Articles (a, an, the)

Rules

1. Use 'a' before a consonant sound and 'an' before a vowel sound, not letter.
2. Sound decides: an hour, an honest man, a university, a one-rupee coin, an MLA.
3. Use 'the' for something already known or unique: the sun, the Ganga, the Himalayas.
4. Use 'the' with superlatives and ordinals: the best, the first.
5. No article before most names of persons, languages, meals and games: Hindi, lunch, cricket.

Examples

• She is an honest officer.
• He plays cricket every evening.
• The Ganga is a holy river.

Practice MCQs

1. He waited for ___ hour.

   1. a
   2. an
   3. the
   4. no article
   Show answer

   Answer: (b) an. 'Hour' begins with a vowel sound (h is silent), so 'an'.

2. She studies at ___ university in Delhi.

   1. a
   2. an
   3. the
   4. no article
   Show answer

   Answer: (a) a. 'University' begins with the 'yu' sound, a consonant sound.

3. ___ sun rises in the east.

   1. A
   2. An
   3. The
   4. No article
   Show answer

   Answer: (c) The. The sun is unique, so 'the'.

4. He is ___ tallest boy in the class.

   1. a
   2. an
   3. the
   4. no article
   Show answer

   Answer: (c) the. Superlatives take 'the'.

5. My sister speaks ___ Odia fluently.

   1. a
   2. an
   3. the
   4. no article
   Show answer

   Answer: (d) no article. No article before the name of a language.

6. He became ___ MLA last year.

   1. a
   2. an
   3. the
   4. no article
   Show answer

   Answer: (b) an. 'MLA' is read 'em-el-ay', starting with a vowel sound.

7. Choose the correct sentence.

   1. He is a European.
   2. He is an European.
   3. He is the European.
   4. He is European man.
   Show answer

   Answer: (a) He is a European.. 'European' starts with the 'yu' sound, so 'a'.