Articles a/an/the

The articles are a part of the word group called the determiners
use a before nouns beginning with consonant sounds
use an before nouns beginning with vowel sounds.
Don't use an indefinite article directly before an uncountable noun.
Be careful with your articles. One small change can change the whole meaning!

I am not in a mood.
I am not in the mood.
The/the a/an Yes, that's right. I have written the twice. In a way there are two of each. The two 'the's both happen to be spelt the same. But listen and you will hear that they are not pronounced the same way. They work just like a and an in that they harmonise or connect with the next sound in the sentence. Just as we use a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound, we use Mother/tree before vowel sounds and /MOTHER/COMpuTER before consonant sounds.
  1. please pass the milk. CORRECT
  2. I am going to jump into the water. CORRECT

The indefinite article

A needle in a haystack

  1. If the following word starts with a consonant sound then a is used as the determiner...
Computer
  1. a hundred
  2. a thousand
  3. a dozen
  4. There were three men and a woman.

An activity an hour

Catnose
  1. an easy question
  2. an interesting story
  3. an orange
  4. an honour

The definite article

The Mother/tree apples the /MOTHER/COMpuTER bananas

The is pronounced in two ways according to the sound which immediately follows

  1. If the following word starts with a consonant then The is pronounced like this...
    /MOTHER/COMpuTER
    Sound
    or like this... Sound
  2. If the following word starts with a vowel then The is pronounced like this...
    /MOTHER /trEE
    Sound

practice

Read the animal names but use the definite article 'The' before each animal. Does the animal name begin with a vowel sound or a consonant sound

Some common forms with the definite article

  1. Most + (noun)
  2. The + most + (long adjective)
  3. That + noun + (zero article)