Articles

Articles
‘A’ or ‘An’ are called indefinite articles. They are used before singular countable nouns.

1. ‘A’ is used for singular countable nouns that begin with a consonant. [ b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z]

Example : a ball a cat a pencil

‘A’ is also used before singular countable nouns that begin with the ‘you’ sound.

2. ‘An’ is used before singular countable nouns that begins with a vomel.
[ a,e,i,o,u]
Example : an ant an orange an umbrella

‘An’ is also used for singular countable nouns that begin with the silent ‘h’
Examples: an hour an honest man

3. ‘The’ is called definite article
i. ‘The’ is used when we want to talk about things that are only one of its kind.
Examples : the sun the moon the sky

ii. ‘The’ is used when we want to speak of the same thing again.
Example : I bought a new shirt. The new shirt is blue.

iii. ‘The’ is used when we want speak of a person, place or thing that we already know.
Example : This is the boy who stole your money.

iv. ‘The’ is used before superlatives.
Examples : the tallest tree the biggest balloon