*Articles
Adapted into ppt by Shafaq Sabeeh
*a/an (the indefinite
article)
• The form ‘a’ is used before a word beginning with a
consonant, or a vowel with a consonant sound:
a man a had a university a European a
one-way street
• The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel (a,
e, i, o, u) or words beginning with a mute h:
an apple an island an uncle an egg an
onion an hour or
• individual letters spoken with a vowel sound:
an L-plate an MP an SOS
• a/an is the same for all genders:
a man a woman an actor an actress a table
*2 Use of a/an
• Before a singular noun which is countable (i.e. of which
there is more than one) when it is mentioned for the first
time and represents no particular person or thing:
I need a visa.
They live in a flat.
He bought an ice-cream.
• Before a singular countable noun which is used as an
example of a class of things:
A car must be insured.
All cars/Any car must be insured.
A child needs love.
All children need/Any child needs love.
• With a noun complement. This includes
names of professions:
It was an earthquake.
She’ll be a dancer.
He is an actor.
In certain expressions of quantity:
a lot of
a couple
a great many
a dozen (but one dozen is also possible) a
great deal of
• With certain numbers:
a hundred
a thousand
Before half when half follows a whole number;
1 ½ kilos = one and a half kilos or a kilo and a
half
But ½ kg = half a kilo (no a before half),
though a + half + noun is sometimes possible:
a half-holiday
a half-portion
a half-share
With 1/3, ¼, 1/5 etc. a is usual:
a third, a quarter etc., but one is also
possible.
In expressions of price, speed, ratio, etc.:
£1 a metre
sixty kilometres an hour 1
four times a day (Here a/an = per)
• In exclamations before singular, countable nouns:
Such a long queue!
What a pretty girl!
But Such long queues!
What pretty girls! (Plural nouns, so no article.)
*3 Omission of
a/an
a/an is omitted;
• Before plural nouns. a/an has no plural form. So
the plural of a dog is dogs, and of an egg is eggs.
• Before uncountable nouns (see 13).
• Before names of meals, except when these are
preceded by an adjective: We have breakfast at
eight. He gave us a good breakfast.
The article is also used when it is a special meal
given to celebrate something or in someone's
honour:
I was invited to dinner (at their house, in the
ordinary way) but
I was invited to a dinner given to welcome the new
ambassador.
A a/an and one (adjective)
1 When counting or measuring time, distance, weight
etc. we can use either a/an or one for the singular:
£1 = a/one pound
£1,000,000 = a/one million pounds
But note that in The rent is £100 a week the a before
week is not replaceable by one
In other types of statement a/an and one are not
normally interchangeable, because one + noun
normally means 'one only/not more than one' and
a/an does not mean this:
A shotgun is no good. (It is the wrong sort of thing.)
One shotgun is no good. (I need two or three.)
*a little/a few
and little/few
(A)a little/a few and little/few a little/little (adjectives)
are used before uncountable nouns:
a little salt/little salt
• a few/few (adjectives) are used before plural
nouns:
a few people/few people
All four forms can also be used as pronouns, either
alone or with of:
Sugar? ~ A little, please.
Only a few of these are any good.
(B)a little, a few (adjectives and pronouns)
a little is a small amount, or what the speaker considers a
small amount, a few is a small number, or what the speaker
considers a small number. only placed before a little/a few
emphasises that the number or amount really is small in the
speaker's opinion:
Only a few of our customers have accounts.
(C) little and few (adjectives and pronouns)
little and few denote scarcity or lack and have almost the
force of a negative:
There was little time for consultation.
Little is known about the side-effects of this drug.
Few towns have such splendid trees. This use of little and few
is mainly confined to written English (probably because in
conversation little and few might easily be mistaken for a
little/a few).
*6 the (the
definite article)
A. Form ‘the’ is the same for singular and plural and for
all genders:
the boy
the girl
the day
the boys
the girls
the days
B Use The definite article is used:
(1) When the object or group of objects is unique or
considered to be unique:
the earth
the sea
the sky
(2) Before a noun which has become definite as a
result of being mentioned a second time:
His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on
the tree.
(3) Before a noun made definite by the addition of a
phrase or clause: the girl in blue
the boy that I met
the man with the banner
the place where I met him
(4) Before a noun which by reason of locality can
represent only one particular thing:
Ann is in the garden, (the garden of this house)
Please pass the wine, (the wine on the table)
Similarly: the postman (the one who comes to us),
the car (our car), the newspaper (the one we read).
5 Before superlatives and first, second etc. used as adjectives or
pronouns, and only:
the first (week)
the best day
the only way
(C) the + singular noun can represent a class of animals or
things:
The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.
The deep-freeze has made life easier for housewives.
But man, used to represent the human race, has no article:
If oil supplies run out, man may have to fall back on the horse.
‘The’ can be used before a member of a certain group of people:
The small shopkeeper is finding life increasingly difficult.
the + singular noun as used above takes a singular verb. The
pronoun is he, she or it:
The first-class traveller pays more so he expects some comfort.
(D) the + adjective represents a class of persons:
the old = old people in general (see 23)
(E) the is used before certain proper names of seas, rivers,
groups of islands, chains of mountains, plural names of
countries, deserts, regions:
the Atlantic
the Netherlands
the Thames
the Azores
the Alps
the Sahara
the Crimea
the Riviera
(demonstrative
adjectives and
pronouns)
A. Used as adjectives, they agree with their nouns in
number. They are the only adjectives to do this.
This beach was quite empty last year.
This exhibition will be open until the end of May.
These people come from that hotel over there.
What does that notice say?
That exhibition closed a month ago.
He was dismissed on the 13th. That night the factory
went on fire.
Do you see those birds at the top of the tree?
(B)this/these, that/those used as pronouns:
This is my umbrella.
That's yours.
These are the old classrooms.
Those are the new ones.
Who's that (man over there)? ~ That's Tom
Jones.