19 Indefinite Articles

Advertising

Introduction

Articles are words that define nouns and they belong to the group of words called determiners. Essentially there are two kinds of articles: indefinite and definite.

We use indefinite articles to express non-specific things or general categories.

Form

Indefinite articles are usually placed before singular countable nouns, noun phrases and adjectives.

There are two indefinite articles a/an and we choose which to use according to the first letter of the following word (consonant or vowel):

  • A: when a noun starts with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, j, k…).
  • An: when a noun starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or h that is not pronounced.

Example

  • I am a doctor.
    I am an engineer.
  • She has got a pear.
    She has got an apple.
  • We saw a huge elephant in the street.
    We saw an elephant in the street.

Use

We use indefinite articles when we refer to general or non-specific things (not mentioned before) unknown to both the speaker and the interlocutor, and only with singular countable nouns. Also, we use them when we talk about jobs and professions.

Summary

Indefinite articles (a/an) are determiners and are used to express non-specific things or general categories. They are placed before singular countable nouns, noun phrases and adjectives.

There are two indefinite articles:

  • A when the noun or adjective begin with a consonant.
  • An when the noun or adjective begin with a vowel or h that is not pronounced.

For example:
— “There’s a tourism office around the corner.” = We use a before a word starting with t- (consonant).
— “There’s an information office around the corner.” = We use an before a word starting with i- (vowel).

We use the indefinite article to express something general, which has never been mentioned before.

♦ “The information office around the corner” = We use the definite article (the) since we know what we are talking about.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

Exercises


The exercises are not created yet. If you would like to get involve with their creation, be a contributor.



Ambassadors

Open TextBooks are collaborative projects, with people from all over the world bringing their skills and interests to join in the compilation and dissemination of knowledge to everyone and everywhere.

Become an Ambassador and write your textbooks.

Online Teaching

Become a Books4Languages Online tutor & teacher.

More information here about how to be a tutor.

Translations


Contributors

The Books4Languages is a collaborative projects, with people from all over the world bringing their skills and interests to join in the compilation and dissemination of knowledge to everyone, everywhere.

License