Using Article (A, An, and The)

Written by: Dina Nurnafiah, S.Pd.

Article is used before Nouns. It consist of two types: Definite (The) an Indefinite (A and An).

1. Definite article (The) is used to refer specific thing or person.

Example: The room is very dirty.

2. Indefinite article (A and An) is used to:

a. Represent one (numerical).

Example: I have a cat.

b. Refer thing generally.

Example: A chicken has two wings.

Let’s talk about the difference in using A and An.

1. An is used before nouns beginning with vowel sounds (an egg, an ant, an apple, an accident, etc).

2. A is used before nouns beginning with consonant sounds (a chair, a table, a pen, a book, etc).

How do we use the article?

Let’s try. I’ll give some examples to differentiate the usage of a, an, and the.

An elephant has two tusks and a very long nose.

The little elephant looks so naughty, it always play around.

A couple sentences above show us the usage of an and the. Elephant in the first sentence means every elephant. It could be any elephants (gajah pada kalimat pertama adalah setiap gajah yang ada di dunia, bisa saja gajah yang manapun. Sedangkan gajah pada kalimat kedua adalah gajah kecil itu atau hanya seekor gajah tertentu yang dimaksud).

There is another example for you.

A cat likes eating fish.

The black cat with white spots on its face is mine.

Compare those sentences above. Cat in the first sentence means every cat in the world it culd be any cats (kucing pada kalimat pertama yaitu setiap kucing yang ada di dunia).

And cat in the second sentence means only one cat. That is the black cat with white spots on its face (kucing pada kalimat kedua hanya seekor kucing tertentu, yaitu kucing yang bulunya berwarna hitam dengan ciri-ciri bercak-bercak putih di wajahnya).

EXERCISES:

Fill the blank using a, an, or the!

1. ............. pen on the table belongs to Ani.

2. ............. driver must have driving license.

3. I’m so confused now. ............ advice for me is really needed.

4. There are some kinds of fruit on the table. I want ............ apple.

5. ............. computer must be fixed as soon as possible. I need it to finish my assignment.

6. ............. television not only gives us information but entertainment as well.

7. ............. umbrella is needed to protect us from the rain.