Articles

Articles are used before nouns or noun equivalents and are a type of adjective. The definite article (the) is used before a noun to indicate that the identity of the noun is known to the reader. The indefinite article (a, an) is used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known

Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.

English has two articles: the and a/an. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and a/an the indefinite article.

the = definite article

a/an = indefinite article

For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book. If I say, "Let's read a book," I mean any book rather than a specific book.

Here's another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, "I just saw the most popular movie of the year." There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.

"A/an" is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group. For example, "I would like to go see a movie." Here, we're not talking about a specific movie. We're talking about any movie. There are many movies, and I want to see any movie. I don't have a specific one in mind.

Let's look at each kind of article a little more closely.

"A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example:

• "My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas." This refers to any dog. We don't know which dog because we haven't found the dog yet.
• "Somebody call a policeman!" This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.
• "When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!" Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here.

• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog
• an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot; an orphan
• 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
• a + nouns starting with a pronounced "h": a horse
  
  • In some cases where "h" is pronounced, such as "historical," you can use an. However, a is more commonly used and preferred.A historical event is worth recording.

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Pronouns are words (or phrases) you substitute for nouns when your reader or listener already knows which noun you’re referring to. For example, you might say, “I have a dog. She’s brown and white.” There’s no need to clarify that you’re describing your dog in the second sentence because you already mentioned her in the first. By using the pronoun she, you can avoid the annoying repetition of the dog.

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 Articles are small words that come before nouns. In English, the articles are the and a/an.