e-Vidhya Gokulam
LETS LEARN ENGLISH TOGETHER

TELL ME YOUR PROBLEMS
 VOCABULARY
 GRAMMAR
 SENTENCES
 LITERATURE
 READING
 WRITING
 SPEAKING

BASIC GRAMMAR
These are the words a, an and
the which usually comes
before the nouns or
adjectives.
ARTICLES

ARTICLES
 Definite article – the
 This refers to something specific or definite.
 The usually means ‘You know which ones(s) I’m talking about’.
 Examples:
 Kiran received the award for bravery. (a specific award)
 ‘Wait for me at the Kuala Lumpur LRT station’. (a specific place)
 Can I use the phone? (the hearer knows that this means ‘your phone’)

 Indefinite article – a / an
 This is non-specific or indefinite. A / an shows that we are talking about one
person or thing. We often use a / an:
 in descriptions
 She’s an interesting person.
 He’s got a loud voice.
 when we say what something is, or what somebody’s job is.
 This is a return ticket.
 I’m an engineer.
ARTICLES

 Zero article – (-)
 (-) No article is used before the names of countries, cities, streets, continents, lakes,
mountains, villages, etc.
 He lives in (-) Johor, a large city in (-) Malaysia on the shores of (-) Straits of Tebrau.
 (-) No article is also common before uncountable, plural and often abstract nouns when we
are talking about things in general.
 Have we got any (-) milk?
 (-) Oranges are nicer than (-) apples.
 She tried to restrain her anger.
ARTICLES

 In general, an is used when the word following it begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u):
 an umbrella, an elephant, an octopus, an idea, an apple.
BUT
 If the first letter of the word is a vowel, but sounds like a consonant, then use a:
a used car, a useful gadget.
 If the first letter of the word is a consonant, but sounds like a vowel, then use
an: an hour, an honest man, an MG sports car.
ARTICLES

 We often use a / an to talk about a person or thing for the first time; and the when
we talk about the person or thing again.
 A man walked up to a policeman. The man took out a map and asked the policeman ...
 Remember: We don’t use a / an with plurals. We can use the with plurals.
 e.g. She bought the shoes last week.
ARTICLES

 Fill in the blanks with ‘a’ or ‘an’
 _ egg
 _ dog
 _ house
 _ university
ARTICLES
FUN WITH ARTICLES

ARTICLES
Fill in the blanks with (-), the or a
1. I speak __ French.
2. I often listen to___ radio.
3. ___ phone is downstairs in kitchen.
4. ___ India is a big country.
5. She’s got nice face and blue eyes.
6. This table is made of glass.

Fill in the blanks with a, an or the
1. Mr Lee bought ___ big bungalow last month.
2. Ramli wants to be___ pilot when he grows up.
3. Mei Ling is ___ honest girl.
4. ___ fire broke out in that house ___ hour ago.
5. ___ plane is flying high up in ___ sky.
6. My father works in ___ office.
7. Take ___ class register to ___ office.
8. ___ earth moves around ___ sun.
9. Sabrina gave ___ orange to ___ beggar outside the gate.
10. ___ sun rises in ___ east.
ARTICLES

Fill in the blanks with a , an or the.
A Bag in a Bag
This is a true story. Last year I went into 1. ___ big sports shop because
I wanted 2. ___ sports bag. 3 . ___ assistant came up to me, and I told
him what I wanted. 4. ___ assistant brought me three different bags. I
chose 5. ___ smallest one and paid for it. 6. ___ assistant put 7. ___ bag
in 8. ___ large plastic bag. I told him one bag was enough, and asked him to
take 9. ___ bag out of 10. ___ other bag. He did so, but he looked very
unhappy as I walked out of 11. ___ shop.
ARTICLES

e-Vidhya Gokulam
THE END
MEET ALL OF YOU NEXT WEEK