The Articles- A, An, The.

 Articles:

There are three articles- A,An, The.

"Articles are actually demonstrative adjectives and are used to point out nouns".

Use of 'A' / 'An' :-

• Both 'A' and 'An' are used before countables in the singular number. Examples- a bag, a car, an egg, an ant. These words are all countables in singular number.
• 'A' & 'An' are not used before uncountable nouns. Examples- Give me a milk (X, it's wrong); she has an intelligence (X, it's wrong).
  
  It is clear that we can not say a milk, an intelligence as these are non countables. Simillarly we can not say an oranges, an apes, a chairs. As oranges, apes and chairs are countables but in plural number.

• We use 'A' before words beginning with a consonant sound: a cat, a table, a song. We use 'An' before a  countable beginning with a vowel sound: an ice cream, an eel, an owl.

         Note that we have not said words beginning with a consonant sound or a vowel sound. So if               a word begins with a vowel but not a vowel sound, we use 'a' before it.

         Some other such words beginning with a vowel but taking 'a' with them are: university, unit,                   useful(thing), utensils, ewe, etc.

• If some words begin with an unsounded 'h', they also take 'an' with them. 
  For ex- an honest man, an honourable person.
  Some other words of this type are - heir, heiress, hour, honourable(members)
• In abbreviations, if consonants begin with a vowel sound, they take 'an' with them:
  an M.A.         an M.P.
  a Ph.D           a B.A
• Note the use of 'A' in the following phrases
  1) To be in a hurry.                  2) a nuisance
  3) In a loud voice                    4) a pity
  5) a bad cold                           6) in a low voice
  7) a pleasure                           8) a shame
  9) to have a headache
  
  Some examples:
  1) Lister made an excellent discovery.
  2) What a nuisance.
  3) Our train is late by an hour.
  4) We have formed a union.
  5) It is a user friendly computer.

          Use of 'The':-

•  It is used before any noun,we want to make it particular: ex- Give me the book lying on the table (not any book but the book lying on the table), Let's walk towards the front gate (not any gate but the front gate).
• It is used with superlatives. Ex- the most handsome man; the tallest girl.
• It is used with such words as 'first', 'next', 'only', 'same', 'following', 'previous'. Ex- the last seat, the only daughter, the next house. But 'the' is not used with such expressions as: Last night/week/month/year/next week.Ex- Where did you go last night? ; will you go there next week?
• It is used with common noun when it represents the whole class. Ex- The dog is a faithful animal, The elephant has a remarkable memory.
• It is used with nouns as 'earth', 'moon', 'sun', 'sky', etc. (These are only ones of their kind but not proper nouns). Ex- The earth revolves around the sun.
• It is used with the names of - 
                                river: the Ganga , the Yamuna
                                seas & oceans: the Pacific Ocean,the Arabian Sea
                                the holy books: the Bible, the Mahabharata
                                train,ships & aeroplane: the Rajdhani Express, the Kanishka 
                                newspapers: the Indian Express, the Hindu
                                monuments: the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower
                                the directions: the north, the east etc
                                countries if the name contains a common name: The United States of
                                                     America, The United Kingdom
                                the whole families: the Jains, the Sharmas  
• It is used in such combinations as: 
                 1) to speak the truth.
                 2) on the one hand.
                 3) in the morning
                 4) to play the violin etc.
• Note the use of 'the' in the following-
                 1) The rich should help the poor
                 2) The more we get the more we desire.
                 3) Cloth is sold by the metre.
                 4) We can buy bananas by the dozen.
  

          The Omission of 'the':-

     

India is a great country.

         

Beauty is admired.

Gold is a precious metal.

• Normally 'the' is not used with proper noun, abstract noun and material noun but when these are used as particular ones, we have to use 'the' with them.
               1) The beauty of Padmini is famous all over the World.
               2) The India of the 21st Century is going to be a superpower.
               3) The gold we have purchased seems to be pure.
• We avoid using 'the' with the following phrases:-
  to take place, to take part in, to take care of, to take interest in, to lose heart, to be at fault, to make use of, out of doors, to pay attention to, from head to foot, on foot, by mistake, by chance, by bus, day by day, at home.

     The repetition of 'the':-

          Look at the following sentenses:-

• The poet and the dramatist have been honoured. 
• The poet and the dramatist has been honoured.

• The first sentence in which we have used 'the' twice speaks of two different persons, one of them is a poet and the other is a dramatist. The second sentence suggests that the same person is both a poet and a dramatist.