How to Learn Basic Rules of INDEFINITE ARTICLES 'A' AND AN (Part - 1)

 

INDEFINITE ARTICLES 'A' AND AN

A. 'A/an' is used before singular countable nouns and exclamations containing singular countable nouns.

Examples: 

A dog, a plant, an elephant, an airplane, etc.

B. Before a vowel, 'an' is used instead of 'a'.

 Examples: 

An elephant, an umbrella, an idea, an ox, an alligator.

C. 'A' is used before vowels which have a consonant sound.

Examples:

 A university, a one-man army.

👉REMEMBER:

The vowel 'u' has two sounds - Europe, Union (sounds like 'yoo").

In this case 'a' will be the preceding article- a European girl, a union leader.

The second sound is - Usher, Umbrella (sounds like 'uh').

In this case 'an' will precede the noun-an usher, an umbrella.

D. 'An' is used before consonants which have a vowel sound.

Examples: 

• An hour, an MP, an honest man.

E. 'A/an' can be used in several cases.

1. One thing or person

Examples:

• A car was parked near my house.
• My sister's husband is a doctor. 
•  I lived in an old house.

2. One unit/member of a particular class

Examples:

• A doctor cures people.
• Show me an old house.
• A car can be used for various purposes.

3. Defining and classifying

Examples:

• I am a teacher.
• She will soon become a mother. 
•  A cube has six sides..
• You cannot have an elephant as your pet.

4. In descriptions

Examples:

• She is a sweet girl.
• It was a warm day.
• It is an extremely cold night. 
• He is a well mannered boy.

                                  

                                                                                         To be continued... 

from:

Vinita Saxena

saxenavinita02@gmail.com

How to remember an Articles: "THE"

 

In this chapter, you will:

 Define an article:"THE"

Job Made Easy: How to recall Parts of Speech

   

In this chapter, you will:  

Learn to identify the parts of speech

Words are distributed into parts of speech according to their function in a sentence. There are eight parts of speech, defined as follows:

I.NOUNS

A noun refers to the name of place, person, thing, animal or any abstract concept. Nouns are words that tell what or who are being spoken about. Nouns are identifying names or words. They identify places, persons and things

Examples:

• The sentence is divided into two parts.
• The balloon is red.
• The crow sits on a branch.
• The taxes that people are paying are astronomical.

II. PRONOUNS

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.

Examples:

• This is Sita. She is five years old.

The pronoun "she" in the second sentence refers to Sita (Noun). "She" replaces next sentence.

•  The people were in the park. They were talking.
• "They" refers to the people (Noun). 

III. VERBS

A verb is a word that describes the state of a person or what action is taking place.

Examples:

•  Children play in the park. 
• The picture was painted.
• I am a salesman.
• The milk is boiling
•  My friend has a motorbike.

Here the words play, was painted, am, is boiling and has indicate the state of the persons or things or the actions performed by them. They are verbs.

IV. ADJECTIVES

A word that describes and qualifies a noun is an adjective. An adjective gives information about the noun.

Examples:

• Rabindranath Tagore is a famous poet.
• India and China are the largest markets for foreign products.
• Cashmere shawls are not available in this shop

V. ADVERBS

 A word that describes the verb is called an adverb. An adverb indicates how an act performed. It also indicates the location and time of a specific action. An adverb mode phrase, adjective verb and another adverb.

 Examples:

•  Ramesh looked at me doubtfully
•  The luggage was quite heavy
•  I am very tired
•  Mahesh looks rather sad. 

An adverb appears at the beginning of the sentence, if it modifies an entire sentence

 Example:

 Surprisingly, the witness did not reach the court.

 VI. PREPOSITIONS

 A preposition normally goes before a noun or a pronoun. It shows the relation or position of person or a thing that it signifies, to some other thing. A preposition connects a noun or a pronoun with the rest of the sentence.

 Examples:

•  I was in the classroom yesterday.
•  My sister is fond of pets.
•  Look for the coin under the carpet.
•  I found this poster stuck behind the chair. 
• The young man jumped off the balcony.

 VII. CONJUNCTIONS

 A word that connects two words, phrases or sentences is called a conjunction.

 Examples:

•  I see the moon and the moon sees me.
•  Mr. Sinha and Mr. Singh are good friends.
•  At the end of the day we were tired but happy. 
• Turn the heat down or it'll burn.

 VIII. INTERJECTIONS

 An interjection is a short sound, word or phrase that is spoken suddenly to convey emotion. An interjection is added to a sentence and does not relate grammatically to any part of the sentence.

 Examples:

•  Oh! This is a lovely picture.
•  Wow! It is a wonderful place.

FROM: 

Prof. Vinita Saxena

saxenavinita02@gmail.com