The Articles
The little
words “a” “an” and “the" are called articles
The
words a, an and the belong to this group of words
called determiners.
called determiners.
The words a and an are
called indefinite articles. You
can use them with singular nouns
to talk about any
single person or thing.
A, an
These two words are called “indefinite
articles” because
they do not refer to any particular person or thing.
Read the following sentences
1. There is a police man at
the gate
2. There is a girl under the
tree
3. She is a teacher
4. I have a pen
5. He catch a ball
Read the following words
1. A boy
2. A girl
3. A tree
4. A school
5. A kite
“a” is used before consonant
sounds
1. A university
2. A union
3. A European
4. A one eyed person
5. A dog
“an” is used before vowel
sounds
An apple
An umbrella
An M.P
An Eagle
It is the sound that
matters, not the spelling.
“the”
The word “the” is called the “definite article” . it points out to some particular
person or thing
Read the following sentences
1. The doctor came
2. Under the tree
3. The men I met yesterday
“the”
is used
1.Before a noun that has already been
referred to :
Example:
1. The pen I bought
last week
2. The man I met yesterday
3. The tree we made last month
2.Before the superlative degree of an
adjective :
Example:
1. Mahaweli is longest river
in the SRILANKA
2. Everest is largest
mountain in world
3. Nail is longest river in
the SRILANKA
3.When a singular noun represents a
whole class :
Example:
1. The president is the
leader in the country
2. The lion is the king of
beasts
4.Before an adjective when the noun
is understood :
Example:
1. The rich must help the poor
5.Before proper nouns of rivers, seas
, group of islands ,news-paper, books, hotel .etc :
Example :
1. The Atlantic
2. The daily mirror
6.Before the common nouns that are
considered unique :
Example :
1. The sun
2. The moon
3. The earth
