Sunday, 28 January 2024

Article ( Use of A, AN & The)



Articles (Use of a, an and the)

 An article is a word that comes before a noun to show whether it's specific or general. Article is mainly found in two types as shown:

Indefinite Article: Use of “ A and AN”

Definite Article: Use of “The”

Indefinite Article: Use of “ A and AN”

A is used before nouns that begin with a consonant sound an is used before nouns that start with a vowel sound.

Definite Article: Use of “The”

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular. 

Indefinite Article: Use of “A and AN”

It is used before a singular noun. The uses of these articles are as follow:

Use of “A”

      It is used before a consonant letter as shown below:

For example, a pilot, a teacher, a doctor, a cleaner, a watchman

      It is also used before vowel letter that pronounce as consonant sound as shown below:

For example, a university, a unicorn, a ewe, a union, a uniform, a european

Use of “AN”

Vowel sound ( a,e, I, o, u)

      It is used before a vowel letter as shown below:

For example, an engineer, an inspector, an exam, an inquiry, an orange, an umbrella, an argument

      It is used before consonant letter that pronounce as vowel sound.

For example, an honest, an honorable, an F M radio, an M.Ed,  an M A, an heir, an hour, an M. Phil

Definite Article: Use of “The”

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular

1) Before a Noun

When we talk about something that already has been referred to in the prior sentence, we use "The" after that.


For example:

    A cat got in an honor with our dog yesterday. The dog won the battle.

    I purchased another house at Lokhandwala. The house is over the top expensive.


2) When Nouns Are Already Known to the User

When the user is already aware of the thing you are talking about, at such places we use "The" instead of describing that thing since it is already known to the user. 


For example:

    "Michael is wearing a suit at the party." In this case, a person already knows about the party to which the other person is referring in this sentence, and thus we used "the" to refer to the party.

Definite Article: Use of “The”

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular

1) Before a Noun

When we talk about something that already has been referred to in the prior sentence, we use "The" after that.


For example:

    A cat got in an honor with our dog yesterday. The dog won the battle.

    I purchased another house at Lokhandwala. The house is over the top expensive.


2) When Nouns Are Already Known to the User

When the user is already aware of the thing you are talking about, at such places we use "The" instead of describing that thing since it is already known to the user. 


For example:

    "Michael is wearing a suit at the party." In this case, a person already knows about the party to which the other person is referring in this sentence, and thus we used "the" to refer to the party.

3) Before Unique Nouns 

Remember it as a thumb rule. "The" will always refer to Universal things Like The Sun, The Moon, The Arabian Ocean, The Bermuda Triangle, The Eiffel Tower, The Himalayas, etc. 

All these Universal things or Places are certain and won't change. So we use "The" to refer to such things.

4) Superlative Adjectives

Superlative adjectives are used for Definite Nouns and to describe something special and unique. 

For example:

    My mother cooks the Best North Indian Food on the Earth.

    At 3307 ft. Height, Jeddah Tower is The Tallest structure on the planet.

    My child sister is The Most irritating individual in the house.

Here "Best", "Tallest" and "Most" are the superlative adjectives, and thus we used "The" before them.

5) Before Adjectives Used as Nouns

If you are talking about some advice or duty, at such places also, we use "The".


For example:

    Fortune Favors the Brave

Here Brave is used both as a noun and adjective, so we used "The" before it.


6) Proper Nouns

With Proper Nouns such as Nation's Name, Plural names of nations, a few titles, a few associations, a few structures, papers, masterpieces, explicit family names, mountains, waterways, oceans, gatherings of islands, and deserts, we use "the".


For Example 

The Indian sea, The Bay of Bengal, The Netherlands, The Caspian, The United States of America, The Taj Mahal, The Times of India, The Suez Canal, The Bay of Bengal, The Guptas. 


7) With Nationalities

Whenever we talk about any nationality, we must use "the" before it to emphasize that word. 


For example:

    The British controlled India for a long time.

8) Before ordinal numbers as,

The first, the second, the third, the fourth

9) Before the name of musical instruments.

The guitar, the piano, the flute, the drum, they key-board

10) Before the name of rivers, sea and oceans.

The Nile, The Gandaki, The Red Sea, The Pacific Ocean, The Indian Ocean

11) Before the names of groups of island.

The British Isles, The Bahamas, The West Indies, The Laccadive lands

12) Before the group of countries.

The UK, The USA, The USSR, The Philippines, The Netherlands

13) Before the name of canals.

The Gandak canal, The Panama canal

14) Before the name of deserts.

The Sahara desert, The Gobi desert, The Thar desert

15) Before the names of newspapers, religious books, famous books.

The Kathmandu Post, The Rising Nepal, The Indian Times, The Bhagwat Geeta, The Muna and Madan, The Bible

16) Before a period of decades.

The thirties, the sixties

17) Before the names of the directions and poles.

The east, the west, the south, the north, the North Pole

18) Before family names and castes.

The Ranas, the Limbus, the Tharus, the Brahmins

19) Before the names of the periods of history

The Modern Age, the Victorian Age, the Renaissance, the Stone Age

20) Before the name of the political parties

The CPN, the BJP, the Congress, the Republican

21) Before the names of nationalities/ religions/races/positions or posts.

The Nepalese, the Chinese, the Hindus, the Black, the English, the President, the Manager, the King, the Queen

22) Before the especial meals.

The wedding party, the Christmas party, the birthday party, the wedding anniversary

23) Before the parts of the day,

The morning, the afternoon, the evening

24) Before the parts of the rooms.

The kitchen, the living room, the guest room , the wash room, the rest room

  

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