The Articles

Demonstrative adjectives ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are called ‘Articles’.

‘A’ and ‘an’ are called ‘Indefinite Articles’ as it does not indicate any definite or particular thing.

But ‘the’ is called ‘Indefinite Article’ as it indicates a definite or particular thing.

There must be an article before common nouns in the singular number.

Examples:

* I have a cycle or I have the cycle.
* I bought a book or I bought the book.

‘A’ is used before:

* A consonant

* Such vowels as have the sound of ‘yu’ e.g. a unit, a university, a European etc.

* collective words e.g. a dozen

* Plural nouns with “few”, “great many” and “good many” e.g. ‘a few days’, ‘a great many mangos’, ‘a good many mosques’ etc.

‘An’ is used before:

* Vowels e.g. ‘an article’, ‘an egg’, ‘an Indian’, ‘an order’ etc.

* Consonants have a vowel sound e.g. ‘an hour’, ‘an honourable’, ‘an M.A.’ etc.

‘The’ is used before:

* The names of oceans, seas, bays, gulfs, rivers e.g. ‘the Pacific’, ‘the Baltic’, ‘the Bay of Bengal’, ‘the Persian Gulf’, ‘the Ganges’ etc.

* The names of groups of islands e.g. ‘the Andaman islands’, ‘the West Indies’, etc.

* The name of mountains e.g. ‘the Himalayas’, ‘the Alps’ etc.

* Descriptive names of countries e.g. ‘the United States’, ‘the Punjab’, ‘the Netherlands’ etc.

* Compound geographical names e.g. ‘the Land’s End’

* The names of ships e.g. ‘the Titanic’

* The name of newspapers e.g. ‘the Hindu’, ‘the Statesman’ etc.

* The date of the month e.g. ‘the 15th August’, ‘the 26th January’ etc.