Tofel Article

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

The following words being with a vowel sound and thus must always be preceded by an.

Hour, heir, herbal,  honor, uncle, umbrella, unnatural, understanding

 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

Don’t use the with

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

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