How Many Articles are There in English Grammar

There are three articles in English Grammar, given by a, an, or the. Let us learn more about these articles and how to use them.

Introduction:-

Articles are used to determine the specificity of a noun, i.e. in other words, we use articles to tell whether we are talking about something specific or general. There are two different types of articles, i.e. definite articles and indefinite articles. 'The' comes under the category of definite articles while 'a' and 'an' belong to indefinite articles, i.e. there are a total of three articles which can be used in English.

Explain specificity using an example

The specificity of a noun means one should be able to identify the exact meaning of that noun.

E.g.:-

"Give me the shirt" means we are asking for a specific shirt whereas "Give me a shirt" means we are asking for any shirt whichever is available at that moment.

Article "the" is used when we know the specificity of the noun whereas articles "a" or "an" is used before general nouns, that's why article "the" comes under the category of definite articles whereas articles "a" or "an" come under the category of indefinite articles.

Definite Article and its Usage:-

A definite article or article "the" is used to limit the meaning of a noun to one particular thing,

The definite article tells you that in the conversation both sender and receiver know the noun about which they are talking.

E.g.:-

1. Please give me the pen means we are talking about a specific pen.

2. Please give me the red shoes.

Indefinite Article and its Usage:-

Articles "a" or "an" are called indefinite articles, when we are talking about a general idea and are not sure of the specificity of the noun about which we are talking. "A" precedes consonant-sounding words whereas "an" is used before vowel-sounding words.

E.g. :-

I can ask my partner, "Give me a notebook", which means we are not talking about any specific book.

Indefinite articles can only be used before singular nouns.

Usage:-

1. Please give me a paperclip (meaning any paperclip will work).

2. Please give me an apple (meaning any apple will be fine).

3. My son is an honest boy, here "an" is used, as "honest" begins with a vowel sound.

4. I am a US citizen, where "a" is used even after "US" begins with a vowel because "US" begins with a consonant sound

Articles with Adjectives:-

An article can be used before an adjective which is in turn modifying a noun. The order in which it will be used will be article+adjective+noun.

Articles "a" or "an" will be used depending upon the word following it.

E.g.:-

1. I am having a bit of pain in my joints.

2. I met an interesting stranger yesterday.

Articles with Uncountable Nouns:-

Uncountable nouns are the ones which are either very difficult or impossible to count. Uncountable nouns include intangible things like information, air, various liquids, etc.

We can never use "a" or "an '' with uncountable nouns as they can never be counted. However, to modify uncountable nouns, words like some can be used.

E.g.:-

1. "I eat a rice in the morning" is incorrect as rice is an uncountable noun and we can't use "a" with uncountable nouns.

"I eat some rice in the morning" is the correct one.

2. "I drink a litre of milk every morning" is correct, as now we have quantified the amount of milk.

Articles with pronouns:-

Articles can't be used with a possessive pronoun, as they both indicate specificity.

Words like his, my, our, its, her, etc. are called possessive pronouns as they indicate possession of something, hence, both articles and possessive pronouns can never be used together.

E.g.:-

1. "He is wearing the my pants", which is incorrect as both "the" and "my" is modifying the same noun, instead it can either be "He is wearing the pants", or "He is wearing my pants", depending upon the context.

When not to use the articles:-

Articles can't be used with certain nouns, their meaning is implied but their presence is omitted. These types of articles are called zero articles.

Articles are omitted before abstract ideas like "I am having a brunch" is incorrect, whereas "I am having brunch" is the correct word.

Articles must also be omitted before languages and nationalities.

E.g.:-

1. "The Mandarin will soon be the most spoken language in the world", is incorrect. Rather, it should be "Mandarin will soon be the most spoken language in the world".

Articles should not be used before sports or academic subjects.

E.g.:-

1. "I like to play the cricket" is incorrect, whereas it should be "I like to play cricket".

2. "I study the Physics" is wrong, instead it should be "I study Physics".

Conclusions:-

Articles come under the Determiners part of speech in English. There are three different articles namely "A"," An" and "The", belonging to two different types of articles namely definite and indefinite articles.