Articles Chapter Notes | English Olympiad Class 4 PDF Download

Articles

An article is a word which is used with and give some information about the noun about its definiteness.

Types of Articles

There are 2 types of articles:

1. Definite articles

• Definite articles means that noun being referred is unique and identifiable to the person who is talking and to the person who is listening. 
• We use "the" to denote a definite article. 

Rules:

• When we speak about things which are unique in this world we use "the". E.g. the earth, the sun, the moon.
• When we speak about holy books, rivers, seas, mountains, oceans and group or kingdom of countries. E.g. the Ramayana, the Gita, the Bible
• With superlative degree. E.g. He is the best dancer in our class.
• With historical monuments. E.g. The Taj Mahal.
• With the names of newspapers. E.g. The times of India.
• To speak about someone who has been referred in the previous sentence.
• To speak about something who is unique with reference to time, position or place.

Examples:

• Narendra Modi is the prime minister of India. 
• The car in my neighbouring house has broken down. 
• He lost the first bag.

2. Indefinite articles

• Indefinite articles refer to an object which is not specific and the listener is not able to identify it particularly. 
• We use "a" or "an" before a noun to indicate indefinite article. 

"a" is used with words starting with a consonant sound.
Examples: A dog, a cow.

Note: A university and not an university because "university" has the starting sound as "yu".

"an" is used with words starting with a vowel sound.
Examples: An apple, An umbrella.

Note: An M.A., An honest man, An hour etc.

Zero articles

When an article is not required we call it zero articles.
Zero articles are used:

• with proper nouns
• with means of transport
• with the common expression of time and place. E.g. at midnight, at office
• With common nouns when we refer to a group generally e.g. Frogs are amphibians.
• With the name of the cities and countries. If we refer to a group of countries or kingdom of a country then "the" is used. e.g. The United States of America, The Kingdom of Bahrain, etc.
• With material noun when they are used in general sense like gold is precious."

Exception: If we refer to a group of countries or kingdom of a country then "the" is used. e.g. The United States of America, The Kingdom of Bahrain, etc.