LESSON - 8.1 THE ARTICLES PART - 01

LESSON NO. 8.1

THE ARTICLES.

Indians make maximum mistakes in the use of "the articles" because we do not have "the articles" in our vernacular languages. That is the main reasons why the first chapter of G.C.Whitworth's startling and enchanting book is on "The Articles. Mr. Whitworth came to India in the early 1920s. He studied Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, etc. for many years. Thereafter, this erudite, exemplary, noteworthy, and seasoned scholar of English wrote one of the best ever books in English grammar and usage. The name of this trailblazing and exceptional book is INDIAN ENGLISH. It was published in Lahore in 1932.

I have taken extensive help from this book for highlighting various elements of the use of  "the articles." Three rules enunciated by him should be read, reread, and reread till they become a part of your memory. Apply these rules in finding errors of "the articles" in sentences. 

The last exercise here is from the actual questions of SSC and BANKING exams. Do revise all the previous lessons for getting the grasp of these questions from SSC and Banking exams. That is absolutely indispensable. Every lesson is a bead in a garland. We cannot ignore or abandon any bead. Now, having become conversant with the salient features of Parts of Speech, the process of solving the questions starts with this blog. 

 

The Articles

 

PART I

 FORM: 

There are three articles in English. These are ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’. They are used before nouns for making their sense absolutely clear to the reader or the listener.

The Articles are a sub-class of adjectives; they qualify a noun (a tree), or a noun that is preceded by an adjective (a tall tree).

The words used as ‘the articles’ in English are. A, An, The.

The aforesaid articles qualify the nouns that follow them.

CLASSIFICATION:

i.     Definite:  There is one the definite article:  the

Examples:  The sun, the earth, the best boy, the Indian Express

ii.     Indefinite:  There are two indefinite articles:  a and an

Examples:  A boy, a box, a tree, a school, an apple, an elephant.

FUNCTIONS:

I.              Rule No. 1. No article is put before a noun which is used in an abstract or general sense.

1.    Experience matters.

2.    Entertainment is important for every child.

II.              Rule No. 2. The definite article is put before a noun, which is a particular thing, or alone of its kind, or is separated by definition from other similar things.

1.    Where is the pen that I gave you? (a particular pen)

2.    The best boy has come. (The superlative degree makes a thing alone of its kind.)

3.    The boys of this school are disciplined. (A thing becomes separated and particular when we define it.)

III.              Rule No. 3. The indefinite article is put before a noun that indicates something which is individual but not selected or distinguished from other things of the same kind.

1.      I need a pen.               

2.      A tree fell down.

The use of the indefinite articles, namely ‘a’ and ‘an’ : 

I.          Use of ‘a’:

i.     The letter ‘a’ is used before words beginning with consonant sounds.

A bat, A woman, A holiday, A tree, A year.

ii.      ‘A’ is used also with consonantal ‘U’.

E.g. A union, Au-turn, A European, A eucalyptus, A utopian dream, A unit. (There is some friction in the throat in the pronunciation of these words, and they become consonantal here. Otherwise, there is no friction when we pronounce words beginning with vowels or with ‘u’ vowels. An umbrella. An understanding .An undertaking)

 Note:  In A one Rupee coin, the sound of ‘one’ is not of a vowel, but of a consonant. (vaa)

iii.     ‘a’ is also used before the words beginning with stressed and aspirated ‘h’ :

A historic victory; a historic moment; a histrionic act.

II.          The use of ‘an’:

i.          The word ‘an’ is used before words beginning with vowel sounds.

E.g. An apple, an elephant, an Indian, an office, an umbrella

ii.          ‘An’ is used before the words beginning with silent ‘h’.

E.g. An hour, An honour, An honest man,

The use of A/An depends on the sound of the letter/letters at the beginning of the next word and not the spelling of it.

An M.A, An M. Com, An E U resolution, An S.O.S.

N.B.: IN A PLURAL SENSE, AN ADJECTIVE MAYBE USED AS A NOUN TO DENOTE A WHOLE CLASS OF LIVING BEINGS, AND IS PRECEDED BY ‘THE’

EXAMPLES:

That country is  a heaven for the rich, a purgatory for the able,  and a hell for the poor.

The absent are guilty.

The sick and the wounded have been admitted to the hospital.

 

Exercise 3.1

Use ‘A’ or ‘An’ in the following: -

1.      ___________         uncle.
2.      __________           university.
3.      __________           union.
4.      __________           umpire.
5.      __________           young boy.
6.      __________           uniform policy.
7.      __________           UN order.
8.      __________           eyewitness.
9.      __________           up-to-date method.
10.  __________           unit.
11.  __________           usurer.

12.  _______­­­­­­____         usurper.