Articles

                                                     

• What is an Article? Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.
• English he has two articles: THE  and a/an is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nous. We call THE the definite article and a/an the indefinite article.

                                           the = definite article.

                                          a/an = indefinite article.

                            Remember:

          Using a or an depends on the sounds that begins the next word.

• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy, a car, a bike, a zoo, a dog.
• a + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant, an egg, an apple, an idiot.
• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user ( sounds like ´yoo-zer´, i.e begins with a consonant ´´y´´ sound, so ´a´ is used); a university, a unicycle.
• an + nouns starting with silent ¨h¨: an hour.
• an + nouns starting with a pronounced ¨h¨: a horse.

Examples: - a broken egg.

                 - an unusual problem.

The definite article is used before  singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular. The signals that the noun is definite, that it refers to a particular member of a group.

For Example:

The dog that bit me ran away.  (Here, we´re talking about a specific dog, the dog that bit me)

The apple you ate was rotten.