Page 53 - New Grammar with a Smile 8

5. With words/nouns starting with a vowel, for example, apple, eye, inkpot, owl
and uncle, we use the indefinite article an. We say an apple, an eye, an inkpot,
an owl and an uncle.

6. Consider the nouns hour and university. Since h is a consonant and u is a vowel,
you would expect that we write a hour and an university. But the h in hour is
silent. On the other hand, the u in university is actually pronounced as you, and
so we write an hour and a university.

7. The word one, which begins with the consonant sound w, and words beginning
in the vowel combination eu, which has the consonant sound you, use a.
For example, a European nation, a eucalyptus tree, a one-way street.

8. Some words which begin with the vowel u, have a vowel sound, so we use an.
For example, an umbrella, an ulcer, an upturned table, etc.

9. At the same time, there are many words which begin with the vowel u but the
sound is that of the consonant you. These naturally use a. For example,
a universe, a unicorn, etc.

10. Among the consonants, all except h and y, i.e., the consonants—b, c, d, f, g, j, k,
l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x and z, always have a consonant sound. Therefore, any
word beginning with these consonants uses a. When a word begins with h and
the h is pronounced, we use a. For example, a horse, a hut, a habit.

11. If a word begins with h and the h is silent, the next letter must have a vowel
sound, so we use an. For example,
an hour, an honour, an honest man.

12. Again, when a word begins with y and the y has its expected consonant sound,
then we use a. For example,
a yak, a year, a year later.

13. The indefinite articles a and an are singular, i.e., they can be used with singular
countable nouns.
Articles do not depend upon the gender of a noun. Hence, if we want to talk about
any boy/girl, we say a boy/girl. For example,

• A girl with long hair walked into the room.
(Who walked into the room? A girl with long hair. We know nothing else about her.)

The Definite Article

The use of the definite article the

We use the definite article the—

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