Grammar & ESL: Articles—a, an, the Is the

noun general? If the noun is general, use “a” or “an.”

   A and an are indefinite articles and are used to indicate a single item. o Take a
pencil. (Take one pencil.)
o I won a hundred dollars. (I won one hundred dollars.)
   Do not use a or an with a plural noun.

o Incorrect: “They talked about a good restaurants.”

o Correct, Unspecific reference: “They talked about a good restaurant to visit.” o
Correct, Specific reference: “The talked about the good Italian restaurant on

Main Street.”

   Use a as an unspecific reference before a consonant.

o He likes to read a book. (She likes to read any book, not a specific one.)

o That was a funny story. (That was one of many funny stories.)

   Use a when the word following it starts with a consonant sound.

o a book, a hospital, a leg, a one-inch pipe, a youth

   Use an as an unspecific reference before a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u).

o an apple, an opera, an eagle, an idea, an SOS (the s here is an es sound)

   Words that begin with u or h can have either a vowel or a consonant sound.
Make

the choice based on the sound of the first word after the article, even if that word
is not the noun.

o a union, a uniform (use a when the u sounds like the y in you)

o an unbelievable event, an umbrella, a unique umbrella o an honor, an hour, an honest

person
o a hotel, a history book, a historian

o an historian, an historic event (NOTE: words like historic can take either a or an)

Is the noun specific? If the noun is specific, use “the.”

   Use the as a specific reference to a common noun or something that is one of a

kind. o Give me the book on the table. (identifies a specific book)
o The sun rose at seven o'clock. (identifies something that is one of a kind)
    Use a or an to introduce a noun the first time it is mentioned, and then the is
used afterwards whenever the noun is mentioned.

o I bought a sandwich for lunch. I shared the sandwich with my friend.

The articles a, an, and the help your readers understand whether you’re using a noun in an
indefinite (general) or definite (specific) way.

Most proper nouns do not use an article. However, some do.

 A proper noun names unique person, place, or thing (New York City, Walt Disney, The
United States of America)

o Correct: “I went to New York City.”

o Incorrect: “I went to the New York City.”

   An exception is the proper nouns with “of” as part of the name:

o the Fourth of July

o the University of Virginia
o the United States of America o the President of Mexico
o the Statue of Liberty

   Plural proper nouns use the: o the Chicago Bulls

o the Johnsons

o the Blue Ridge Mountains

   A proper noun that names a group (a collective noun) also uses the:

o the Commonwealth of Virginia o the United Arab Emirates

o theSocietyofFriends

   Some geographical features use the: o the Gobi Desert

o the Atlantic Ocean o the Pyramids

o the Amazon

   But other geographical features do not use the: o Lake Superior

o Albemarle County o Route 29

o Mount Vesuvius
GRAMMAR

DEFINITE and INDEFINITE ARTICLES: the, a, an

The English language uses articles to identify nouns. Articles act much like adjectives.
Articles clarify whether a noun is specific or general, singular or plural. An article appears
before the noun it accompanies.

There are two types of articles  Definite article: the

 Indefinite article: a, a.

General rules

 Place the article before the noun.

e.g., the house the cat a dog a book

 Place the article before the adjective when the noun is modified by an adjective. e.g., the
purple house the black cat a white dog an open book < Correct

the house purple or a dog white < Incorrect

 Do not add an article when the noun has a possessive pronoun (my, his, her, our, their) or a
demonstrative pronoun (this, that).
e.g., my house her book that house this book < Correct

the my house or the this book < Incorrect

DEFINITE ARTICLE: the

 Use the to identify specific or definite nouns: nouns that represent things, places, ideas, or

persons that can be identified specifically.

 Use the with both singular and plural definite nouns.

e.g., the house the houses the business the businesses

 Use the to identify things, places, ideas, or persons that represent a specific or definite
group or category.

e.g., The students in Professor Smith’s class should study harder. The automobile
revolutionized travel and industry.

(the automobile identifies a specific category of transportation)

INDEFINITE ARTICLE: a or an

 Use a or an to identify nouns that are not definite and not specific.
- Think of a and an as meaning any or one among many.
e.g., a book (any book) a dog (any dog) a cat (one cat) a house (one among many houses)

 Use a or an only for singular nouns.

 Do not use an article for a plural, indefinite noun.

- Think of a plural, indefinite noun as meaning all.
e.g., Students should study hard. (All students should study hard.)

When to use a and when to use an

 Choose when to use a or an according to the sound of the noun that follows it.

o Use a before consonant sounds. e.g., a book a dog

o Use a before a sounded h, a long u, and o with the sound of w. e.g., a hat a house a union a
uniform a one-hour appointment

o Use an before vowel sounds (except long u).

e.g., an asset an essay an index an onion an umbrella

o Use an when h is not sounded. e.g., an honor an hour

NOTE: Computerized grammar checkers do not indicate missing or misused articles.

Therefore, you cannot depend on a computer grammar checker to alert you to missing or
misused articles.