Articles | A | An | The

 

Articles

1.1. Articles

There are three articles in English- a, an and the. A and an are called indefinite articles. The is the definite article. An article is placed before a noun. If there is an adjective before a noun, the article is placed before the adjective:

a train

a fast train

an incident

an unusual incident

Note. We can never use a singular count noun alone, that is, without a/an/the/ my/some/any, etc.

1.2. A/an

Singular count nouns take the indefinite article a/an with them: 

a ball

an egg

a dog

an elephant 

Uncount nouns do not generally take any article with them. We do not generally say

a milk

a beauty

a wisdom

for milk, beauty, wisdom cannot be counted.

1.3. A

▸ A is used with singular count nouns beginning with a consonant sound:

a map

a girl

a university

a union

a one-sided affair

a one-rupee note

Note that the words university, union, and one begin with a vowel but not a vowel sound University and union begin with the yoo sound while one begins with the w sound. So a and not an is used with them.

Well-known words which begin with a vowel but take a with them are:

European

universal

uniform

usual

union

unit

useful 

1.4. An

An is used before words beginning with a vowel sound: 

an umbrella 

an opportunity 

an honest boy

an honourable person

The letter h in honest and honourable is not sounded. So honest and honourable take an, and not a, with them. Common words in English which begin with an Unsounded h are:

heir 

heiress

honest

honorary

honourable

hour

hourly

1.5. ▸ In abbreviations, if consonants begin with a vowel sound, they take an before them:

an M.P.

an S.P.

M. pronounced as em, begins with a vowel sound. 

But if consonants begin with a consonant sound, they take a before them:

a Ph.D.

a B.Ed.

P. pronounced as pee, begins with a consonant sound.