Impact-e English Training

Lesson Five Grammar Explanation

Articles:

Articles (a / an / the) introduce or point out nouns. They are similar to adjectives because they describe the nouns they introduce.

"The" is the definite article and we use it with singular and plural nouns. It is always for a particular noun and can not stand alone, but must be in front of either the noun or the word "one/ones".

"A" and "an" are indefinite articles. We use "a" in front of a word beginning with a consonant (b, c, d, etc.) and "an" in front of a word beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u). There are some exceptions. With words that start with a silent "h", such as "hour", we use "an". With words that start with a hard "u" (pronounced like "yu"), such as university or European, we use "a".

a	an
a company	an international company
a large agency	an advertising agency
Exceptions:
a university	an hour
a European company

In English we use "a" and "an" only with nonspecific, single nouns which can be counted. (It is not possible to use indefinite articles with plural nouns, but you can use "some", which is basically the plural of one.) We also do not use "a" and "an" in front of noncount nouns. Noncount nouns have only one form, usually singular. They are often things or ideas that are shapeless by nature and cannot be seen and counted individually, e.g. money, furniture, advice, information, etc. Click here for more information on count and noncount nouns.

Let’s try using the articles in sentences to show the differences:

A company in Seattle. - The company could be any one in Seattle.
The company I work for. - It is a specific company.
Companies in Seattle. - They could be any companies in Seattle.
The companies I represent. - These are specific companies.

We do not usually use the definite article (of course there are exceptions) for:

names, e.g. Pioneer Square, Little Joe, etc.
names of streets or buildings, e.g. Broadway, St. Paul’s Cathedral, etc.
countries, lakes and mountains, e.g. England, Lake Superior, Mount St. Helen’s, etc.

In English, special uses of the indefinite article are:

1) for professions, nationalities, religions or political parties (When they are used as nouns, of course. Be careful when using their adjectival forms.) E.g.:
- I am a teacher.
- I am an American. (Note, with adjective: I am American.)
- Marian is a Jew. (Note, with adjective: Marian is Jewish.)
- Todd is a Democrat.
2) for expressions of time, weight and measurements. E.g.:
- How many times a week do you learn English?
- These tomatoes are $1.60 a pound.
- The carpet costs $10 a square foot.

Click here to go to the grammar practice area for Lesson Five.