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Grammar & ESL: Articles—a, an, the, The articles a, an, and the help your readers understand whether you’re using a, noun in an indefinite (general) or definite (specific) way., , Is the noun general? If the noun is general, use “a” or “an.”, , , , , , , , , A and an are indefinite articles and are used to indicate a single item., o Take a pencil. (Take one pencil.), o I won a hundred dollars. (I won one hundred dollars.), Do not use a or an with a plural noun., o Incorrect: “They talked about a good restaurants.”, o Correct, Unspecific reference: “They talked about a good restaurant to visit.”, o Correct, Specific reference: “The talked about the good Italian restaurant on, Main Street.”, Use a as an unspecific reference before a consonant., o He likes to read a book. (She likes to read any book, not a specific one.), o That was a funny story. (That was one of many funny stories.), Use a when the word following it starts with a consonant sound., o a book, a hospital, a leg, a one-inch pipe, a youth, Use an as an unspecific reference before a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u)., o an apple, an opera, an eagle, an idea, an SOS (the s here is an es sound), Words that begin with u or h can have either a vowel or a consonant sound. Make, the choice based on the sound of the first word after the article, even if that word is, not the noun., o a union, a uniform (use a when the u sounds like the y in you), o an unbelievable event, an umbrella, a unique umbrella, o an honor, an hour, an honest person, o a hotel, a history book, a historian, o an historian, an historic event (NOTE: words like historic can take either a or, an), , Is the noun specific? If the noun is specific, use “the.”, , , , Use the as a specific reference to a common noun or something that is one of a kind., o Give me the book on the table. (identifies a specific book), o The sun rose at seven o'clock. (identifies something that is one of a kind), Use a or an to introduce a noun the first time it is mentioned, and then the is used, afterwards whenever the noun is mentioned., o I bought a sandwich for lunch. I shared the sandwich with my friend.

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Most proper nouns do not use an article. However, some do., , , , , , , , , , , , , A proper noun names unique person, place, or thing (New York City, Walt Disney,, The United States of America), o Correct: “I went to New York City.”, o Incorrect: “I went to the New York City.”, An exception is the proper nouns with “of” as part of the name:, o the Fourth of July, o the University of Virginia, o the United States of America, o the President of Mexico, o the Statue of Liberty, Plural proper nouns use the:, o the Chicago Bulls, o the Johnsons, o the Blue Ridge Mountains, A proper noun that names a group (a collective noun) also uses the:, o the Commonwealth of Virginia, o the United Arab Emirates, o the Society of Friends, Some geographical features use the:, o the Gobi Desert, o the Atlantic Ocean, o the Pyramids, o the Amazon, But other geographical features do not use the:, o Lake Superior, o Albemarle County, o Route 29, o Mount Vesuvius, , When trying to decide whether to use an article, ask for help, if you need it. Every time you learn a new use of an article,, write it down., , Adapted from the CCNY Writing Center@The Samuel Rudin Academic Resource Center