Articles
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made
by the noun. For example, ‘a’, ‘and’ and ‘the’.
Article ‘a’
I. ‘A’ is used for words which begin with consonant sounds (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q,
r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z). For example, "a city", "a factory" and "a hotel".
Article ‘an’
I. ‘An’ is used for words which begin with vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) or a silent ‘h’. For
example, “an angle”, “an apple” and “an hour”.
Remember
I. Uncountable nouns do not use 'a' or 'an'. For example, advice, water, happy and
sand.
II. We usually use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with noun for the first time when we say or write that noun.
For example, "She's got two children, a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's
fourteen."
III. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are also used when talking about your profession. For example, “I am an
English teacher.” and “I am a builder.”
Article ‘the’
I. ‘The’ is used with an uncountable noun when talking about a particular example of that
thing. For example, “Thanks for the help you gave me yesterday” and “Did you like
the music they played at the dance?”
II. ‘The’ is used when the listener already knows what you are referring to or maybe
because there is only one of that thing. For example, "The apple you ate was rotten.",
"Did you lock the car?" and “I think the cat belongs to the new neighbours.”
III. ‘The’ is used for the second and subsequent times you use the noun. For example, "She's
got two children, a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen."
IV. ‘The’ is used to talk about rivers, oceans, seas, mountains, particular places and
geographic areas. For example, ‘the Rajang river’, ‘the South East Asia sea’ and ‘the
Pacific’.
V. ‘The’ is used before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing.
For example, ‘the rain’, ‘the sun’, ‘the wind’, ‘the world’ and ‘the earth’.
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VI. ‘The’ is used to show adjectives in the superlative form. For example, “The winner must
present the most creative design.” and “The fastest way to travel is by aeroplane.”
VII. ‘The’ is used for the musical instruments. For example, “She plays the piano.”
No article
I. No use and article when talking about things in general. For example, “Inflation is
rising.” and “People are worried about rising crime.”
II. No use an article when talking about sports. For example, “My son plays football.”
and “Tennis is expensive.”
III. No use an article before uncountable nouns when talking about them generally. For
example, “Information is important to any organisation.” and “Coffee is bad for you.”
Exercise: Fill in the blanks with “a”, “an” or “the”.
1. We will be visiting _____________ United States of America next week.
2. His father is __________ officer at ________ Customer Service Department.
3. Which is _________ tallest building in the world?
4. Do you have ___________ old T-shirt that you don’t want?
5. __________ woman who has just come in is my teacher.
6. __________ food sold at that stall is dirty.
7. I think jogging is ___________ good form of exercise.
8. There is ____________ new student in our class.
9. Don’t forget to take ____________ umbrella to school.
10. The mangosteen is __________ queen of local fruit.
