Your Quick Guide to Articles A, An, and The

Your Quick Guide to Articles A, An, and The While learning the English language has its challenges, articles in English can be quite simple to understand if you know the general rules surrounding their use. And theres further good newsâ€"there are only three: a, an and the.Article basics and useAn article is an adjective that is used to modify a noun. It will come before the noun in English sentence structure, although there could be an adjective between the article and the noun.Here are some examples of articles in a sentence:The rat escaped from the cats grasp.A delicious dinner will follow the keynote address.I think tonight will be an eventful evening.A and an (the indefinite articles)The choice between these two indefinite articles depends on the noun the article modifies. A is used with a noun that has a consonant sound at the beginning, while an is used with a noun that has a vowel sound at the beginning.But be careful hereâ€"a common mistake people make is to assume that they should focus on the literal spelling of the noun, when rather, they should focus on the sound. For example, look at the phrases and article use below. Note that in some cases, A comes before a vowel-led word instead of An if the word sounds like it begins with a consonant:An unforgettable momentAn unworthy opponentAn octagonAn honor (hon sounds like on)An only childAn x-ray (x sounds like ex)A younger womanA university dorm (u sounds like you)A one-track mindA unique opportunity (u sounds like you)The (the definite article)When deciding whether to use The as the article of choice for a noun in a sentence, the first question you must ask is related to specificity. In other words, is the article referring to a specific object or a non-specific object?For example, lets look at the sentence: Please lock the door before you leave.In this example, the speaker is referring to a specific door that is likely known to the person to whom the sentence is spoken. Usually this is the front door or the main door to a room or building, so w hen told to lock the door on your way out, you can usually infer which door.However, imagine if the speaker had said: Please lock a door before you leave. In this case, the person hearing the information would likely be confused. Which door? Well…according to the speaker, any door, as long as it is a door. If that doesnt make sense, then using the as the article is the correct choice.Here are some other examples of sentences in which The is the correct article choice:The car parked in our driveway needs to be moved.Please place the book youre carrying back on the shelf.I lost my phone at the grocery story yesterday.