ESL/Articles practice and pronunciation

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Articles

Articles Matching
A with an adjective
a beach an empty beach
a halo an awesome halo
a hood an open hood
a lady an elegant lady
a monkey an ugly monkey
a one (1) an only one
a show an entertaining show
a unit an empty unit
a university a big university
a yacht an expensive yacht
Hard A:
Soft A (ah):
A v. An:
An with an adjective
an actor a bad actor
an apple a rotten apple
an effect a good effect
an honor a distinct honor
an hour a long hour
an orange a juicy orange
an uncle a great uncle
An:
An v A:
H with A H with An
a halo

a hood

an honor

an hour

U with A U with An
a unit

a user

an uncle

an umbrella

  • a, an, the
  • articles indicate if something is general or "indefinite" (a/an) or specific or "definite" (the)

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Indefinite article, a/ an

a, an

  • a modifier that indicates a noun as something in general, a category
    • or that makes a non-specific reference to something
  • i.e. "a tree" indicates that the "tree" is one of any trees, or refers to a tree in general
    • similar to
      • "any tree"
      • "some tree"
      • "one tree" (as in one of many but not any particular tree)
  • indefinite articles always modify a singular noun
    • 🗴 a trees
    • 🗸 a tree

a versus an

  • a precedes a consonant or a hard sound
    • a car
    • a house (hard "h")
    • a truck
    • may include the vowel "U" if the "U-sound" of the word is pronounced like a "Y"
      • a university
      • a unit
        • = a yoo-nit
        • the reason is that to make the "an" + "yoo" sound ("an unit") requires making two distinct sounds with the mouth and tongue
          • a yoo-nit
          • whereas it is easier to say the "a" + "yoo" sound as it can be spoken as a single sound, "ayoo" ----
  • an precedes a vowel or a soft consonant sound for "H" or "U"
    • an hour (soft "h")
    • an umbrella

"An" with letters and abbreviations

Some of the consonants of the alphabet have soft sounds

  • so when speaking the consonant itself, if the pronunciation of the letter is soft, an is used
    • You spell Michael with an M
    • The word "letter" begins with an L
    • Consonants that use an are
      • F, H, L, M, N, R, S, X.
    • all other consonants have a hard sound and so use a
      • She spells her name Liza with a Z instead of an S
  • Abbreviations are spoken out by their letters (FAQ, MRI, RFQ, RSVP, etc.), thus
    • I need an MRI
    • They want an RSVP
  • similarly, words that use a letter to describe something follow the same rule
    • We bought an L-shaped sofa
      • note that L-shaped is an adjective

Definite article, the

the

  • a modifier that indicates a particular or specific thing
  • i.e., "the tree" indicates a certain, or particular tree
    • similar to
      • "this tree"
      • "that tree"
  • the precedes any letter sound
    • the dog
    • the hour

Articles and adjectives

Both articles and adjectives modify nouns

  • they may both modify a noun together
  • when they do, the article comes first
    • the big balloon
    • a huge cow
  • the indefinite article, an matches to the adjective and not the noun
    • a person >> an awful person
    • an hour >> a long hour

Articles and non-count & abstract nouns and generalizations

non-count and abstract nouns are nouns (things) that cannot be counted

These noun forms do do not take articles:

  • non-count nouns:
    • example:
      • water: you can count drops or bodies of water, but not water
    • non-count nouns do not take indefinite articles (a/an)
    • non-count nous can take the definite article (the)
      • 🗴 We got stuck in a traffic
      • 🗸 We got stuck in traffic
      • 🗸 We got stuck in the traffic
      • they can also take adjectives and certain determiners (modifiers) such as
        • some water
        • any knowledge
  • abstract nouns & generalizations
    • "abstract" means something that is not "concrete" or that you can touch
      • things you cannot touch, such as,
        • beauty, honesty, hope, humor, patience, power, strength
    • generalization is a form of abstraction, by turning a thing, like "a dog", and referring to it as a general category, such as:
      • "dogs" (generalization)
    • abstract nouns do not take the definite article, the
    • if the definite article is used before a plural noun it is no longer a generalization
      • because it makes a specific reference: The dogs are playful
  • proper nouns
    • names of people, places or things
    • proper nouns do not take the definite article, either
      • I moved to an Arlington
      • I moved to the Arlington
      • I moved to Arlington

Note that many nouns have both non-count/abstract forms as well as regular nouns

  • and remember that plural nouns never use the indefinite article (a/an)
Noun Noun with Articles Non-Count or Abstract form

without Articles

Notes
advice -- That's good advice non-count nouns
downtown -- I work downtown
food -- They have good food
knowledge -- Knowledge is power.
traffic -- The tr
water -- Water is necessary.
work -- Work makes worthy.
dog A dog is fun.

The dog is fun.

Dogs are fun. abstract nouns or generalizations

(do not take indefinite article a/an)

chicken We ate a chicken for dinner. We ate chicken for dinner
nurse The nurse works hard. Nurses work hard.
talent The talent required is huge. She has talent.
Arlington -- Arlington is nearby. proper nouns (names)
George -- George is my friend.


Here for a full list of non-count nouns: List of 130 Mass Nouns (Or Noncount Nouns) in English

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