ARTICLES "A - AN" & "THE".

ARTICLES

There are two kinds of Articles. Definite articles, and Indefinite articles. The definite article (THE) can be singular or plural. The indefinite article (A, AN) is always singular and cannot be used with a plural noun.

I am an English teacher.

I saw an elephant today.

I ate a Banana for breakfast.

I am a builder.

We use 'an' when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) and we use 'a' when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant.

If the next letter begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for example 'University' then we use 'a'. If the next letter begins with a vowel sound for example 'hour' then we say it, an hour.

We say 'a university' because we pronounce the 'U' with a 'Y' sound.

We say 'hour' with a silent H as though it were spelt our.

So an hour is correct.

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We use 'the' when you are talking about a particular person or thing.

Example:

The Apple you are eating is rotten.

Did you lock the house?

You should also use 'the' when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

Example:

She has got two children, a girl and a boy. The girl is 8 and the boy is 10.

When we talk about geographical facts on the globe or names of rivers, oceans and seas, we use 'the'.

Example:

The North Pole, The Equator, The Nile, The Pacific, The English Channel etc.

We also use 'the' before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing.

Example:

The sun, The moon, The earth etc.

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