Use 'a' with nouns starting with a consonant (letters that are not vowels),
'an' with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u)
Examples
* A boy
* An apple
* A car
* An orange
* A house
* An opera
NOTE:
An before an h mute - an hour, an honour.
A before u and eu when they sound like 'you': a european, a university, a unit
The indefinite article is used:
* to refer to something for the first time:
An elephant and a mouse fell in love.
Would you like a drink?
I've finally got a good job.
* to refer to a particular member of a group or class
Examples:
* with names of jobs:
John is a doctor.
Mary is training to be an engineer.
He wants to be a dancer.
* with nationalities and religions:
John is an Englishman.
Kate is a Catholic.
* with musical instruments:
Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived.
(BUT to describe the activity we say "He plays the violin.")
* with names of days:
I was born on a Thursday
* to refer to a kind of, or example of something:
the mouse had a tiny nose
the elephant had a long trunk
it was a very strange car
* with singular nouns, after the words 'what' and 'such':
What a shame!
She's such a beautiful girl.
* meaning 'one', referring to a single object or person:
I'd like an orange and two lemons please.
The burglar took a diamond necklace and a valuable painting.
Notice also that we usually say a hundred, a thousand, a million.
NOTE: that we use 'one' to add emphasis or to contrast with other numbers:
I don't know one person who likes eating elephant meat.
We've got six computers but only one printer.
The indefinite article - a
The indefinte article is the a is the same for all genders.
a boy, a girl, a cat
The indefinte article has no plural form.
a boy - boys
We use an if the following word starts with a vowel.
the following word starts with a consonant the following word starts with a vowel
a boy an aunt
a school an old school
a girl an American girl
Mind the pronunciation of the following word.
a unit an uncle
This u sounds like a consonant, so we use a. This u sounds like a vowel, so we use an.
Use of the indefinite article a/an
- before phrases of time and measurements (per week/weekly)
We have English 4 times a week.
I go on holiday twice a year.
Our car can do 220 kilometres an hour.
Tomatoes are $2 a kilo.
- before phrases of jobs
My father is a car mechanic.
- before phrases of nationality
Bruce Springsteen is an American.
- half/quite
We need half a pound of sugar.
This is quite a good story.
0 comments