GRAMMAR REFERENCE
Appendix
(Ãðàìàòè÷íèé äîâ³äíèê) ARTICLES A/AN — THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE use
example
We use a before a consonant and a cat an before a vowel. But it depends a uniform on the pronunciation of the a one-day trip following word, not the spelling.
an elephant an interesting story an hour
We use a / an only with singular countable nouns.
a pencil
an orange
We use a / an with jobs.
She’s a nurse.
He’s an engineer.
We use a / an when we are We saw a girl with a dog. talking about a person or thing for the first time. We use the when we talk about it again.
The girl was very little and the dog was big.
We use a in some expressions when it means ‘every’.
once a day (once every day) twice a year three times a week, etc.
We use a in some expressions of quantity.
a lot of people a number of pupils
a few questions
We use a in some fixed expressions.
have a cold have a headache take a picture
have (take) a bath /shower sleep like a log go for a walk, etc.
THE — THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
The means ‘you know which one/ones I mean’. It can be used before any noun, singular or plural. use
example
We use the when we talk about something that has been mentioned before.
I bought a shirt and a sweater. The shirt is red and the sweater is blue.
We use the when it is clear what we mean.
Open the door! (You can see which one.) Turn on the TV!
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