Uses of Articles A, An, The in English

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Basic English : Articles

TYPES OF ARTICLES

Types of Articles

Article is a part of Adjective. There are three articles in English Language. They are A, AN and THE.

There are two kinds of articles:

1. Indefinite article (A and AN)
2. Definite article (THE)

Uses of articles - A/An and The

Use "a" if the word starts with a consonant and use "an" if the word starts with a vowel.

Examples:

if word starts with a consonant use "a"

if word starts with a vowel use "an"

Mind the pronunciation of the following word.

Examples:

Use of "a" or "an"

"A/an" is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group.

Examples: Use of "a"

I would like to go see a movie.
Note: Here, we're not talking about any specific movie. There are many movies, and I want to see any movie not specific one.
My daughter wants a toy for birthday.
Note: This refers to any toy. We don't know which toy because we haven't found the toy yet.
Somebody call a policeman!
Note: This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.

Example: Use of "an"

When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!
Note: Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here.

Use of "a" or "the"

"A" is used to refer to a non-specific thing and "The" used to refer specific thing or particular member of the group.

Examples:

Use of "the"

"The" is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group.

Examples:

I just saw the most popular movie of the year.
Note: There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.

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