Articles

MINISTRY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN TASHKENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES UNIVERSITY KARSHI BRANCH Articles Articles: aanthe Using Articles What is an article? Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns. English has two articles: the and aan. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; aan is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and aan the indefinite article. the = definite article aan = indefinite article For example, if I say, Let's read the book, I mean a specific book. If I say, Let's read a book, I mean any book rather than a specific book. Here's another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, I just saw the most popular movie of the year. There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the. Aan is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group. For example, I would like to go see a movie. Here, we're not talking about a specific movie. We're talking about any movie. There are many movies, and I want to see any movie. I don't have a specific one in mind. Normally, we use aan to refer to something for the first time. For example, We went to a museum in Paris. We ate at the museum too. Indefinite Articles: a and an A and an signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example: My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas. This refers to any dog. We don't know which dog because we haven't found the dog yet. Somebody call a policeman! This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available. When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant! Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here. Remember, using a or an depends on the sound that begins the next word. So a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant; an ...