A and An
A or An can precede
only singular count nouns; they mean one. They can be used in a general
statement or to introduce a subject which has not been previously mentioned.
A baseball is round
general.—(means all baseballs)
I saw a boy in the
street. ---(We don’t know which boy)
An is used before words
that being with a vowel sound. A is used before worlds that being with a
consonant sound.
A book an apple
Some words can be
confusing because the spelling doesnot indicate the pronunciation.
A house
An hour
A university
An umbrella
The following words
being with a consonant sound and thus must always be preceded by a.
European, eulogy,
euphemism, eucalyptus, house,
home, heavy, half, uniform,
university, universal , union
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The following words
being with a vowel sound and thus must always be preceded by an.
Hour, heir, herbal, honor, uncle, umbrella, unnatural,
understanding
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The initial sound of the word that immediately
follows the indefinite article will determine whether it should be a or an.
An umbrella a white umbrella
An hour a whole hour
The
The is used to indicate
something that we already know about or something that is common knowledge.
The boy in the corner is my friend. (The speaker and the listener know
which boy)
The earth is round. (There is only one the earth)
With non-count nouns,
one uses the article the if speaking
in specific terms, but uses no article if speaking in general.
Sugar is sweet.
The sugar on the table
is from Cuba.
Normally, plural count
nouns when they mean everything within a certain class, are not preceded by
the.
Oranges are green until
they ripen
Athletes should follow
a well-balanced diet
Normally a proper noun
is not preceded by an article unless there are several people or things with
the same name and the speaker is specifying one of therm.
There are three Susan
parkers in the telephone directory.
The Susan parker that I
know lives on First Avenue.
Normally words such as breakfast,
lunch, dinner, school, church, home, college) and work do not use any article
unless to restrict the meaning.
We ate breakfast at
eight o’clock this morning
We went to school
yesterday
Use the following
generalizations as a guide for the use of the article the
Use the with
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Don’t use the with
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Oceans, rivers, sea, gulfs, plural lakes.
The Red Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Persian Gulf,
the Great Lakes
Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, the Andes
Earth, Moon
The earth, the moon
Schools, colleges, universities when the phrase
beings with school etc.
The university of Florida, the College of Arts and
Science
Ordinal numbers before nouns
The First World War, the third chapter
War ( except world war)
The Crimean War, the Korean War
Certain countries or groups of countries with more than one word ( except
Great Britain)
The United States, the United Kingdom, the Central
African Republic.
Historical documents
The Constitution, the Magna Carta
Ethnic groups
The Indians, the Aztecs
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Singular lakes
Lake Geneva, Lake Erie
Mounts
Mount Vesuvius, Mount McKinley
Planets, constellations
Venus, Mars, Earth, Orion
Schools, colleges, universities when the phrase
begins with a proper noun
Santa Fe Community College, Cooper’s Art School,
Stetson University
Cardinal numbers after nouns
World war one, chapter three
Countries preceded by New or an adjective such as
a direction New Zealand, South Africa, North Korea
Countries with only one word
France, Sweden, Venezuela
Continents
Europe, Africa,
South America
States
Florida, Ohio, California
Sports
Baseball, basketball
Abstract nouns
Freedom, happiness
General areas of subject matter
Mathematics, sociology
Holidays
Christmas, thanks giving
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