We use ‘a’ before a consonant sound e.g. a book, a house, a new idea We use ‘an’ before a vowel sound (a e i o u) e.g. an egg, an idea, an old house
We choose ‘a’ or ‘an’ because of the pronunciation, not spelling. e.g. a house, a hand BUT an hour (we don’t say the ‘h’ sound) an uncle, an umbrella BUT a university, a European, a uniform an orange, an office BUT a one-pound coin We use ‘a/an’ only before singular countable nouns.
(‘a/an’ is a bit like one: you can’t say one houses or one water) e.g. a house, a car (singular countable) house, cars (plural countable) air (NOT an air) (uncountable) rice (NOT a rice) (uncountable)
We use ‘the’, not ‘a/an’, to talk about somebody or something, when the speaker and the hearer both know about this person or thing:Remember: when they both know which one.
We don’t use ‘a/an’ with plurals.
We often use ‘a/an’ touse talk‘the about a person or’; thing for‘second’ the We ’ before ‘only ‘first’ etc; and
We can with first use time; ‘the’ and ‘the’ when plurals. we talk about the person superlatives like oldest; most and thing again.
e.g. She’s the oldest woman in Scotland. It’s the biggest building in London. I live on the third floor of my block of flats. I own the most expensive car in my family.
We use ‘a/an’ when we say what something is, or what job somebody does. e.g. A chick is a baby hen. Canada is a big country. My sister is a scientist. That man is a doctor.
We often use ‘a/an’ in descriptions e.g. She’s got a very quiet voice. He is a friendly person. Remember we don’t use a/an with plurals or uncountable nouns e.g. She’s got blue eyes. My friend has got long hair We don’t use ‘the’ to talk about things in general. ‘The’ does not mean ‘all’. We use ‘the’ to talk about particular people or things
I like music. (general) She’s interested in reading books. (general) The music is too loud. (particular) She’s reading the book about her favourite actor. (particular) Names with ‘THE’: Some places, buildings Deserts, rivers, seas, oceans (not lakes) e.g. the Sahara Desert, the Thames, The Mediterranean, The Atlantic. Names without ‘THE’: People, languages, most places People – Mary works for Dr Andrews. Plural names: the Languages – Sorry, I don’t speak Russian. e.g. The Netherlands, the United States, the Alps (group of mountains) Most place names (countries, continents, states, lakes, mountains (groups), No article (ø) towns, streets) Expressions with Republic/Kingdom e.g. I’m from London. Meals e.g. to have breakfast/lunch/dinner; before/at/after/for e.g. the Republic of China, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom breakfast/lunch/dinner. Africa, California, Mexico,months Paris, Lake Geneva, Mount Everest, Oxford Days, and public Large areas of the world or of holidays: a country: Street, Hyde Park, Southgate College. On Tuesday; in July; at Christmas e.g. The West, the Middle East, the north of England, the Far East. But we say: We have a Bank holiday in August.
Next/last/this + a of period of time: Buildings – most names buildings:
month,Hotel, last week, this year. e.g.Next the Hilton the Eiffel Tower, the British Museum, the Taj Mahal the Great Pyramid
Places and activities
Except: To/at/from school/university/college; to/in/out of Place name + airport/station/cathedral/university/palace/castle/school: church/prison/hospital/bed; at home; to/at/from work; on holiday
But if we visit the place – we use ‘the’ e.g. I went to the school to see my
e.g. son’sHeathrow teacher. airport, Victoria Station, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Cambridge University, Southgate School, St Paul’s Cathedral
Transport: expression with by –
Name + possessive ‘s: By car/bys/train/plane/bicycle/underground/boat AND on foot e.g. Macdonald’s