Grade II and III Topic ARTICLES A, An, The --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Articles in English come under a special category. They are special in a sense of their proper use in writing or speaking. Most important point about articles is that they are used only with nouns to denote 'any one' or 'particular one'. We can master the use of articles by practice. There are certain situations where they are used with discrimination but that is the part of usage. First let us understand their use in general sense and then go ahead with its further part. There are three articles in English namely ‘a, an and the’ which define noun. Articles are used only with a singular noun. Articles a and an both mean ‘one’ or ‘any one’ so they are called Indefinite articles. Article ‘the’ means ‘this one’ or ‘that one’ or ‘a particular one’ so ‘the’ is a Definite article. INDEFINITE ARTICLES The use of Indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ is as follows - 1. A singular noun beginning with a consonant sound takes article ‘a’. e.g. bridge, character, fountain, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Science, European, union, Non-Resident-Indian, university, .... 2. A singular noun beginning with a vowel sound takes article ‘an’. e.g. administrator, interview, M.A., N-R-I, M.L.A., hour, intruder, Honorary Magistrate, umpire, undertaker….. Let’s see some examples which will prove the rules we have just studied. 1. A police was instructed to register an FIR by his senior officer. 2. A new company has given an amazing offer to first five customers. 3. An antibiotic will heal a wound only when your diabetes is in control. Definite Article The meaning of the definite 'the' is 'a particular one' or 'this/that one' The use of Definite article ‘the’ is as follows - Any singular and particular noun takes Definite article ‘the’ irrespective of the beginning of the sound. When the speaker mentions about a particular singular noun, it takes definite article ‘the’. e.g. Xerox, graduate, administrator, eagle, situation, theory, corporation, government, medicine, purpose…… Some special uses of Definite Article ‘the’ Definite Article ‘the’ with *names of only things in the universe ___ Sun, Moon, universe, Mars, solar system, wind, rain, sky etc… *names of only things in the world _ Taj Mahal, Bibi-ka-Makbara, White House, Red Fort, Jaipur Palace, China wall... *plural noun with a defining phrase ___ students of our school, buses of National school, fruits of this tree.. *names of river/plane/mountain/sea ___ Alps, Pacific, Krishna, Yamuna, Congo, Masai Plane … *with part of the day ___ morning, afternoon, evening *superlative form of an adjective ___ most attractive, brightest, most famous , most difficult, brightest … *the ordinal numbers ___ first, twenty seventh, thirty first… *adjective used as noun and category ___ rich, poor, fabulous, unbelievable… *name representing class/category ___horse, camel,cow, butcher, Eskimos…. *names of group states ___ USSR, USA, UK, UAE … *names of historical events ___ French Revolution, Second World War *names of religious aspects/ ___ Bible, Mahabharat, Vedas *newspapers/magazines ___Time, Indian Express… *In phrases like ___ all of the, any of the, one of the, three of the, the Church, The Army, the Crown, The New Year, The Royal Hall, The Govt.of Bihar,etc. EXERCISE 1 1. As we know “Reading is fun”, read the story and provide suitable articles. There was …. little boy who just celebrated his birthday. His parents bought him … puppy as his birthday present. ...... puppy had very long ears. One evening, he was playing with his puppy. The puppy was happily jumping about and wagging his tail. Then ….. little boy tried to tie the puppy’s ears into ….. knot. The puppy stopped wagging his tail. …… little boy then tried to tie ….. puppy’s ears into a bow. The boy chuckled but the puppy became quiet. “Can you throw your ears over your shoulders like ….. regimental soldier?" asked the boy. The puppy put his head on the ground and whimpered. ….. little boy laughed and hugged the puppy. …… puppy wagged his tail happily. EXERCISE 2 1. Can you open ___door, please? ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. ___car has changed __lot since its invention. ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. His father is _____MLA and mother is________ Chartered Accountant. ___________________________________________________________________________ 4. She has got ___book you wanted. ___________________________________________________________________________ 5. It saw ______most terrifying dream I have ever seen. ___________________________________________________________________________ 6. Have you ever seen such ___beautiful painting? ___________________________________________________________________________ 7. Ash was only one who always got ___best grades. ___________________________________________________________________________ 8. Would you like one of ___cakes? ___________________________________________________________________________ 9. Patrick only talks about himself all ___time. 10. Diya can't stop talking about ___pains she takes to maintain her rank. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 11. If ___road is blocked, perhaps we should cancel ___plan. __________________________________________________________________________ 12. it’s one of ___films about ___end of ___world. ___________________________________________________________________________ 13. What is ___noise about? It sounds like ___person outside. ___________________________________________________________________________ 14. Sheena has __ terrible headache since she got up in ___morning. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 15. Jeremy's feet are hurting her, she should wear ___special shoes. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 16. Carolina Marin is of _______Spanish origin. ___________________________________________________________________________ 17. None of ___guests were wearing fancy dress for _____ farewell party. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 18. Gabriel is ___engineer but his father is _____businessman. ___________________________________________________________________________ 19. One autumn evening, __man and ___woman were walking along _____dusty road. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 20. Not ___sound was heard in ___corridor all day long. ___________________________________________________________________________ 21. ___ computer robot can play ___ chess. ___________________________________________________________________________ 22. All through _____winter and _____summer, he sang his pretty songs. ___________________________________________________________________________ 23. ______Cricket is ___ interesting game. ___________________________________________________________________________ 24. You will have fish at ___lunch. ___________________________________________________________________________ 25. ___ lunch was a marvellous treat. ___________________________________________________________________________ 26.________immortal M.K. Gandhi is _____ greatest man of India. ___________________________________________________________________________ 27. ______ next to enter on the ground was Vivian Richards. ___________________________________________________________________________ 28. _______Finance Minister has raised ___ income tax percentage. ___________________________________________________________________________ 30. Whether he lies, ______ lie-detector will catch it. ___________________________________________________________________________ 31. If I were studying in _____ University, I would not have been ___ taxi driver. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 32. Fanny was asked to join__________duty on _____________last Monday. __________________________________________________________________________
