Articles - English Grammar Class 5 PDF Download

Indefinite Articles

Use of 'a' or 'an'

• A before words that start with a consonant sound; for example: a book, a cat, a doll, a fan, a girl, a hat, a jug, a kite, a lion, a man, a pen, a queen, a rat, a swan, a tiger, a van, a watch, a xylophone, a yak, a zebra.
• An before words that start with a vowel sound; for example: an apple, an elephant, an inkpot, an orange, an umbrella. But we say a university, a ewe, a unicorn, a European, a union, a one rupee.

More about articles
We say a one-eyed man, a useful thing, because these words begin with a consonant sound, even though they start with vowels. We say an hour, an honest man, an heir, an MA, an MBA, an X-mas tree, an S.C., an S.T., an F.I.R. because these words begin with a vowel sound even though their spellings start with h, m, x, s, or f, which are consonants.

Definite Article: The
"The" is used to talk about a particular person or thing. It is called the definite article. For example: The Rama, The Ganga, The Himalaya.

Indefinite Articles: a, an
When we mention a person or thing for the first time, we usually use a or an. But when we mention the same person or thing again, we use the definite article the. For example:
A boy once followed a path through a forest and came across a bridge over a river. He crossed the bridge over the river and left the path through the forest.

Use of "the"

• A particular noun
  Example: Is this the pen you are looking for?
  (Which pen? The specific one you want.)
• A noun when it is the only one or unique
  The sun, the moon, the earth, the sky, the ocean, the river, the sea.
• Superlatives
  The richest, the strongest, the coldest, the longest, the smallest, the best.
• A noun that represents the whole group or class:
  (i) The lion is the king of the animals.
  (ii) The peacock is our national bird.
  (iii) The tiger is our national animal.
  (iv) The lotus is our national flower.
  (v) The horse is a noble animal.
• Numerical positions
  The first, the last, the second, the next, the third, the fourth, the middle, the second last, the thousandth, etc.
• Some proper nouns have "the" before them. These include names of oceans, seas, rivers, mountain ranges, deserts, canals, groups of islands, books, trains, ships and monuments:
  The Himalayas, the Alps, the Vindhyas, the Andes, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, the Ganga, the Thames, the Times of India, the Taj Mahal, the Arabian Sea, the Suez Canal, the Sahara, the Thar, the Andamans, the West Indies, the East Indies, the Rajdhani Express, the Vedas, the Geeta, the Ramayana.
• Some country names which have words like republic, united, or kingdom include "the":
  The United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Irish Republic, and the United Arab Emirates. Also, the Netherlands, The Hague, the Lebanon, the Congo. Some places also use "the":
  The Deccan, the Rann of Kutch, the Sudan, the Punjab, the Saar, the Transvaal, the Carnatic.

Note: As a rule, we use "the" when it is clear which person or thing we mean. We use a or an when it is not clear which one we mean.

Omission of the Article

• Common nouns in plural
  (i) Cows give us milk. (Not: The cows give us milk.)
  (ii) Bullocks draw carts. (Not: The bullocks draw carts.)
  (iii) Birds live in trees. (Not: The birds live in trees.)
• Proper nouns
  Names of Countries:
  (i) India is my country. (Not: The India is my country.)
  (ii) China is the biggest country. (Not: The China is the biggest country.)
• Names of persons
  (i) Samita is my best friend. (Not: The Samita is my best friend.)
  (ii) Mahatma Gandhi is the father of the nation. (Not: The Mahatma Gandhi is the father of the nation.)
• Names of days and months
  (i) Sunday is the first day of the week. (Not: The Sunday is the first day of the week.)
  (ii) December is the last month of the year. (Not: The December is the last month of the year.)
• Names of mountain peaks
  (i) Sunset in Mount Abu is worth seeing. (Not: Sunset in the Mount Abu is worth seeing.)
  (ii) Mount Everest is the highest mountain peak in the world. (Not: The Mount Everest is the highest mountain peak in the world.)
• Names of individual islands
  Java, Sumatra, Tasmania, New Zealand.
• Names of materials
  (i) She wears neither gold nor silver. (Not: She wears neither the gold nor the silver.)
  (ii) We wear clothes made of cotton, silk and wool. (Not: We wear clothes made of the cotton, the silk and the wool.)
• Abstract nouns
  (i) Health is wealth. (Not: The Health is the wealth.)
  (ii) Beauty is not skin deep. (Not: The beauty is not skin deep.)
  (iii) Honesty is the best policy. (Not: The honesty is the best policy.)