MTs Al-Qur’an La Raiba Hanifida.

Putri N Hidayati

ARTICLES (A/AN & THE)

Rules:
A/AN (Indefinite articles): They are used to talk about: something for the first time, a person/thing form the whole group (He is a
pianist), profession (I am a teacher), some numbers (A hundred), and imperatives (What a beautiful day!) or simply we can define A/AN is
used for singular nouns. It is not specific (we don’t know which one because it is general).

A is used when the initial sound of the word is a consonant. AN is used when the initial sound is a vowel
Example: Example:
A house A school A university A uniform An apple An Ant An hour An umbrella
……………… ……………….. ……………….. ……………….. ……………….. ……………….. ……………. ………………
……………… ……………….. ………………... ………………... ………………... ………………... ……………. ……………….

THE (Definite articles): It is used to talk about: thing which was mentioned previously (This is a book. The book is new), unique things
(The sun, the sky), nouns which have some features that differ from the rest things from this group (He is the man I love), superlative
adjectives (The best, the highest), musical instruments (The guitar), names describing the names of seas, lakes, oceans, mountains (The
Thames), surnames of the whole families (The Smiths) or simply we can say that THE is used for both singular and plural nouns and it is not
specific.

Example:
The book The chair The water …………… ……………… ……………… ……………… ……………… ………………
…………… …………… ………….. …………… ……………… ……………… ……………… ……………… ………………
Look at the sentences below and understand.
Ahmad goes to the airport in a taxi. The taxi is blue and white.
In the first sentence we use A. Why? The taxi is not specific. It is any taxi. But, in the second sentence, we are talking about one specific taxi.
Which taxi? The taxi John was talking to the airport. That is why we use THE in the second sentence.

ZERO ARTICLE is used for single uncountable nouns.

Example:
Gasoline is expensive Water is important Rice is delicious

Exercise 2: Choose the correct answer. Exercise 1: Fill in the gaps with the correct article.

1. Look! ………. Smiths are coming! 1. My cousin plays……..guitar in a school band.

a. a b. an c. the 2. We saw………….Gobi Desert last weekend.
2. She’s got………bedroom on……. first floor. 3. My aunt lives in……………United Kingdom.
a. a/the b. the/the c. an/the 4…….cheetahs are………..fastest animals.
3. They’re travelling to……United States of 5. Are you going to become…………French teacher?
America. 6. Let’s visit…….Browns on Saturday!
a. the b. a c. an 7. Look at………Sun! It’s shining very brightly!
4. Why don’t we climb………Alps? 8. She is such………….beautiful woman!
a. an b. a c. the 9. It will be…………hundred and twenty pounds.
5. She is……..woman I know very well. 10. Could you pass me……..pencil?
a. the b. a c. an
6. This is……umbrella. It’s really colorful.
Alhamdulillah, I can pass this topic and I
a. a b. an c. the
understand
7. It’s……best book I have ever read!
a. the b. a c. an
8. . ….Thames goes through England.
a. an c. a c. the
9. ……Czech Republic borders with Poland.
a. the b. an c. a
10. Is it ………… elephant?
a. An b. a c. the