What is the role of articles in speech and writing?

What are articles?

Many nouns have a little grammar word in front of them. Often it’s one of the articles a, an or the. It is not necessary, however, for every noun to have an article before it

Articles are of two types: Indefinite, which are a and an: and Definite, which is the.

A and AN are called indefinite articles as they can refer to any one thing. They are usually placed before a common noun, which is in the singular.

For example: She gave me a gift. I bought an umbrella.

THE is the definite article, referring to a specific noun. For example: I read the books you gave me.

Indefinite articles: ‘a’ and ‘an’

“A” or “an” means one person or thing. When do we use indefinite articles? We use them:

[1] Before singular nouns: I watched a movie last night. We saw an elephant and an antelope outside the resort.

[2] Before the name of a job: My sister wants to be an engineer.

[3] Before consonant sounds: a chair, a horse, a laptop This includes letters u and eu when they are pronounced like the consonant y: a university, a euro.

[4] We use “an” before vowel sounds. These words usually start with a, e, i, o, u: an architect, an idea, an umbrella, an instant

[5] We use “an” with words that start with the letter “h” when the “h” is not pronounced: an hour, an honour.

[6] Indefinite articles are used when a singular countable noun is talked about for the first time: I took a taxi from the station. I had to buy a new computer after my old one crashed.

[7] They can be used when dassifying, describing and generalizing: It’s a flower. It’s an enormous flower. A flower is used for decoration, worship and as a mark of friendship.

[8] They are commonly used in exclamations following words such as what and ‘such’. What a fantastic movie! It was such a loud noise that people rushed out of their homes.

[9] Indefinite articles are also used in expressions like: ‘a kind of a sort of and ‘a type of’. It is a kind of plant that survives in deserts. It is a sort of bread that is supposed to be organic. It is baked in a special type of oven.

Definite article: ‘the

We use the definite article the when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about. The books you gave me are priceless. We use the definite article with:

[1] Countries with plural names or with Republic or Kingdom in the name: The United Arab Emirates, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom.

[2] Geographical areas in noun phrases: I live in the north-west of Egypt in the east.

 

[3] The names of rivers, seas, oceans and mountain ranges: The Ganges, The Black Sea, The Atlantic, The Himalayas.

[4] Parts of the day: in the morning/afternoon/ evening.

[5] Most prepositional phrases of position and place in the middle of at the back on the left, at the office/bank/cinema

Rule for school/ university:

There is a special rule for these places: school, university, college, hospital, prison, church. Compare these examples:

The children go to school by bus. I go to the school to learn Sanskrit twice a week.

My sister is studying maths at university. He works in the library at the university.

She was in hospital for three weeks. Is there a gift shop at the hospital?

He was in jail for fraud. The group visited the jail to teach yoga to prisoners.

The rule is this: If someone is at the place because he/she is a student / is sick / a prisoner, etc. we don’t use “the”.

If they are there for another reason, or we are talking about the building, we use “the”.

Rules for zero articles

Now, let’s look at the rule for zero articles or when no articles apply. There is no article before:

[a] The names of most cities, countries and continents: Addis Ababa, New Delhi, Warsaw, Beijing, Argentina Canada, Europe. Asia.

[b] Geographical areas in adjective phrases: I live in (x) north-west Chennai, (x) eastern Europe

(c) The names of single mountains and lakes: Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Baikal

[d] Exact days, months and times: on (x) Friday, in (x) June, at (x) 8 o’clock

[e] Some prepositional phrases of place: at (x) home, at (x) work, in (x) bed, at (x) sea

Nouns that don’t need an article:

[1] Plural nouns: Birds fly with their wings.

[2] Uncountable nouns for generalisations: Fruit is healthier than sweets. Ink is used for marking fingers. Man is mortal.

[2] Proper nouns Mina is looking for a nursing job.

[3] When talking about the normal role of an institution

What time does school finish on Fridays?

After serving his sentence he was released from prison.

[4] Times of day, year and named holidays and special days/festivals

Do you let your cat out at night? I always go home for Diwali.

The weather is usually best in December

How do you pronounce articles?

We usually pronounce a/an with a weak vowel sound, (uh).

It sounds like the vowel sound in fun, and not the vowel sound in cat.

Before consonants and the letters ‘u’ or ‘eu’ when they are pronounced ‘y’ we pronounce the with this weak sound uh, too. For example: the doctor, the party, the uniform.

But when the is before a vowel sound, we pronounce the with the long ee sound in see. For example: the afternoon, the ice, the open door, the upstairs rooms

The “schwa” sound

Schwa is a short vowel sound. It is the most common sound in the English language. It is never stressed. It appears in many words of more than one syllable. It is the sound of many grammar words like articles and prepositions when they are not stressed.

In the word “banana”, the first and the third “a” have the schwa sound.

 

Picture Credit : Google

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