USES OF A AN THE

Mary Ellen Page 2000

USE OF ARTICLES A, AN, and THE

A, an, and the are called articles. The first two are indefinite articles because they do not refer to anything specific. I ate an orange for lunch. (It was not a specific orange.) Give me a book (any book) to prop up the projector. A, an, and the can be used to modify only singular nouns. Some is the corresponding indefinite article for more than one. The is a definite article because it refers to something specific and can be used with either singular or plural. The red car (specific one) is nicer than the other two in the showroom. Use a before a word beginning with a consonant sound: a house a pencil a boy a wagon

Be careful with words beginning with H and U because they can have either a consonant or a vowel sound. When you do not know the pronunciation of a word, look it up in a dictionary or ask a native speaker to pronounce it for you. Here are some that have a consonant sound. helmet hint hip house uniform unicorn university unique

Words that begin with a vowel (a, e, i, o) sound, always require the article an. apple Indian organ aunt elephant opening Eskimo ice cube oculus

An exception to the vowel rule occurs when one comes before a noun and there is a hyphen between the two. Use a, not an. a one-horse carriage a one-armed bandit a one-act play a one-time offer

However, words that begin with U can have a consonant or vowel sound. You need to know how to pronounce the word. Consonant U (yoo) sound A universe A unified group A unit Vowel U (cp) AN umbrella AN unimportant document AN unpleasant sound

The (YOO) sound can also be spelled with EU. Use A with these a European train a eucalyptus tree a eulogy

All exercises are for classroom use only and may not be used for commercial purposes