Articles | Dipak Rai

English Articles (Basic to Advanced Level)

The adjectives A or An and The are generally called articles. They are mostly used as determiners. More importantly, articles are words that define, modify, indicate or determine whether the noun or thing in a sentence is specific/precise/particular or non-specific/general.

I saw a man yesterday. (Any boy)
The tall boy is reading a book. (Specific boy)

Types of Articles

Indefinite Articles (a/an)

A and An are indefinite articles that define, modify, indicate or determine noun or thing in a sentence is non-specific or general. They indicate any non-specified member of a group or category. For instances:

A boy (any boy)
A university (any university)
An apple (any apple)
An elephant (any elephant)

Definite Article (the)

‘The’ is the definite article that defines, modifies, indicates or determines noun or thing in a sentence is specific or particular. It always appears before singular or plural noun(s) or noun phrase(s). For instances:

The tall boy is laughing. (Particular person)
The student who is here is my friend. (Specific student)
The men are laughing. (Particular group or category of people)
The students who are here are my friends. (Particular group or category of students)

Use of Indefinite Articles (a/an)

The choice between 'a' or 'an' is determined by sound, but not the letter. The article 'a' is used before a singular countable noun that begins with a consonant sound whereas the article 'an' is used before a singular countable noun that starts with a vowel sound.

For example: a girl a university a year an engineer an M.Ed. teacher

Examples

A European man bought a ewe (female sheep).
He saw an M.Ed. teacher who was helping a one-eyed man in the city.
He had a European friend who met with a B.Ed. student of our campus yesterday.

Use of Definite Article (the)

We use define article before superlative degrees of the adjective.

Mt. Everest in the tallest mountain in the world.
She is the most beautiful lady.

Before the names of musical instruments.

I play the guitar.

Before the names of ordinal numbers written in letters.

The first, the second, the third, etc.

Before the names of professions, posts, and titles.

The teacher, the editor, the poet, the author, the Bar, the Beach, etc.

Before the names of newspapers, magazines.

The Rising Nepal, The Kathmandu Post, etc.

Before the names of holy and great or holy books.

The Bible, The Mahabharat, The Kuran, etc.

Before the names of historical places/buildings etc.

The Gorkha Durbar, the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the Taj Mahal.

Before the names of some planets or heavenly bodies.

The sun, the moon, the sky, the stars, etc.

With names of gulfs, rivers, seas, oceans, groups of islands, and mountain ranges.

The Persian Gulf The Himalayas, etc.
The Ganges is a sacred river.
The Red Sea
The Indian Ocean
The Alps London is situated on the river Thames.

Before plural nouns of countries.

The USA, The UK, The Netherlands, etc.

Before the names of ranges, gulfs, seas and oceans group of islands

The Himalayans, the Alps, the West Indies, the East Indies, the Netherlands, The USA, the UK, the Maldives, The Philippines, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Bengal, the Pacific Ocean, etc.