Page 52 - New Grammar with a Smile 8

6 Determiners

There are many different determiners in the English language. Let us study them.

Articles

Articles are among the most common of the determiners. A, an, and the all express
the definiteness and specificity of a noun. For example, the is a definite article,
meaning the person using the word is referring to a specific one. On the other hand, a
or an are indefinite articles.

• The dog is barking too loudly.
• A student borrowed that book.

Let us now look at the specific uses of the articles.

The Indefinite Articles

The indefinite article is used—
1. before ‘a singular countable noun’ when it is mentioned for the first time.
For example,
• Romi bought a computer.

• An apple fell from the tree.

2. with an expression of ‘quantity’. For example,
a lot of work, a great deal of information, a little help, a hundred rupees,
a five-hundred-rupee note, an eight-year-old child, an enormous elephant

3. before a ‘proper noun to point out an unfamiliar person’, or if we ‘wish to express a
special meaning’. For example,

• An Udai Sharma rang up in the morning.
(Some person named Udai Sharma rang up in the morning.)
• He wants to be a Messi when he grows up.
(He wants to be just like Messi when he grows up.)

4. in exclamations before nouns. For example,
• What a beautiful day! • What a pity! • What an exciting film it was!

The indefinite article an is used before words/nouns starting with a vowel sound.

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