Class & Subject : III English

Chapter : Grammar – Articles Date:

Articles: a, an and the

‘A’ or ‘An’ and ‘The’ are called articles. They are used before nouns.

Indefinite Article ‘A’ or ‘An’:

1) Indefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an’ is used before singular countable nouns, e.g.
a slate a table a flower a bag

an aeroplane an ox an idiot an egg etc.

2) Article ‘a’ is used before the words beginning with a consonant.

3) Article ‘an’ is used before the words beginning with vowel sounds.

Note:
 Some words beginning with h like hour, honest, heir, etc., begin with a vowel
sound as the initial consonant h is silent. Therefore, we say an hour, an honest
man, an heir, etc.,

 Words like university, union, European, etc., begin with a consonant sound yu.
Therefore, we say a European, a university. etc.,

Definite Article ‘The’:

Article ‘The’ is called the definite article. It is used when one speaks of a particular thing or a
person or one already referred to.

1) The old man was happy.

2) The rose is a beautiful flower.
3) The earth revolves around the sun.
4) Rohit is the richest person in our town.

OMISSION OF ARTICLES:

Articles are omitted before:

1) Proper nouns, e.g.,

 Names of cities, persons, days of the week, countries, months of the year, languages, streets
or roads, games, academic subjects etc.

2) The names of material and abstract nouns, e.g.,

1) Gold is a precious metal.

2) Honesty is the best policy.
3) Clothes are made of cotton, wool and silk.

I. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with the correct articles:

1) John is ____________ tallest boy in class.

2) Gauri has ____________ aunt who lives in England.
3) This is ____________ announcement about the school camp.
4) Fareed has ____________ exciting story to tell his classmates.
5) John is going to the bakery to buy ____________ loaf of bread for breakfast.
6) Jenny did very well in her test today. It is ___________ occasion to celebrate.
7) Bill visits the shop every day. ____________ coffee served there is very good.
8) Every year, we take a vacation in my father’s birthplace in Malaysia. My cousins still live in
____________ town.
9) This time last year, we planted a young mango tree. We are enjoying the fruit from
_____________ tree now.
10) Sheela has been doing the same job for 20 years. She is _____________ oldest employee in
the company.
II. Fill in the blanks with ‘a’ or ‘an’:
(Hint: Remember, it is the sound that matters and not the letter)

1) He lives in ___________ hut.

2) I decided to go for __________ movie.
3) Rahul asked for ___________ cup of milk.
4) It takes ___________ hour to reach the school.
5) Mother made ____________ ice cream for me.
6) I bought ___________ notebook from the market.
7) If you add __________ onion to the gravy, it tastes good.
8) He ate ___________ egg and ___________ slice of toast for breakfast.

III. Each of these sentences has a mistake. Circle the mistake and rewrite the sentences
correctly.
1) Always speak a truth.

__________________________________________________________________________
2) Raju is a honest man.

__________________________________________________________________________

3) I have seen a Taj Mahal.

__________________________________________________________________________

4) A moon is shining in the sky.

__________________________________________________________________________

5) He travelled around a world.

__________________________________________________________________________

6) The aeroplane flew into an sky.

________________________________________________________________________
__

7) A old man met a young woman.

__________________________________________________________________________

8) A snake fought with an mongoose.

__________________________________________________________________________