Articles and where to use them

Article and where to use them

Articles and where to use them

Articles: 

Let’s read this story at first and notice the bold words. 

                      An Ideal Farm 

It is less than an hour away from Dhaka. It's on the way to Chandra from EPZ at Savar. It is a place that stands in sharp contrast to our dusty, noisy and crowded capital. The eye soothing greenery of the farmhouse ‘kalpana’ on 30-acrs of land is a place of absolute calm. Here butterflies fly among the flowers while grasshoppers' hovers grass and rice fields. White clouds floats above the head and birds glide gracefully in the sky increasing the quietness of the farmhouse. But there is more to this farm than just being an oasis of quietness. The farm uses a new technique that exclude the uses of any kind of chemical.  

 

An article is a word that is used before a noun to show whether the noun refers to something specific or not. A, an and the are articles.  

Example:  

I need a chair. 

In the sentence above we find the article ‘a’. It shows us that the speaker does not need a specific chair. He can have any chair.  

Can I have an apple, please? 

In the sentence above we can find that is the article ‘an’. It shows us that the speaker doesn’t want any specific apple. He can have any apple.  

I want the apple on the books.  

In the sentence above we find the article ‘the’. It shows that the speaker wants a specific apple.  

You know that in English there are two kinds of articles. Now, let’s have a clear idea about them.  

1/ The definite article.  

For example: The box is small. The definite article tells us that the noun is specific. By using a definite article, the speaker talks about a particular thing or a known thing. The definite article in English is ‘the’. Example: 

The car my father brought broke down.  

He has a son and a daughter. The daughter is a doctor.  

The actors were really good.  

I remember the day I first met you.  

The can be used with both singular and plural nouns.  

Example: 

The pen she gave me was very beautiful.  

The flowers on the table are nice.  

2/ The indefinite Article: 

For example: 

I need a box. 

The indefinite article tells us that the noun is not specific. The speaker talks about any one of that type of thing. 

The indefinite articles in English are ‘a’ and ‘an’. 

Example: 

I need a pen.  

(The speaker doesn’t tell us which pen he/she needs. He/ she just needs a pen or any pen) 

Liza wants to see a movie.  

(The speaker doesn’t tell us which movie Liza wants to see. She wants to see any movie. ) 

Mr. Alam has a car.  

(The speaker doesn’t tell us which car Mr. Alam has. He has a car, unspecific-no details are given.) 

She is a dancer. 

(She dances professionally) 

Now, find out the difference uses of a and an. ‘A’ and ‘an’ have the same meaning. We use ‘a’ before a consonant sound but ‘an’ before a vowel sound.  

Now compare: 

A dog an apple 

A building an umbrella 

A country an eye 

A professor an hour 

A university an orange.  

We use ‘a’ and ‘an’ only before a singular noun. We cannot use ‘a’ and ‘an’ before a plural noun.  

Example: 

Correct: a car. 

Incorrect: a cars 

Correct: an orange. 

Incorrect: an orange.  

More examples of Articles:  

1. Examples of sentences with a/an and the.  

The live in a big house 

2. We can use a/an with a singular noun: 

I bought a book.  

3. We can use the with singular and plural nouns. 

I put the ticket in my pocket. 

I paid for the ticket in cash. 

4. We often use an objective after an/a or the before a noun: 

I bought a cheap ticket.  

The cheap tickets are sold out.  

Other uses of articles: 

1. We use a/an to talk about something for the first time.  

E.g., I saw Abik yesterday. He was wearing a T-shirt.  

2. We use the with a singular noun to talk about something we have already mentioned. Here, the speaker gives more information about something. Eg. Abik was wearing a new T-shirt. The T-shirt had new stripes.  

3. We use a/an to talk about one thing or person when there are many and we are not specifying which one. We are not interested in which one or we don’t know which one.  

E.g., I bought this dress in a shop last week. (The dress is important, not the  shop) 

4. We use the when we are specifying which thing or person we are talking about.  

E.g., I bought this dress from the shop next to the library. (Which shop? The shop next to the library. 

5. We use the if it is clear what we are talking about and there are no other possibilities:  

e.g., the players are coming onto the field. (=the players of this match and the court for this match.)  

We use an/a for a type of job: 

My brother is a doctor.  

We use the for a specific job or job title that only one person has: 

His father is the managing Director of this company.  

 

Some examples of a/an, the and no article: 

That's a nice song 

I like the music in that film. 

I like listening to music. (Music is general, so no article) 

We can only use a/an with a countable noun. A countable noun can have a plural form and may describe something that exists in separate, individual form: 

 she has very beautiful doll. (Doll is a countable noun) 

She has a few dolls. (‘dolls’ is the plural form of doll) 

We cannot use a/an with an uncountable noun. An uncountable noun has no plural form and describes something that doesn’t exist in individual examples that can be ‘counted’ e.g., music, education, poetics, food, water, weather, work, meat, rice, bread.  

I listened to music a lot. (wrong) 

(It is not possible to talk about different music) 

We can use the with singular and plural countable noun: 

The teacher arrived and spoke to the students. 

We can use the with uncountable nouns: 

The food was good and I really liked the curry.  

More uses of Article: 

We use the with plural nouns to talk about specific things of people: 

I like the vegetables in this dish. (These particular vegetables) 

I like the students. (Students of my class) 

We don’t use an article before a plural noun when we are talking about both things or people in general.  

You children often like vegetables. (Young children in general and vegetables in general)  

We use the with an uncountable noun to talk about a particular type or example of something: 

I put the books into my bag. (Particular books) 

We don’t use an article with an uncountable noun where we are talking about something in general.  

Books play an important role in our life. (Books in general and life in general) 

We don’t use the with:  

• The names of most countries (except the USA and the UK) 

She comes from India and she lives in the USA. 

Note: For Names of countries having various parts, we use ‘the’. E.g. the USA, the UK. 

• The names of continents or language: 

She comes from Australia (not from the Australia)  

Do you speak Bangla? 

• Types of music, but we can use the with musical instruments: 

He likes classical music. (Not the classical music) 

He plays the guitar in a band.  

• Meals, subjects for study, sports and games: 

What did you have for the breakfast? (Not the breakfast) 

She is very good at math. (Not the math's) 

I don’t know how to play chess. (Not the chess)