Articles

What are articles? You must have read about articles in your previous classes. Do you remember their uses? Let's read the story below and notice the articles in italics

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-acres of land is a place of absolute calm. Here butterflies fly among the fl owers while grasshoppers hover over grass and rice fields.  White clouds fl oat 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 excludes the use of any kind of chemicals.

Now, talk about the bold words in the text with a partner. In pairs discuss the following questions:

a) What is an article?
b) What different types of articles are there in English?
c) What roles do articles play in a sentence?

Now, read the above text again and discuss in pairs the purpose and use of articles printed in bold. Then compare your answer with the following text.

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.

Look at some more examples of articles:

Examples:

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 find the article 'an'. It shows us that the speaker does not 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 us 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

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 (or known) thing. The definite article In English is the

Examples:

The car my father bought 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 before both singular and plural nouns. Examples:

The pen she gave me was very beautiful. The flowers on the table are nice.

 

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.

 

Examples:

I need a pen.

(The speaker doesn't tell us which pen s/he needs. S/he simply needs a pen, 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, let's find out the different 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.

 

Examples:
Correct: a car. [correct]

Incorrect: a cars. [incorrect]
 

Correct: an orange. [correct]
Incorrect: a oranges [incorrect]

 
 

More examples of articles

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

            They live in a big house.

They live in the big house on the corner.

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

                                                                                            

3. We can use the with singualr and plural nouns:

            I put the ticket in my pocket.

I paid for the tickets in cash.

4. We often use an adjective after a/an 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 Avik 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.

            e.g. Avik was wearing a new T- shirt. The T-shirt had red 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 a/an for a type of job:

My brother is a doctor. (not ..... is 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.

  

Exercise:

Now, let's complete this description of a birthday by putting a or the into the gaps. The first one is done for you.

 

Birthday Presents

Last week  it was my brother, Toufique's 20th birthday. In the morning the postman brought himsome cards and in the evening we took him for meal in  restaurant. When he got up in the morning, mother gave

him very big parcel. We all wondered what was in parcel and when my brother opened it, we saw that it was new laptop. My brother said that it was surprise and that he was very pleased with it. I bought him              purse and my sister gave him          book about art. When he opened      books, I could see that there was            smile on his face.

 

 

Exercise: Complete this text by putting a, an or the in the gaps
 

My Home Life

I live in               big city in                centre of Bangladesh.                  city is called

Dhaka and I live in              area that is quite close to                 park. I live in
old house in                  quiet street. I am                   student at                 renowned university, which is called Dhaka University.                university is modern one and it's          good university. My father works in                   office. He is

Sales Director of                 company that makes sports equipment. My mother is              doctor and she works at the new hospital that has just been

built outside               city. I also have              brother. He is             doctor and he works at               same hospital.

 

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

That's a nice song.

I like the music in that film.

I like listening to music.(music in 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 forms:

She has a 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 does not exist in individual examples that can be 'counted' e.g. music, education, poitics, food, water, weather, work, meat, rice, bread.

I listened to a music (wrong)

(It is not possible to talk about different 'musics.')

We can use the with singular and plural countable nouns:

The teacher arrived and spoke to the students. We can use the with uncountabe nouns:

The food was good and I really liked the curry.

More uses of articles

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

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

            I like the students. (students of my class)

 

We do not use an article before a plural noun when we are talking about both things or people in general:

Young children often don't 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 do not use an article with an uncountable noun when we are talking about something in general:

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

We do not use the with:

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

She comes from India and she lives in the US.

Note: For names of countries having various parts, we use 'the'. e.g. the USA, the UK.

•       the names of continents or languages:

She comes from Australia (not from the Australia) Do you speak Bangla? (not the Bangla)

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

He likes classical music. (not the classical music) He playstheguitar in a band.

•    meals, subjects for study, sports and games:

What did you have for brekfast? (not the breakfast) She is very good at maths (not the maths)

I don't know how to play chess. (not the chess)