Articles

a & an the

Indefinite Article (a-an)

Countable Nouns A countable noun can be singular or plural. Countable singular noun always carries an indefinite article (a OR an).
Plural nouns never take the indefinite article (a or an) We can count ships. We can say a ship / one ship or two ships.

Examples
Articles I am a students. Tommy has a computer. Joe has an apple every morning. No Articles We are students. Kelly has two computers. There are many apples on the table

 We can see a ship from distance We can see ships from distance
A seismograph is a device for measuring an earthquake. Seismographs are devices for measuring earthquakes. I have got a problem with the car. I have got many problems.

a telescope, an electrode, a leaf, an atom , an honor, a university, a hotel, an hotel

Uncountable Noun
An uncountable noun is neither singular nor plural. We cannot count water. We can say water or some water. But we cannot say a water or two waters.
Shall we sit on the grass? The money is quite safe. I love music. Would you like butter? Ahmed needs food. Ahmed eats one meal a day

Copper, chemistry, oil, petrol, pollution, smoke (uncountable)

Some nouns are used frequently in scientific writing which can be countable, depending how they are used.
Sound (in general) = we dont hear sound on the moon.

Sound (a particular) I heard a sound at midnight which was very horrible.

 Glass (the substance) Now a days, in industries glass is used rather than metal. Glass (the kind we drink from) I need a glass of water.
Color = (substance) you need color to paint his house.

Color = such as red or green Use a color in text to highlight the main words.

Tom told some jokes He told joke [X] We had some fun. We had a fun. [X]

Definite article (The) To specify or to refer to something that has already been mentioned.

Articles THE

I see a cat. The cat is swimming.

I see a cat. The cat is swimming.

a cat = the cat

I see a cat. The cat is swimming.

In this sentence, an indefinite article a is used before cat because it is mentioned for the first time. In this sentence, a definite article the is used before cat because it has mentioned before.

More examples

There is a swimming pool in China . The swimming pool is very big. a swimming pool = the swimming pool

More examples
I wrote your phone number on an envelope but I forgot where did I put the envelope. an envelope = the envelope

There is a girl and a boy. The girl is beautiful and the boy is ugly. a girl = the girl and a boy = the boy

 In 1986, there was an accident at a nuclear reactor in the USSR, causing the spread of dangerous radiation. The reactor was shut down. The accident awakened concern for the safety of nuclear reactor all over the world.

The can go with singular and plural countable nouns in addition to uncountable nouns.

singular nouns I see a cat. The cat is swimming.

plural nouns I see two cats. The cats are swimming.

There is a girl. The girl is beautiful. There are two girls. The girls are beautiful. uncountable counts The water tastes strange. The soup is so hot.

Articles

Look at the monkey. It is eating an orange.

When the situation makes it clear which person, thing or place we are talking about, we use the.

More examples

Can you see the koala? Look, the plane is so big.

We use the when there is only one of the person, thing or place.

the sky the sun the environment the government

Articles

The sky is so blue.

Articles

The sun is going down.

Articles

We shouldnt pollute the environment.

Articles

The government is unpopular.

To express superlatives
The heaviest element, the heaviest gas, the most difficult task.

With Ordinal Numbers.

First, second, third, fourth, last, the like.
The nineteenth century, the fourth element of periodic table, the last experiment. Soldiers, policemen, and the like were called in to help the emergency.

With a noun that is followed by an of phrase.

The theory of relativity The atomic number of oxygen The discovery of penicillin

 The definite article THE is never is used with names of people and is only used with the names of certain places.
The Aslam [X] The UK, The USA, The UAE, The Netherlands, The Punjab

a/an versus the

Indefinite articles

Definite article

a/an
-We use a and an only with singular 1. countable nouns (e.g. a cat, an apple) nouns. - We use a and an to talk about a person, thing or place for the first time. time 2. For example, I see a cat. The car is swimming. Amy is eating an apple. The apple is so big. 3.

the
We use the when a person, thing or place has been mentioned before. (e.g. I see a cat. The cccat is swimming.) We use the when the situation makes it clear which person, thing or place we are talking about. (e.g. Look at the monkey. It is eating an orange.) We use the when there is only one of the person, thing or place. (e.g. The sky is so blue.)

Quiz
I saw _____ cat. _____ cat was sitting on _____ The a a fence. _____ fence was painted brown. _____ cat The The jumped off _____ fence when it saw _____ mouse. the a
a The _____ mouse ran into _____ hole when it saw the the the _____ cat so _____ cat didn't catch _____ mouse.

I saw a cat. The cat was sitting on a fence. The fence was painted brown. The cat jumped off the fence when it saw a mouse. The mouse ran into a hole when it saw the cat so the cat didn't catch the mouse.

1. Sir Alexander Fleming discovered____ penicillin, __ drug that is obtained from mold and used for curing____ diseases.
In comparison, ___ zinc is moderately ___active metal. We know today that ____ heat is _____energy There was insufficient____ light in the laboratory, so we installed ___ extra fluorescent light.

 Electric irons are not made of ____iron , and _____ glasses are not always made of glass.
Radioactive substances emit __ alpha rays, ___beta rays, and ___gamma rays Oxygen is ____ colorless, odorless and tasteless gas.
___ Humber Bridge in ___UK is ___ longest suspension bridge in ___ world

 In 1946 ___ Eckert and ___ Mauchly designed ___ first all-electronic computer
___ the effect of radiation on ___living things depends on ___ amount of radiation absorbed and ____ rate of absorption
____ chemistry professor wanted to do ____ experiment on gasoline._____ experiment was never performed because ____ professor could not obtained gasoline he needed