Skip to main content

Articles 'a' or 'an'

Image
By Venugopal Bandlamudi ( Psychologist )




There are two articles in the English Language:

1) the indefinite article ( ‘a’ or ‘an’ )

2) the definite article ( ‘the’ )


Usage of indefinite article ( ‘a’ or ‘an’ ):


1. The indefinite article is used with a singular countable noun.

The article ‘a’ is used before a word that begins with a consonant sound, while ‘an’ is used before a word that begins with a vowel sound. ( There are 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds in English )

a pen 

a choice 

a tall building

an employee 

an oak tree 

an interesting story


2. Some words start with a vowel letter ( a, e, i, o, u ), but have a consonant sound. So, ‘a’ is used before them

a university 

a universal rule 

a European woman


3. There are some words which start with a silent ‘h’. In such cases, ‘an’ is used.

an hour 

an honest man 

an honourable teacher 

an heir


But, when ‘h’ is pronounced, we use ‘a’

a humble man 

a hint 

a humorous person 

a historian


4. ‘An’ is used before abbreviations which begin with A, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, O, R, S or X and that are pronounced as individual letters.

an ISI product 

an LLB student 

an RMP doctor

an MP 

an HCL product 

an SBI card


But if the abbreviation is said as a word ( acronym ) and begins with a consonant sound, ‘a’ is used before it

a SAARC country 

a NATO member


5.  a/an is used before singular countable noun which mean ‘one’.

Aditi has stayed in Delhi for a month.

Dad gave her a hundred rupee note.

Shall I ask you a question?


6. a/an sometimes means ‘anyone’ of a particular type.

Have you got a pen?

They are searching for a house.


7. a/an is also used for a person’s occupation.

His father is a politician.

Sarada was an actress.

Anusha is an English lecturer.


Practice

Use the appropriate article ('a' or 'an') in the following blanks.

1. Meenakshi is _______ film actress. 

2. Sri Lanka is _______ SAARC country. 

3. There is _______ SBI ATM near our house. 

4. Gravity is _______ universal principle. 

5. My father brought ________ ox. 

6. Neesha gave me _______ hint. 

7. Her father is _______ RMP. 







Popular posts from this blog

Prepositions of Agency, Possession, and Reason

By Venugopal Bandlamudi ( Psychologist )
Now, we shall learn the Prepositions  of Agency, Possession, and Reason. * Prepositions of Agency and Instrumentality # by: The thief was arrested by the police. I am going to send the parcel by post tomorrow. Gora was written by Tagore. # with : Mohan has beaten Hemu with a stick. The workers have cut the tree down with an axe. # through : Vinaya heard about the vacancy through a friend. You can achieve success only through hard work. * Prepositions of Possession # to: This house belongs to our MLA. # with: The dog with brown spots is my pet. # of: Ottawa is the capital of Canada. * Prepositions of Reason # for: Ambedkar worked for the upliftment of the disadvantaged. # from: Mitesh is suffering from fever. # of: My grandmother died of Cholera. # because: They didn’t attend the meeting because their car met with an accident. Practice Use appropriate prepositions in the following blanks 1. I entered the hotel and placed an order _________ a plate of Idli.  2. Gopi earned millions
Read more

Article: The

By Venugopal Bandlamudi ( Psychologist )
Let’s learn how to use the definite article ‘ the ’. Usage of the definite article ( ‘the’ ) : 1. Observe the following paragraph: One day, I saw a rat in my house. I thought there were many rats living in our house. So, I brought a cat from my friend’s house. I gave the cat all the food it required. It ate well and moved around the house. But a month after bringing the cat, to my surprise, one day I found the cat playing with the same rat. Now, they have become good buddies. You learn from the above paragraph that when we used ‘rat’ or ‘cat’ and ‘house’ for the first time, we used ‘a’ before them. But, when we used the words for the second or third time, we kept ‘the’ before them. So, the definite  article ‘the’ is used before the persons or things that we already know beforehand. 2. ‘The’ is used with a noun whose identity is clear to the listener and the speaker from the context. Our classroom is on the second floor. ( the second floor of our school building ) What is the tim
Read more

Phrase

By Venugopal Bandlamudi ( Psychologist )
We shall learn what a phrase is and how many types of phrase are there in English. Phrase : A phrase is a group of words which doesn’t contain a finite verb, but does the work of a single part of speech. Example: Reading novels improves your English. In the above example, the highlighted words act as noun in the sentence. It contains two words which act as a unit. So, we call such words phrases . Types of Phrases : There are at least nine important types of phrases in English. They are: 1. Noun Phrase : This phrase acts as a noun in the sentence, and it also contains other associates to modify it. Examples:  Kavya bought a blue saree . A tall woman came to help him. 2. Prepositional Phrase : It contains a preposition and an object of the preposition. Examples:  The students are looking at the black-board. Jyothi has slept on the sofa . 3. Adjective Phrase : It acts like an adjective in the sentence. Examples:  The man with the white-hair is my father. The chairman is the man of h
Read more

The verb 'take'

By Venugopal Bandlamudi ( Psychologist )
We are now going to learn how to use the verb ‘ take ’ in different situations. Take : to get into one’s hands or possession. Example: Rashi took the mangoes and kept them in the fridge . There are many more shades of meanings to the word ‘take’.  They are: 1. grip 2. to receive something into one’s body. 3. eat 4. to obtain for use. 5. assume ( There are at least twenty different meanings to the word ‘take’ ) Now, let’s see how to use the verb with different prepositions, i.e., Phrasal Verbs 1. take after : to be similar to someone in appearance. Example: Kris is a jovial person. He takes after his father. 2. take away: to remove something. Example: Komala took the knife away from the child. 3. take down: to write down some information. Example: Reema took down the important points of the lecture give by the guest. 4. take for : to believe something wrongly. Example: She took him for an idiot, but he is a gentleman. 5. take in : to allow someone to stay in your house. Exam
Read more