Unit 5 : Articles

 1)    There are two articles in English-‘a/an’ and ‘the’.

2)    They are used before nouns.

Examples:

She cried like a baby.	‘a’ is an articles
The mice ran way when they saw a cat.	‘the’ and ‘a’ are articles.

3)    ‘A’ or ‘an’ is called the indefinite article because it is used with nouns that have an indefinite or general use.

(A) The indefinite articles ‘a’ or ‘an

1)  ‘A’ or ‘an’ means one.

2) ‘A’ is used before singular countable nouns that begin with a consonant (i.e. all the letters of the alphabet except for the vowels ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘I’, ‘o’ and ‘u’).

3) ’A’ is also used before a word that begins with a vowel but has a ‘yu’ sound.

     Examples:

     a unicorn              a useful idea             a uniform                   a university

4)    ‘An’ is used before singular countable nouns that begin with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o and u).

Examples:

an ape                 an uncle                    an elephant              an oval          

5)    ‘An’ is also used before a word that begins with a silent ‘h’.

Examples:

An heir                an honest girl           an hour’s journey

(B) The definite article ‘the’

The article ‘the’ is used before singular or plural nouns which have a definite or particular sense.

Examples:

1)    The dog that chased me belongs to my neighbor.

(We are clear about which dog – the dog yhat chased me)

2)    I saw the panda at the zoo.

( We are talking about that one panda at the zoo – perhaps there is only one)

Exercise

Choose the correct answer.

1)   Do you have _______________ ringgit?

a)   some

b)   the

c)    an

d)   a

2)   The boys found ______________ egg in the nest.

a)    some

b)    any

c)    an

d)    a

3)   I want to buy a pencil and ____________ ream of writing paper.

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

4)   A tourist guide should know _____________ way to the zoo.

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

5)   I shall arrive in ____________hour if not sooner.

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

6)   The senior professor is as wide as ___________ owl.

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

7)   My best friend met with ______________ accident last week. Thankfully he was unhurt.

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

8)   Can I have ____________ lump of sugar in my coffee, please?

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

9)   Put your shoes in ________ cabinet first. Then, come inside, please.

a)    some

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a

10)He owns _____________ orchard in Johor Bahru.

a)    any

b)    the

c)    an

d)    a