The Articles - English Grammar

Articles are of two types - Definite and Indefinite articles.

The words a and an are called indefinite articles.

The word the is called the definite article.

Use of 'a':

• The article 'a' is used before a word that begins with a consonant or a vowel with a consonant sound. You can use them with singular countable nouns to talk about any single person or thing. e.g. a watch, a house, a bottle, a bird, a key, a letter.
• 'a' is also used with the word whose first letter is a vowel but is pronounced with a consonant sound. e.g. a University, a Euro etc.

Use of 'an':

• The article 'an' is used before words that begin with vowels (a,e,i,o,u). e.g. an owl, an egg, an onion, an ice-cream, an elephant.
• 'an' is also used with the words whose first letter is a consonant but sound like a vowel. e.g. an MLA, an LCD, an hour etc.

Use of 'the':

• The word 'the' is used before a noun when you talking about something or someone definite or unique and people know which thing or person you mean. e.g. The moon, The earth, The Read Fort etc.
• You use the with an uncountable noun when you are talking about a particular example of that thing. e.g. Thank you for the help. I didn't eat the cheese you brought. 

The Articles:

A	AN	THE
A boy	An umbrella	The sky
A hat	An elephant	The street
A girl	An ant	The sun
A book	An apple	The earth
A glass	An honest boy	The game
A pen	An hour	The ice
A car	An Indian	The postman