A, AN and THE are called ARTICLES. They are nothing but demonstrative Adjectives.
Whenever we want to point out a Person / Place / Thing, we need to use or employ the article.
Let us say, there are three books on the table.
I ask you to pick up a book. You pick up any one of the three books.
You do not pick a specific or particular book. Here we have used ‘a’ right before on the word ‘book’. As we are not particular or definite about the book, ‘a’ is called the ‘Indefinite Article’.
When we are not sure or particular or definite about the Person or thing, we speak, of we use the indefinite article ‘a’.
Normally, we use ‘a’, the indefinite article before singular countable Nouns.
When I ask you (take the book, you normally take a book that is pointed out or already known to you and to me. that is both of us are sure what we are speaking about.
When we are sure of what we are referring about, we use the Article ‘The’.
The is to be used when we are sure of what we intend. ‘The’ therefore, is called the DEFINITE article.
The House, The School, The Car.
When you say ‘a’ school, a car, or a house, it may refer to any school, any car or any house. But, when you say the school, the car, the house, you refer to a school a car or a house you are sure or definite about.
We use ‘the’ definite article before singular countable Nouns. Plural countable Nouns and uncountable Nouns. The rice, the pen, the computer.
There are time when we want to use the Vowels – a, e, i, o, u.
‘a’ the indefinite Article, we can use ‘a’ or ‘an’. this is determined by the above five vowels.
Vowels relate to or refer to sound or how we pronounce a word. We should use ‘an’, when the pronunciation of a word starts with the sound of ‘ a, e, i, o, u’.
an honest man.
an elephant
an irate customer
an odour
an umbrella
an hour
The word EDUCATION consists all the five vowels. (a,e,i,o,u).
The word ABSTEMIOUS contains all the vowels, a,e,i,o,u in the same order. Abstemious means to refrain / from doing certain things we do. It has negative connotation or meaning.
For words beginning with a consonant, we use ‘a’. – a boy, a University.
(here we do not use an for University because, the pronunciation is ‘University’
Where to use DEFINITE ARTICLE.
When we are particular about a Person / thing as in The Book.
When we refer to a particular / Singular Nouns meant to mean a whole class.
The dog is a faithful animal.
Here we refer to the whole class of dogs.
We can use indefinite Article before Proper nouns like river, ocean, mountain, countries.
The Ganges
The Indian Ocean
The Vindhyas
We can also use the …………… something which represents our identity / culture.
The Mahabharatha
The Bible
The Korean
The Vedas
We can also use ‘the’ before words that are special or unique – the sun, the moon.
We can use before a Proper Noun to indicate emphasis. Normally, we use a quality that makes the Person / Place noticeable.
The Great Rama
Use before Superlatives.
The Ganges is the holiest river for Hindus.
Use before ordinals.
Neil Arm Strong was the first man to set foot on the moon.
Use before an adjective when the Noun is understood.
The rich do not know the misery of the poor.
Use before musical instruments
The Veena, the Sitar, the Bingos.
Use an adverb with Comparatives.
The more the senses have, the more they want.
How to use Indefinite Articles?
To indicate one unit.
– A kilo
– Not a hair out of place
– In a vague sense of ‘a certain’.
A certain Krishna (somebody called Krishna).
enquired of you.
To refer / point out a particular individual representing a group / class.
A son should respect his parents.
– Certain / Some – Here we know the Noun. But completely or we are not completely familiar. i.e we are vague. Still we have an idea.
Where to omit Articles?
– Before noun of substances and uncountable Nouns.
Sugar is bad for people with Diabetes.
– Before Plural countable Noun used in the General ………..
Computers serve 17 industries.
– Before names of Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. e.g. Lunch will be ready. We use ‘a’ when we refer to a particular meals – a Breakfast , a Dinner
If we are sure of the meals, we can use ‘the’.
The Dinner at my friends marriage was sumptuous.
– Before languages / schools / hospitals when they have been referred to invite for their primary functions.
We study French at school.
We study English.
My father is in hospital.
But, when you are specific about these places, you can use ‘the’.
My father is in the hospital. i.e. We know the hospital where he is in; we have ……
– Do not use before Names of Relations – Father, Mother
– Do not use before Predicative Nouns. (We shall discuss this later denoting a unique position).
Mr. Venkatraman was Principal of Vivekananda College.
– Do not use in phrases which have transitive verb followed by its object. (We shall deal with transitive verb later).
– to cast anchor
– to catch fire
– to take offence.
– Do not use in phrases that contain a Preposition followed by its object.
at home, by day, at sundown, by air, on tour, on demand, underground, above ground, at ease.
When are Articles repeated…?
I have a car and a bike.
When we have two names, we use the article before each Noun.
I have a Noun. I want to use two adjectives for the same Noun. Where should I use the Article?
I have a black car a white car.
Here, we use Article before each Noun. But, in the present case where we have only one Noun, we should write the Article thus:
I have a black and white car.
Here, it means that I have a car which is partly white and partly black. There is only one car.
In the earlier case, there were two cars. In this case, we use the Article before the first Noun only. Let us see another case.
The President of India and Commander-in-Chief of India participated in the Republic Day Parade.
The President of India is also the Commander-in-Chief of armed forces. So, we use the Article ‘The’ only once.
The President of Pakistan and the Commander-in-Chief were present when they held talks with the Prime Minister of India.
In Pakistan, the President and Commander-in-Chief are two different persons. So, we use the Article before each Noun.
When we have two Nouns that are connected or mean the same thing, we use the Article once before the first Noun.
When the Nouns are not connected and are different, we use Article before each Noun.
While comparing Thing / Persons, use the Article before first Noun.
Sachin is better batsman than a bowler.
http://ramanisblog.in/2012/09/05/correct-usage-of-adjectives-know-your-grammar/
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- DECLENSION OF NOUNS, Know Your English Grammar (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
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