Articles

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Articles

Let's see how much we know already. 

How many articles are in the following sentences?

The brown dog is lying on the floor in the corner of the room. It has a red collar and is eating a steak. It has a ripped-up toy laying next to it. 

The answer

The brown dog is lying on the floor in the corner of the room. It has a red collar and is eating a steak. It has a ripped-up toy laying next to it. 

That means the sentence has 6 articles in it.

So what do you think an article is???

Articles

Articles are placed before a noun. In English we know two types of articles: THE and A or AN 

Examples: 

The book is on this shelf is mine.

I’d rather eat a pear than an apple.

the

We use 'the' when the listener knows what we are talking about, because we said it before.

'My aunt and uncle got a puppy. The puppy is so cute.'

We use 'the' when there is only one of that thing that matters.

'I went to the Pyramids of Egypt.'

a/an

We use a/an when something is new, unknown or introduced to the listener.

'My aunt and uncle got a puppy. The puppy is so cute.'

We use a/an when we don't care which one exactly or when we're talking about something in general.

'I started reading a good book yesterday.'

The articles a/an

 A is put before: the consonants.

a pet               a teacher           a bycicle

a car                  a door               a room

 

The articles a/an

An is used for a noun starting with: the vowels

an ear            an investigation         an officer

an apple            an Englishman          an answer

 

ATTENTION!

So, the choice of a or an is not what you read on paper, but the sound you hear.

Sometimes you see a noun starting with -h.  However, you do not hear it! Then you put the article AN before it:  AN hour, you do not hear the -h.

 

More examples

an hour  (you hear our)

an honour (you hear onour)

a university (you hear juniversity)

a uniform (you hear juniform)

a European (you hear jeuropean)

a of an?
..... dog

1. a
2. an

a of an?
..... banana

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... artwork

1. a
2. an

a of an?
..... house

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... apple

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... uniform

1. a
2. an

A

AN

table

house

egg

chicken

island

phone

orange

a of an?
.... ear

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... hero

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... plant

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... commercial

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... hour

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... game

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... university

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... avatar

1. a
2. an

a of an?
.... FM-radio channel

1. a
2. an