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Definite and indefinite articles
What is an article?
Basically, articles are either definite or indefinite. They combine to a noun to

indicate the type of reference being made by the noun.
 The definite article is the.
 The indefinite article is a / an.
The indefinite article a or an:
The article a / an is used when we don't specify the things or

people we are talking about:
 I met a friend.
 I work in a factory in New York.
 I borrowed a pencil from a passenger sitting next to me.
The indefinite article a is used before a consonant sound:
 a dog.
 a pilot
 a teacher.
 a university
NOTE:
Although 'university' starts with the vowel 'u', it is not pronounced as such. It is
pronounced as a consonant sound /ju:.niv3:.si.ti/
The indefinite article an is used before a vowel sound:
 an engineer.
 an elephant.
 an athlete
The definite article the:
It's used when the speaker talks about a specific object that both the person speaking
and the listener know.
 The car over there is fast.

 The president of the United States is giving a speech tonight.
When we speak of something or someone for the first time we use a or an, the next
time we repeat that object we use the definite article the.
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 I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
 I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.
No article:
1. Do not use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and
mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as "The United
States".
 He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.

 They live in Northern British Columbia.
 They climbed Mount Everest.
2. we do not normally use an article with plurals and uncountable nouns to talk about

things in general.:
 He writes books.
 She likes sweets.
 Do you like jazz music?
 She ate bread with butter in the morning.
Countable and uncountable nouns
Using English articles with countable and uncountable nouns may be confusing.
The can be used with uncountable nouns, or the article can be dropped entirely as

mentioned above.
1. "The two countries reached the peace after a long disastrous war"

(some specific peace treaty) or "The two countries reachedpeace after
a long disastrous war" (any peace).
2. "He drank the water" (some specific water- for example, the water his
wife brought him from the kitchen) or "He drank water." (any water)
It is unusual to use a/an for uncountable nouns. You can't say "I'd like a milk"
a/an can be used only with countable nouns.
1. I'd like a piece of cake.

2. I lent him a book.
3. I drank a cup of tea.
2
Choose the correct definite or indefinite article: "the", "a", "an" or
"x" (zero article) and justify your answer.
1. I bought ________pair of shoes.
2. I saw ________ movie last night.
3. They are staying at ________ hotel.
4. Look at ________ woman over there! She is a famous actress.
5. I do not like ________ basketball.
6. That is ________ girl I told you about.
7. ________ night is quiet. Let's take a walk!
8. ________ price of gas keeps rising.
9. John travelled to ________ Mexico.
10. Juan is ________ Spanish.
11. I read ________ amazing story yesterday.
12. My brother does not eat ________ chicken.
13. ________ love is such ________ beautiful thing.
14. I live in ________ apartment. ________ apartment is new.
15. I would like ________ piece of cake.
16. I was in ________ Japanese restaurant. ________ restaurant served good food.
17. Sara can play ________ guitar.
Choose the correct article: a, an, the or x (no article)

1. Are you coming to ________ party next Saturday?
2. I bought ________ new TV set yesterday.
3. I think ________ man over there is very ill. He can't stand on his feet.
4. I watched ________ video you had sent me.
5. She was wearing ________ ugly dress when she met him.
6. I am crazy about reading ________ history books.
7. She is ________ nice girl.
8. Do you want to go to ________restaurant where we first met?
9. He is ________engineer.
10. He thinks that ________love is what will save us all.
3
Multiple Choice Exercise
Choose A, AN, THE or (/) for "no article" for each blank below, then
click the "Check" button to check your answers.
Most people outside ________ United States have never heard of ________ Great

Serpent Mound in ________ Adams County, Ohio. One of ________ most mysterious
monuments in ________ America, ________ mound is ________ ancient Native
American construction built to look like ________ snake. While there
are ________ mounds built in many parts of ________Midwest and ________ South,
not many look like ________ animals. Researchers refer to this type of mound
as ________ "effigy mound".
Over 1,348 feet long, scientists agree it's ________ very impressive monument, but
there is ________ disagreement over who built ________ structure. Some people
think ________ Adena people built ________ mound; others think it
was ________ Fort Ancient culture.
Choose A, AN, THE or (/) for "no article" for each blank below.
Dear Judy,
Sorry that I didn't email you earlier to tell you about trip, but I've had ________ bunch
of things to do since we got back. We had ________ fantastic time in ________ South
Africa. Although this is ________ first time I've ever travelled to ________ foreign
country, I feel confident saying that it's one of ________ most beautiful places
on ________ planet.
We began ________ trip in ________ Cape Town as you suggested. It's

such ________ beautiful city. And I'm so glad you recommended that we
take ________ cable car up ________ Table Mountain. While we were taking
in ________ spectacular views, we met ________ man who runs ________ lodge just
outside ________ Kalahari National Park. He invited us to stay in ________ lodge for
free, so we rented ________ car and slowly drove up ________ West Coast
to ________ park and spent our time exploring ________ Kalahari Desert.
What ________ adventure!
4
Take care,
Diane

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Definite and indefinite articles

Basically, articles are either definite or indefinite. They combine to a noun to

The indefinite article a or an:

The article a / an is used when we don't specify the things or

The indefinite article a is used before a consonant sound:

The indefinite article an is used before a vowel sound:

The definite article the:

 The car over there is fast.

 He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.

2. we do not normally use an article with plurals and uncountable nouns to talk about

Countable and uncountable nouns

Using English articles with countable and uncountable nouns may be confusing.

The can be used with uncountable nouns, or the article can be dropped entirely as

1. "The two countries reached the peace after a long disastrous war"

a/an can be used only with countable nouns.

1. I'd like a piece of cake.

Choose the correct article: a, an, the or x (no article)

Most people outside ________ United States have never heard of ________ Great

We began ________ trip in ________ Cape Town as you suggested. It's

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Most people outside United States have never heard of Great

We began trip in Cape Town as you suggested. It's