What is an Article?
Articles are used to indicate whether a noun refers to a specific or a general item.
There are two types of articles, definite and indefinite.
However, in your choice about whether to use an article, or which one to use, you have four possible choices: ‘a‘, ‘an‘, ‘the‘ or ‘no article‘.
‘a’ and ‘an’ are Indefinite Articles and ‘the’ is known as the Definite Article.
For example, if I say, “Let’s read the book,” I mean a specific book. If I say, “Let’s read a book,” I mean any book rather than a specific book.
Uses of the Indefinite Articles – ‘a’ and ‘an’
- a man, a hen, a university (vowel with a consonant sound), a European (vowel with a consonant sound), a one-way street (vowel with a consonant sound), etc.
- an apple, an island, an uncle, an egg, an onion, an hour (beginning with a mute ‘h’), etc.
- an L-plate, an MP, an SOS, an ‘X’, etc.
Uses of a/an
For example:
- I need a visa.
- They live in a flat.
- He bought an ice-cream.
For example:
- A car must be insured
- All cars/Any car must be insured.
- A child needs love
- All children need/Any child needs love.
For example:
- It was an earthquake.
- She’ll be a dancer.
- He is an actor.
For example:
- a lot of a couple
- a great many
- a dozen (but one dozen is also possible)
- a great deal of
For example:
- a hundred
- a thousand
For example:
- 1 ½ kilos = one and a half kilos or a kilo and a half
- But ½ kilo = half a kilo (no a before half)
For example:
- a half-holiday
- a half-portion
- a half-share
For example:
- a third, a quarter, etc., (But one is also possible).
For example:
- 5p a kilo
- Re 1 a metre
- sixty kilometre an hour
- 10 p a dozen four times a day (Here a/an = per)
For example:
- Such a long queue!
- What a pretty girl! But Such long queues!
- What pretty girls! (Plural nouns, so no article).
For example:
- a Mr Smith
- a Mrs Smith
- a Miss Smith
Note: ‘a man called Smith’ and implies that he is a stranger to the speaker. Mr Smith, without ‘a’, implies that the speaker knows Mr Smith or knows of his existence.
‘a/an’ and ‘one’ (adjectives and pronouns)
For example:
- £1 = a/one pound
- £1,000,000 = a/one million pounds
But note that in:
- The rent is £100 a week (‘a’ before ‘week’ is not replaceable by ‘one’).
For example:
- A shotgun is no good. (It is the wrong sort of thing.)
- One shotgun is no good. (I need two or three.)
For Example:
- Did you get a ticket? — Yes, I managed to get one.
For Example:
- Did you get tickets? — Yes, I managed to get some.
For example:
- We have little time to spare. (means almost no time)
- We have a little time to spare. (means some time)
- Few persons were present at the meeting. (means almost no one was present)
- A few persons were present at the meeting. (means some were present)
Uses of the Definite Article – The
For example:
- I saw the doctor. (means I saw some particular doctor)
- The apple you ate was rotten.
- Did you lock the car?
- The books are expensive. (not all books are expensive, just the ones I’m talking about.)
- Books are expensive. (All books are expensive.)
For example:
- She’s got two children; a girl and a boy.
- The girl’s eight and the boy’s fourteen.
For example:
- The Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the British Isles, the Alps, the Ganga, the North Pole, the equator, etc
For example:
- The sun, the sky, the ocean, the sea, the rain, the wind, the world, the earth, the Parliament, etc.
For example:
- The Quran, The Vedas, The Bible, The Puranas, The Ramayana, etc.
But we never say ‘The Valmiki’s Ramayana’. The is not used when the name of a book is mentioned along with the author’s name. So, ‘Valmiki’s Ramayana’ is correct.
For example:
- Drive away the cows from the field.
For example:
- The great Rani of Jhansi.
- The immortal Kalidas.
For example:
- Rohit Sharma is the best batsman in the world today.
- The best person should win.
For example:
- The poor are always with us. (Here poor mean poor people, which is understood.)
- The weak and the strong. (Here weak means weak people and strong means strong people.)
For example:
- He was the first student to finish his homework.
- The second chapter of the book is very interesting.
Omission of the Articles – Rules with Examples
For example:
- Man is mortal.
- Fish has high protein content.
- What kind of flower is it?
For example:
- Gold is a precious metal.
- Wheat grows in Uttar Pardesh, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh.
- Iron is a useful metal.
Note: But it is correct to say:
- An iron is a useful gadget.
Because here we are not talking about material iron, but the object which is used to make clothes smooth.
For example:
- Delhi is the capital of India.
- Newton was a great philosopher.
- This man is a second Newton.
- Mumbai is the Manchester of India.
Here Newton and Manchester is not used as a proper noun but a common noun.
For example:
TheScience has developed much in the past hundred years. (Incorrect)- Science has developed much in the past hundred years. (Correct).
For example:
What kind of a hobby is this? (Incorrect)
What kind of hobby is this? (Correct)
For example:
- Wisdom is the gift of heaven.
- Honesty is the best policy.
- The wisdom of Solomon is famous.
- I cannot forget the kindness with which he treated me.
Here the article is used before the abstract noun as the abstract noun has been qualified by an adjective or adjectival clause.
For example:
- We are studying English.
- Geometry is the toughest subject I have ever studied.
For example:
- I went to school till last year.
- I have never been to hospital.
But an article is used before these words when reference is made to a definite place.
For example:
- Mother would like to see you.
For example:
- The mother would like to see you. (someone else’s mother)
For example:
- Donald Trump was elected
thepresident of the USA. (Incorrect) - Donald Trump was elected president of the USA. (Correct)
- I have a black and white cat.
- I have a black and a white cat.
Here in sentence 1, I mean that I have one cat that is partly black and partly white. In sentence 2, I mean that I have two cats one is black and the other white.
Hence the rule is that when two or more adjectives qualify the same noun, the article is used before the first adjective only. But when they qualify different nouns, the article is used before each adjective separately.
- The President and Chairman is absent.
- The President and the Chairman are present.
Sentence 1 means that only one person is acting as president as well as chairman. Sentence 2 means that two different persons are acting as the President and the Chairman and both the persons are absent.