Articles Prepared By: - Nityanandesh Narayan Tripathi PGT English Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya

First the good news articles There are only three articles in English Definite A An Indefinite The

Article What are articles An article is a limiting word, which cannot be used alone to denote a particular thing, or a group or class of things, or any individual of a group or class. Article

Origin of articles The article the comes from an old demonstrative adjective – (sē, sēo, ðat, later thē, thēo, that) which was also an article in Old English. In Middle English the became an article, and that remained a demonstrative adjective. An or a came from the old numeral ān, meaning one.

A/ An Article – Indefinite A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.

Article – Definite The You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about

General chart of using articles Noun Proper Living X No Article Non Living The Common Singular A/ An Plural Material Abstract

Where to use definite article – A/ An B,C,D,F,G, etc. A, E, I, O, U With Singular Nouns starting with Vowel Sound With Singular Nouns starting with Consonant Sound Note: - Remember that a vowel sound does not necessarily mean beginning with a vowel, nor does consonant sound mean beginning with a consonant, because English spelling does not coincide closely with the sound of words. For Example – If a word starts with ‘Yoo’ sound then we should use article ‘A’ . Like – University, Union, Europe, etc.

Example – A/ An I have An apple in my bag. She has A mango in her bag. The union leader is protesting against the low wages.

Pronunciation of article - The If the following word begins with a vowel, we speak /ði/ if the following word begins with a consonant we speak /ð∂/

With Holy and Classical Books Where to use Definite article 1 – The With Holy and Classical Books With Mountain Range With names of Rivers The Himalaya The Aravali The Alps The Ganges The Nile The Thames The Gita The Hamlet The Quran

With Geographical Locations Where to use Definite article 2 – The With Superlative Nouns With Island Groups With Geographical Locations The Tallest Boy The Longest River The Most Beautiful The Andaman Nikobar The Great Britain The North Pole The Equator

Where to use Definite article 3 – The With Names of countries with more than one words With Particular/ Unique Things With Name of News Paper The United States of America The Republic of India The Painting of Monalisa The Tajmahal The Shillong Times The Tribune The Guardian

Where to use Definite article 4 – The With Common Noun that represent the whole class With Something Already Referred With Proper Noun as Common Noun The Cow The Man The Star Hello, I am the person who met you yesterday Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India

With the names of Deserts Where to use Definite article 4 – The I am at the 6th no. in this queue With the names of Deserts With Ordinal Numbers With Names of Oceans The Sahara The Thaar The Gobi The Fifth The second The Third The Arab Ocean The Red Sea

Where not to use Definite article 1 – The With Countable Nouns With Material Nouns With Institutions Computer Chocolate Gold Diamond Hospital School Church

Where not to use Definite article 2 – The With Abstract Nouns With Names of Meals With Languages English Hindi Bengali Love Help Charity Breakfast Lunch Dinner

Where not to use Definite article 2 – The With Names of Continents, Cities, Countries, Mountains With Names of Relations With Proper Names Father Son Sister Sonia Gandhi Ramesh Roshini Asia Mumbai Mount Everest

Exercises: - This coat was designed by ___ famous New York artist. ___ city museum is closed today. He is one of ___ smartest people I know. I recommend you eat ___ apple pie at this restaurant. ___ milk is good for you. Would you like to see ___ movie? Do you have ___ dictionary that I can borrow?

Thanks