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Articles

T
he words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are called articles and help to identify
whether you are talking about a particular person, place, animal or
thing for only referring to them in a general way.

Kinds and uses:

The indefinite article ‘a’ and ‘an’ come in front of singular countable
nouns and identify the person or thing they represent in a general way. For
example, in the sentence 'A customer wants an earphone', ‘customer’ simply
refers to some customer and ‘earphone’ to some earphone. The words in
front of ‘customer’ and ‘earphone’ do not specify who the customer is or
what kind of earphone he or she wants.

Use ‘a’ in front of nouns beginning with a consonant sound, such as

in ‘bottle’ and ‘cupboard’ and ‘an’’ in front of nouns beginning with a vowel
sound such as in ‘orange’ and ‘Indian’.

 Let's go on a picnic today.

 It is cloudy. Take an umbrella when you go out.

Use the indefinite article in the following situations:

 Before a noun that is introduced for the first time in speech or writing.

 I was born in a village in Assam.

(this is the first time the speaker/reader hears about the
village.)

 Before a noun which represents not an individual person or thing, but

a whole class.

 A judge should always be objective and fair.

(The statement is not just about a particular judge, but about
judges in general)

 To indicate the number one.

 The box of nuts and bolts weighs a kilo. (Or one kilo)

 With personal names in two very specific situations.

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 When the person referred to is a stranger to the speaker.

 A Salim Ahmed called for you while you were out.

(The speaker does not know who Salim Ahmed is)

 ii. when the qualities of a person and not the person

herself/himself are being referred to.

 Shrinivas is growing up to be an Einstein. (Very good at physics)

 Everyone expects the winner of the gold medal in the university

games hundred metre event to be a P. T. Usha. (An
extraordinarily talented athlete)

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T
he definite article ‘the’ is used in front of all kinds of common nouns,
singular and plural as well as countable and uncountable, to refer to
a particular person, animal, place or thing mentioned earlier by the
speaker/writer or whose identity is already known to the listener/reader.
The use of ‘the’ in the following sentences will make this clear.

 There was a man swimming in the pool. We watched the

swimmer. (Particular swimmer, whose identity is known to the
listener/reader because the speaker/writer has referred to him
earlier)

 The institute has an excellent department in bioinformatics.

(The listener/reader knows which institute the speaker/writer is
talking about)

Use the definite article in the following situations:

 In front of a noun that has already been mentioned and is referred

to again in the same piece of speech or writing.

 We found a pup on the road and took it home. The pup soon
became part of our family.
('the pup' in the second sentence is referring to 'a pup' in the
previous sentence.)

 In front of a noun that is made specific by the use of qualifying

word, phrase or clause.
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 The new iron/the iron in the box/the iron that we bought is not
very expensive.

 In front of a singular countable noun to refer to a whole class of

things, objects etc.

 The newborn baby sleeps most of the time. (Referring to babies

in general)

 In front of a noun which is the only one of its kind in a particular

situation.

 I would like to speak to either an employee or to the person in

charge here. (Many employees but only one person in charge)

 In front of the names of mountain ranges (but not mountain peaks

or hills), oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and groups of islands (but not a
single island)

 Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.

 Both the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sri Lanka are close
to India.

 In front of nouns representing points on the earth, and before

points of the compass, as in, the South pole, the equator, the west,
the middle East etc.

 In front of adjectives in the superlative degree.

 Manav is the kindest person I have ever seen.

 In front of adjectives when they are used as nouns referring to a

class of people, animals, things etc.

 The traditional never go out of fashion.

(Meaning things that are traditional)

 In front of the names of holy books, for example: the Gita, the Quran,
the Granth Sahib.
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 In front of the names of well-known buildings, the names of trains,

and the names of newspapers, for example: the Rashtrapati Bhavan,
the Rajdhani Express, the Statesman.

 In front of the plural form of a proper noun to refer to a family.

 The Raos have moved to Mysore. (The Rao family)

 In front of the singular forms of proper nouns to make a comparison.

 Anu is the Sania Mirza of our college. (Meaning that Anu is a

brilliant tennis player)

 In front of names of countries which consists of more than one word.

 Roma lives in the United States of America.

(But Roma leaves in America)

Do not use the articles in the following cases:

 In front of the names of people and places. (Eg. Kamla, Nagpur),
except in the situations given above in front of some abstract nouns,
e.g. happiness and honesty, except when they are made specific by
some phrases that follow them (you can use articles in front of other
abstract nouns e.g. It's a joy to see the garden in spring.)

 Everyone wants happiness.

(Not the happiness or a happiness)
but
Nothing can match the happiness of a blind person who is able
to see after an eye surgery.

 Before uncountable nouns like air and milk (the is used before nouns
made specific by some following words)

 The pot is filled with water. (Not the water or a water)

But
The water in the earthen pot is cool.
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 Before the names of illness (but there are exceptions e.g. a headache,
a sore throat, and a cold and flu/the flu, measles/the measles,
mumps/the mumps)

 Before names of colleges and universities (unless the name happens to

include of).

 Ranjit took a degree in law from Delhi University.

But
Ranjit took a degree in law from the University of Hyderabad.

 Before the names of meals had at different times of the day, except
when they are specified by following words.

 Let's have lunch together tomorrow.

But
I enjoyed the breakfast that Maria made for us.

 Before nouns like church, college, hospital, temples, when they are

referred to in relation to their primary purpose (prayer, higher
education, medical treatment etc.) and not as places or building.

 Her daughter is at college. (For education)

But
Her daughter cycles to the college. (The building and
surrounding campus)

 In phrases with the preposition 'by'/'on' showing means of transport

transmission.

 Ranjit came to the city by train.

 We go on foot to school.

Exercise:

1. Fill in the blanks in the sentences with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’. Where
more than one word is suitable, use the most appropriate one to
complete the sentence. If a blank space does not need any of the
three words, indicate this with an X.
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a) ............... peacock is in danger of extinction.

b) Could you get me ................ kilogram of tea, please?

c) There is ............ European and ........... Eskimo among the tourists.

d) .............. Sally I know lives in Bhubaneswar.

e) Sajita found ............... wallet on her way home. She took ...............
wallet to the police station.

f) We must work to save ............... tigers from becoming extinct.

g) Have you had ............... breakfast?

h) You must reach ............... school before 9 a.m.

i) It is ............... beautiful sight to see ............... Brahmaputra in the

rainy season.

j) This is a painting of ............... Western Ghats and that is a

photograph of ............... Mahabaleshwar peak.

k) Mary will go to ............... school when she is three.

l) Our library has three copies of ............... Mahabharat.

2. Some of the following sentences may have errors relating to the

use of articles. Rewrite the sentences correctly.

a) The oranges and lemons are citrus fruits.

Ans: Oranges and lemons are citrus fruits.

b) Asif is going to visit the Oxford University.

c) The elephants and the lions are found in India.

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d) Have you been to Nilgiri Hills?

e) History is not really Lisa's favourite subject, but she finds the history
of the Greeks fascinating.

f) You can take Mumbai Express to Pune.

g) The children have been sent to the bed.

h) Gold you buy here is of excellent quality.

i) Manoj heard old tale about an unicorn.

j) Philosophy discussed in this book is very difficult to understand.