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There's a new hospital in the city centre. (See notes 24, 28 &29 below)
We use 'A' before a noun or adjective which begins with a consonant sound.
We use 'An' before a noun or adjective which begins with a vowel sound.
Sometimes a word begins with a consonant, but the word has a vowel sound. In this case
use 'An' (see note 4 below)
I'll see you in an hour. (pronounced /AU UH/) She's doing an MBA. (pron. /EM BEE
AY/)
Sometimes a word begins with a vowel, but the word has a consonant sound. In this case
use 'A'.
He's got a European car. (pron. /YOOR UH PEE UN/) Is there a university in Campos? (pron.
/YOO NI VER SI TEE/)
NOTE!
In some countries, the word for A/An is the same as the word for the number 1. In English we
only use '1' when we want to specify that there are not two, three or four of something.
There are certain specific cases when we must normally use an article, and other situations where
an article is not usually necessary. You should try to learn these special cases.
Use 'A' or 'An' with:
1. Professions
I'm a teacher. She's an architect.
2. Some expressions of quantity
A lot of A couple of sth.
A little A thousand
A few Three times a day
A pair of shoes. Forty miles an hour
3. Exclamations with What + countable noun
What a lovely day! What a terrible hat!
4. Use 'An' with silent consonants (see introduction above)
An honour An honest person
They have two children, a boy and a girl. The girl is six and the boy is 10.
27. Uncountable and abstract nouns (see 8 above) X Heavy industry causes X pollution.
unless defined The pollution in the city centre is worse today.
28. Places where the focus is on the activity which I went to X university to take an exam.
takes place there. (See 24 above) The kids were at X school all day.
29. Prison & hospital if a prisoner or patient She spent three months in X prison.
(See 24 above) We took her to X hospital after the accident.
30. Continents
He travelled across X Asia. Monaco is in X Europe.
31. Countries
X Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world. X Russia is the biggest.
32. Towns
X London is the capital of the UK. X Rio de Janeiro isn't the capital of Brazil.
33. Streets
I live in X Oxford street. X Park Lane is in the centre of London.
34. Lakes
X Lake Titicaca is between Bolivia and Peru. X Lake Victoria is in Africa.
35. Mountains (see 21 above)
I wanted to climb X Mount Everest. X Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the
UK
36. Possessive 's'
It's X John's book. X Brazil's economic situation.
37. All + time expression
I've been waiting all X day. We spent all X week there.
38. TV and most recording media (see 25 above)
I saw it on X TV. I've saved it on X cd-rom.
39. Airports (see 13 above)
I arrived at X JFK at 6am. What time do you get in to X Heathrow?
40. With most countable clothes and parts of the body we use a possessive adjective, not 'the'
He put on his coat and shoes. I hurt my arm playing rugby.
(after prepositions we often use 'the')'' He patted me on the back.