Articles!

Peter Guy English

Excellence in English

a, an and
the, these are called articles.

Three of the smallest and most important words in English are

The key to understanding how to use articles needs a good understanding of the
following:

1/ NOUN- the name of someone or something, e.g. chair ; ADJECTIVE-something that describes a noun
e.g. red chair.

Look at these examples, the articles are in bold, what parts of speech do the articles
come immediately in front of?
a) She is an English student.
.
b) I would love an apple.
.
c) We are going to have an evening (night) out.
.
d) This is a big chair, the chair is expensive.
/
.
e) She bought a new evening dress, the evening dress is yellow.

You are now to write a rule about what types of words to use an article with:

2/ In English we have SINGULAR, (one thing e.g. He has a pen/ I have an ice cream) and PLURAL, (two
or more things e.g. he has six pens/ I want to buy four ice creams)...singular/plural are called numbers
In relation to singular/ plural, what is the pattern of use for articles in the following examples?
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

She is an English student.

.
I would love an apple.
.
We are going to have an evening (night) out.
.
This is a big chair, the chair is expensive.
.
She bought a new evening dress, the evening dress is yellow.

You are now to write a rule about when to use an article in relation to singular/plural:

Peter Guy English

Excellence in English

3/ VOWELS
letters-

and CONSONANTS. Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, u; consonants are all the other

b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z..

Now, look for the pattern in the following examples as to when the articles are used
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

She is an English student.

.
I would love an apple.
.
We are going to have an evening (night) out.
This is a big chair, the chair is expensive.
She bought a new dress, the evening dress is yellow.

.
/

You are now to write a rule about when to use an article in relation to singular/plural:

4/ About

the. Look at the following, when is the only used?

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

She has a new car, the car is a QQ.

A new restaurant opened next door, the restaurant is Italian.
I went to an English lesson last week; the English teachers name is Peter Guy.
I love eating Chinese food; the best Chinese restaurants are in Tian he.
We went to a new movie, the movie was great.

You are now to write a rule about when to use the article the:

RULES:
1/ You MUST use an article in front of any word that is a noun (NOT peoples or place names such as
countries, cities and so on), adjective or participle.
2/ Articles can ONLY be used in the singular NOT plural.
3/ a is used only in front of words starting with a consonant; an in front of words starting with
vowels; the in front of a word starting with a consonant or a vowel.
4/ The article the can only be used if the subject it refers to has been mentioned/written about before
, normally following a or an but this is not always so; use a or an the first time you write or
talk about something, then use the every other time you refer to the item.