……… English people
54. …………. flowers are beautiful. Thank you very much!
55. ……… life is sometimes hard.
56. I don't understand the words / words of that song.
57. ………….food in this restaurant is very expensive.
58. ………..water turns into the ice / ice at 0°C.
59. Why are ……..windows open in this room?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42.

43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49.

50. 51. no 52. the 53. 54. the 55. No 56.

57. 58. No 59. 60. 61. 62. 63.

64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70.