LoginArticles For beginners
In this lesson, master the use of articles "a," "an," and "the" to show specificity or generality in nouns. Clear explanations and practice exercises to help you learn.
What Are Articles?
Articles are small words that come before a noun and define it as specific or general.
English Articles
In English, there are two types of articles: 'the' is called the definite article and 'a'/'an' are called the indefinite articles.
Definite Article | Indefinite Article |
|---|---|
The | A/An |
Indefinite Articles
'A' and 'an' are called indefinite articles. They are used with singular nouns to refer to any general noun of that type.
The difference between 'a' and 'an' is that 'a' is used before a consonant sound and 'an' is used before a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u):
a | an |
|---|---|
a boy | an apple |
a woman | an owl |
a cat | an earring |
a strawberry | an idea |
a monkey | an orange |
Definite Article
'The' is a definite article. It can be used before a singular or plural noun to refer to a specific or particular noun that is known to both the speaker and the listener. Look at the examples:
I ordered a pizza and a salad. The pizza was nice but the salad was disgusting.
That is the school that Mary went to.
Mary has a dog. The dog's name is Rover.
In the second sentence, it is already clear which dog the speaker is talking about. So, the definite article is used.
Quiz:
Which articles should be used in the following sentence? "_ elephant is _ large animal."
A, an
A, the
An, a
An, the
Which article is used before a specific noun known to both the speaker and listener?
A
An
The
None of the above
Sort the words into the correct order to form a sentence.
Match each incomplete sentence with the correct ending.
Complete each sentence with the correct article.
angry man walked into the store.
I saw
cat in the garden. Later, I saw
cat again in the yard.
car I wanted to buy was too expensive.
She adopted
dog from the shelter.
We are going to visit
Eiffel Tower during our trip to Paris.
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