Articles With Examples And Rules

In this post, you are going to learn about very important part of speech; without this part, your knowledge of English grammar is incomplete; that’s very important part of speech – ‘articles’

There are three articles in English ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’; these articles are normally used before nouns as an adjective; in modern English grammar, these are called determiners.

Definition Of Article – According to the Collins Dictionary, “An article is a kind of determiner. In English, ‘a’ and ‘an’ are called the indefinite article; and ‘the’ is used as a definite article.”

Types Of Articles With Examples –

1. Indefinite Article – ‘A’ or ‘An’ is used to make the position of a noun, indefinite or uncertain

Examples : I bought a book. / There was a dog in my office. / She tells a lie. / I have an inkpot. / I am an English teacher.

2. Definite Article – ‘The’ is used to make the position of a noun, definite or certain.

Examples – The house in which I live is new. / This is the car which I bought yesterday. / I like the breakfast of Mumbai. / The gold of Nepal is very cheap

Note – ‘A’ Or ‘An’ is the weak form of the adjective ‘One’ and ‘The’ is the weak form of the adjective ‘This, That’.

Position Of Articles –

Structure (1) : A / An / The + Noun 

Examples –  I have a pen. / She has an umbrella. / The cow has a tail. / She is a doctor. / I am a player. 

Structure (2) : A / An / The + Adjective + Noun

Examples – She is a brave girl. / I am a tall man. / Heha has an English speaking book. / They have the best players. / I have the biggest home.

Structure (3) : A / An / The / Adverb + Adjective + Noun

Examples – She is a very intelligent girl. / He is the very best player. / She has a very nice dress. / The very tallest man is here.

Structure (4) : Such / What / Many / Rather / Half + A / An + Noun

Examples – Such a girl / What a fool / Many a student / Rather an idea / Half an hour / Half a kilo / Many a book / Many books.

Note – With plural nouns, we don’t use ‘a’ or ‘an’ after ‘Many’ – We can’t write like this – Many a girls. ‘Many girls’ is right.

Structure (5) : Such / What / Many / Quite / rather + A / An + Adjective + Noun

Examples – Such a beautiful woman / What a big fool / Many a good habit / Quite an unlucky woman / Rather an interesting novel (or) A rather interesting novel.

Structure (6) : All / Both / double + The + Noun

Examples – All the girls / Both the boys / Double the amount

Structure (7) :  All / Both / Double / Exactly / Just + The + Adjective + Noun

Examples – All the famous writers / Both the intelligent girls / Double the right amount / Exactly the wrong colour / Just the right amount

Structure (8) : How / So / Too / As + Adjective + A / An + Noun
Examples – How handsome a boy is he? / How handsome a boy he is! / My brother is too dull a student./ It is so fine a day. / I am as experienced an English teacher.

Learn Some More Uses Of A / An –

If the first letter or sound of a word is a vowel; ‘an’ will be used before that word; If consonant, ‘a’ is used before it.

Examples – an umbrella, an English teacher, a book, a pen, a university, an hour, an Xmas tree, a union, a European, a uniform, an inkpot etc.

Rule (1) : A / An is used in some special English phrases. 

Examples –  A team of, A gang of, A group of, An army of, A fleet of, A galaxy of, A flock of, A pair of, A crowd of, A band of, A herd of, An assembly of, etc.

Rule (2) : ‘A’ is used for number and quantity expressing words. 

Examples – A lot of, A great number of, A great many of, A great deal of, A number of, A large number of, A good many of, A good deal of, etc.

Rule (3) : ‘A / An’ is used for the weak form of ‘One’ 

Examples – Radha has a cow. / I have an apple. / A girl is my friend. etc.

Rule (4) : ‘A / An’ is used in the sense of Any, Each / Every or per. 

Examples – There was a teacher at school. / Radha did not give me an umbrella. / She comes to my house once a week. / I earn Rs 20000 / – a month. / She walks five kilometres an hour.

Rule (5) : A / An + adjective + and + adjective + Noun + Singular Verb

Examples – A black and white cat is sitting at the door. / An honest and intelligent teacher taught me. / I have a red and black shirt. / A tall and beautiful girl came here two days ago.

Rule (6) : A / An + adjective + and + a / an + adjective + Noun + Plural VerbExamples – A black and a white can are sitting here. / An honest and an intelligent girl are my friend. / I like a red and a black shirt.

Use Of Definite Article (The) :

Rule (1) : Article ‘The’ is used before the name of a series of mountains.

Examples – The Himalayas, The Alps, The Vindhyas, The Eastern ghats.

Note – We don’t use article ‘The’ before the name of a peaks of mountain;

Examples – Mount Everest, Mount Abu, Nanda Devi, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Mount fuji, Mount olympus.

Rule (2) : ‘The’ is used before the name of rivers. Examples – The Ganga (The Ganges), The Kango, The Amazon, The Misisipi, The Indus, The Irabdi, The Krishana, The Kaveri, The Yamuna. etc.

Rule (3) : ‘The’ is used before the name of sea, oceans and bay/gulf.

Examples – The Pacific ocean, The Indian ocean, The Atlantic ocean, The Arctic ocean, The Antarctic ocean. (The Name Of Oceans)

The Red Sea, The Dead sea, The Arabian sea, The Black sea, The Azob sea, The Caspian sea (The Name Of Sea)

The Bay of Bengal, The Bay of Biscay, The Gulf of Mexico, The Gulf of Guyana, The Bay of Martavan, The Bay of China, The Persian Gulf ( The Name Of Bay/Gulf)

Rule (4) : ‘The’ is used before the name of a group of islands, canals, aeroplanes, ships, trains, Nationality expressing words, religious books, directions, desert, religious community, unique things, government branches, etc.

Examples – Group of Islands : The Andamans, The Nicobars, The Philippines, The West Indies, The East Indies

Canals : The Suez canal, The Sharda canal, The Albert canal, The erie canal, The Panama Canal, etc.

Aeroplanes : The Makalu, The Kashmir Princess, The Meghdoot, The Air India etc.

Ships : The Victoria, The Vikrant, The Queen Marry, The Torry Canyon. 

Trains : The Rajadhani Express, The Punjab Mail, The Shramjeevi Express, The Toofan Express, The Pawan Express, The Vikramshila Express etc.

Nationality expressing words : The Asians, The Italians, The Japanese, The French, The Pakistani, The Indians, The Russians, The Chinese, The Americans, The English, etc.

Religious Books : The Gita, The Ramayana, The Bible, The Mahabharata, The Koran, etc.

Directions : The east, The west, The north, The south, The south-east, The north-west, The upward, etc.

Desert : The Sahara desert, The Thar desert, The Somali desert, The Mozab desert, etc.

Religious Community : The Hindus, The Muslims, The Sikhs, The Christians, etc.

Unique Things : The sun, The moon, The earth, The stars, The world, The universe, The air, The wind, The smoke, The town, The rain, The country, The ocean, The fog, etc.
Government Branches : The Judiciary, The Legislature, The Air Force, The Army, The Navy, The Police, etc.