ARTICLESIndefinite articles - ‘a’ & ‘an’

THERE ARE 3 ARTICLES‘A’ and ‘an are known as indefinite

articles.

‘The’ is known as definite article.

In this unit, we will learn only the indefinite articles - ‘a’ and ‘an’.

HOW TO USE ARTICLES?

We use ‘a’ and ‘an’ before nouns that we want to introduce.(Nouns are names of people, animals, places or things.)

Examples:This is a table.

That is an umbrella.

HOW TO USE ARTICLES?

Use ‘a’ for nouns beginning with a consonant.

(Consonants are letters that are not vowels. Consonant letters are b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y and z.)

Examples:

I have a cat. (Letter ‘c’ is a consonant)

There is a garden in my school.(Letter ‘g’ is a consonant)

It is a lion. (Letter ‘l’ is a consonant)

Taiping has a storybook. (Letter ‘s’ is a consonant)

HOW TO USE ARTICLES?

Use ‘an’ for nouns beginning with a vowel.

( ‘a, e, i, o and u’ are Vowels)

Examples:

I have an umbrella. (Letter ‘u’ is a vowel)

There is an apple in my bag.(Letter ‘a’ is a vowel)

It is an elephant. (Letter ‘e’ is a vowel)

Junxian is eating an ice cream. (Letter ‘i’ is a vowel)

POINT TO NOTE! Pronunciation changes the rule, it is the sound that matters and not the spelling!

POINT TO NOTE! If a word begins with a consonant

sound, we have to use ‘a’.

Example:The word ‘university’ begins with a vowel but the vowel has a consonant sound of ‘you’.

Correct: a university Wrong: an university

POINT TO NOTE! If a word begins with a vowel sound,

we have to use ‘an’.

Example:The word ‘hour’ begins with a consonant ‘h’ but we do not pronounce the ‘h’ so the word has a vowel sound of ‘our’.

Correct: an hour Wrong: a hour

WATCH THIS VIDEO ON ARTICLES

Click on the link below and the video will appear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uADaCK_rTKc&feature=fvw

End of presentation