Articles are the most basic words in English and are highly important in English usage. They are used before Nouns and bring accuracy to the sentence. In this article lets learn about Articles in English Language in detail.
What are Articles?
- The three words “A”,” An”, and “The” are called articles in English language. “A” and “An” are called Indefinite articles as they not particular in nature, and “The” is called definitive article as it always shows a particular person or a thing. (Hence sometimes ‘the’ also acts as an adjective in the sentence).
The articles ‘A’ and ‘An’ are generally used before singular countable common nouns. ‘The’ is used before singular/ plural countable/ uncountable/ uncountable nouns according to the context.
Rules for the Use of Articles ‘A’ and ‘An’
The usage of ‘A’ or ‘An’ is primarily decided on the basis of sound. ‘A’ is used before the words that begin with the sound of a consonant.
|
‘An’ is used before the words beginning with a vowel, or with the sound of a vowel or with a mute ‘h’.
|
A/ An is used be used before a common noun when that noun is used for the first time in the sentence.
|
Rules for the Use of the Article ‘The’
Whenever we talk about a particular thing or a person, or any noun that has already been mentioned before, ‘the’ is used before the word. For example,
|
Before proper nouns and any unique objects referring to the names of the following, “The” should be used.
| Before the names of Mountain ranges | The Himalayas, The Rocky mountains, The Andes mountains |
| Before the names of Planets and Stars | The Earth, The Sun |
| Before the names of Descriptive names of countries | The USA, The UAE, The USSR |
| Before the names of Holy books | The Bible, The Gita, The Quran |
| Before the names of Newspapers | The Hindu, The New York Times |
| Before the names of Historical buildings | The Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, The Statue of Liberty |
| Before the names of Deserts | The Sahara, The Thar desert |
| Before the names of Musical instruments | The Guitar, The flute, The Harmonium |
| Before the names of Hotels | The Sheraton, The Grand Central Hotel etc… |
| Before the names of Castes and Religions | The Hindus, The Rajputs, The Muslims etc… |
| Before important events in History | The Boston Tea Party, The Cold War, The Quit India Movement, The Non- Cooperation movement, The First World War etc… |
| Before the names of political parties and Organizations | The Republican Party, The Congress Party, The Communist party, The United nations Organization, The UNESCO etc.. |
‘The’ is used before an adjective when that adjective is representing a class or a section. For example,
Note: When ‘the’ is used before these classes of adjectives, they will become plural nouns. Eg: The rich, the poor, the deaf, the dead, the dumb, the sick, the poor etc… |
“The” must be used before any adjective spoken in the superlative degree.
|
Rules for the Omission of Articles
Till now, we’ve seen when and where the articles should be used. Now there are some instances when they shouldn’t be used. Let’s take a look at them.
No article should be used before a proper noun and a material noun.
|
|
No article should be used before the names of languages, diseases, seasons, sports, parts of the human body etc…
|
|
No article should be used before the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ when they are used in a general sense. However, when they are spoken particularly, ‘the’ should be used before them. For example,
|
Click here for more articles on English Grammar
Follow us on Facebook
Leave a Reply