How to Use A, An, The in English | Use, Rules & Examples

The topic discussed in this lesson is 'use of articles a, an and the'. 

Which words are called articles in English language?

That's right! A, AN & THE are articles in English Grammar.

Here are a few basic rules:

• Articles are used before NOUNS
• A & AN mean 'any' (NOT SPECIFIC)
• THE means specific
• A and AN are INDEFINITE ARTICLES
• THE is DEFINITE ARTICLE
• A & AN are used before singular countable nouns
• THE is used for something SPECIFIC

• A is used before a consonant sound
• AN is used before a vowel sound

For example,

1. a car
2. a star
3. an old man
4. a user
5. a European country
6. a UFO
7. an honest person.
8. an hour
9. an honour
10. a one-bedroom apartment

We don’t use A/AN before uncountable nouns and plurals.

We can't say 'a milk', whereas 'a glass of milk' is correct
We can't say 'A five shirts', but we say 'a shirt'
We can't say 'a knowledge', but we can say 'a knowledgeable man'
We can't say 'a music', but we can say 'a music video'
We can't say 'a many children', but we can say 'a child'
We can't say 'an anger', but we can say 'an angry person'

We don’t use articles with the NAMES of people, places, games, languages etc.

'The Mukesh' is incorrect. We just say 'Mukesh'.
'The Delhi' is incorrect. We just say 'Delhi'.
'An Ekta' is incorrect. We just say 'Ekta'.

We use THE before a SPECIFIC thing the speaker and the listener both know.

We use THE when talking about the same noun the 2nd time.

Examples,
1. I have a dog. The dog is black.
2. There is a book in my backpack. The book is very heavy.
3. Nobody lives on the Moon.
4. Do you know where I left the car keys? 
5. The TV in the living room has no cable connection.

We use THE with the country names which have more than two words and are small islands.

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