Articles are of
TWO types. They are
- Indefinite article ---- A / An
- Definite article ---- The
What's the difference?
If you want to say about ANY item, you should use the articles A / An.
If you want to say about a SPECIFIC item, you should use the article
THE.
Confused? Lets see an example. Assume that you've selected for a Bank
Exam. You have a stupid friend like me. So obviously She will ask you a
party.
Suppose if She says
- Lets go to a Restaurant, that means She doesn't have any
specific restaurant in Her mind. So you can give her party in ANY cheap
restaurant. But,
- If she says Lets go to THE restaurant, that means She has some
SPECIFICATIONS. I mean she have a specific restaurant in her mind. So
you cant escape ;)
Well, this is the basic difference between A/An and The. There are so
many differences and usages of these articles. We shall discuss them
later.
Ok, lets discuss about the Indefinite articles first.
Indefinite Articles :
A : The indefinite article 'a' is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Consonant sound.
An : The indefinite article 'an" is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Vowel sound.
Wow, Nice definitions. No?
Have a look at some examples,
A :
An :
- An Apple
- An Egg
- AN Ink-Bottle
- An Orange
- An Umbrella
Great,
Now tell me, what should I use before the words European, One-Eyed Beggar, University, Useful Website?
Can I say, Guide4BankExams is an Useful site to know about Banking Exams?
NO
why ?
Please Re-Read the definitions. Here we are talking about Vowel and Consonant SOUNDS.
Not the Letters. People often confuse with this. They blindly put A
before a word, if it starts with a Vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U) and put
An before the word which starts with the consonant letter.
Consider the SOUND, not the LETTER.
Confusing? Lets see a short cut for this.
- If a word starts with a SWAR (Any of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use An before it.
- If a word starts with a Vyanjan (An of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use A before it.
Have a look at this picture,
so, now see these examples,
A :
- A European
- A One-Eyed beggar
- A University
- A Useful Website
An:
- An hour
- An Honest Man
- An honourable person
Thats it.
Now lets see some more TRICKY examples in English.
Suppose , if you want to say about the Member of Parliament, you can say a Member of Parliament, But if you use shorter form as M.P, Then you should say, He is an M.P
Lets see another example, He is an NRI but He is a Non Resident Indian
