ERRORS IN THE USE OF ARTICLES

Points To Note:


(1) Errors in the use of the English articles are very common in India. They are

difficult words to use correctly, out many errors occur because people do not

understand the purpose of the words, and the thought which they express.

There are two articles in English, the definite article(the) and the indefinite article (a

or an). (These are essentially DemonstrativeAdjectives).

(2) The purpose of the definite article (the) is to show that the speaker is thinking one

of the particular thing or one particular group of things as separate from all other

things of the same kind.


For example, the tiger which killed Mr. Stone ran away.


Of all the tigers in the world, only one tigher killed him. Therefore, we think of it as

separate from all other tigers. It is particularised.


(3) The purpose of the Indefinite Article (a or an) is to show that the speaker is

thinking of one thing of a certain kind, without troubling which particular one it is.


For example, we might begin a story by saying “A tiger sprang out of the jungle and

killed Mr. Stone.”

We being with a tiger, not the tiger, because we have not yet separated that tigher

from all others by saying what it did. But as soon as we have said what it did then we

think of that tiger as separate from all other tighers.


We might go on by saying: “Then men plural mouns, proper Nouns, names of

Materials, Meals, and colours, when used in a general sense.

But “the” is used before the names of rivers, seas, oceans and ships, ranges of

mountains, countries with plural names, names of hotels and museums and certain

buildings, names of families (in the plural).


NOTES OF ARTICLES

A, an and the are called articles. They are used as adjectives. A or an is called the

Indefinite article. It points to any person or thing. The is called the definite article. It

points to some particular person or thing.

A and an are used before nouns in the singular number only: The is used before both

singular and plural nouns.

1. A is used before a word beginning with a consonantal sound or a vowel sounded

like a consonant:

e.g. She is a girl.

It is a chair.

This is useful thing.

There is a university.

He is a European.

He is a young man.

It took a year for me to do it.

It is a ewe.

It is a unit.

There is a union.

His words are a eulogy.

He is a one-eyed man.

I have a one rupee coin.

We want a yard of cloth.

It is a unicorn.

It is a horse.

There is a hole.

2. An is used before words words beginning with a vowel sound.

E.g. an egg, an elephant, an apple, an actor, an actress, an umbrella, as ass, an ant, an

army, an Alsatian, an ulcer, an ink-bottle, an arm-chair, an ox, etc.

An is also used before words beginning with a silent h.

e.g an honourable man, An hour, an honest man, an heir, an heirloom, an M.A., an

M.D., an historical novel etc.