Rules For Using An Article

There are a variety of rules when it comes to using either a definite or an indefinite (did you notice the use of a and an in this sentence?) Lets now take a look at the rules surrounding this grammatical element in order that we use it correctly.

Rule #1. We mentioned that depending on whether the noun begins with a consonant or a vowel will depend on which form of the indefinite article you will use, however like many times in the English language, there are some exceptions to this rule. The best example of this is with the word honour which begins with a consonant, however this letter is not pronounced so you would not use the word a in this instance, you would say:

• It is an honour to meet the Queen.

The same rule applies when a word begins with a vowel which is pronounced as though it were a consonant. An example of this would be:

• He is an United Nations representative.

Rule #2. If you are using a noun which has been modified by an adjective, then the article should come before the adjective and should correspond to the adjective rather than the noun. For example, the noun igloo would usually take the article an however if you wanted to describe it as being large, you would create a sentence as follows:

• The inuit people traditionally lived in a large igloo.

Another example of this would be if you were going to refer to the noun book which would usually take the article a however if you wanted to describe the book as being amazing, then you would create a sentence as follows:

• Last week I read an amazing book.

Rule #3. When you are using an uncountable noun (this is a noun which cannot be counted or is infinite or intangible. Some examples of these might be sand, wine, soda, air, information etc) you should never use the indefinite article. The reason for this is that this form of article is only used for singular nouns. You may, however use words such as some when talking about these uncountable nouns. Lets take a look at some examples.

If you were to say the following sentence, it would not make any sense.

• Please give the dog a water.

Because the noun is uncountable, the use of the indefinite article does not sound correct, however if you were to use the definite article, this would not make sense either as you would be asking for a specific thing, consider the following sentence:

• Please give the dog the water.

Unless there is a specific bowl of water waiting to be given to the dog, this sentence would not be correct. If you wish to refer to an uncountable noun in this way, the correct sentence would be as follows:

• Please give the dog some water.

Rule #4. If you are using an article with a possessive pronoun, the rules change once again. In actual fact, the use of these two together does not make much sense. Look at the following sentence:

• Have you got the my coat?

This is not correct as you cannot use an article with a possessive pronoun, therefore the article should be omitted.

Rule #5. Finally, there may be times where an article can be left out, as it is not necessary to refer to the noun. A good example of this would be the sentence I like to play football. Whilst football is a noun, using the before it would be unnecessary and so the article is not included.