1. Student's Name:
The Use of the Definite and the Indefinite Article
The definite article the has two distinct forms: one pronounced ѳə and the other pronounced ѳē.
The definite article is pronounced with a schwa before a consonant sound, id est ѳə and with a long e
before a vowel sound, id est ѳē, e.g.
ѳə ѳē
the union but the ulcer
the ukalele but the uncle
the unicorn but the umbrella
the ewe but the egg
the engine
the yew
the yen
the yuan
the hero but the hour
the hare but the heir
the hotel but the air
the hart but the honor
the hind
the one but the orange
the wand but the ode
the odyssey
the apple
The indefinite article also has two distinct forms, a an an, e.g.
a union but an ulcer
a ukalele but an uncle
a unicorn but an umbrella
a ewe but an egg
an engine
a yew
a yen
a hero but an hour
a hare but an heir
a hart but an honor
a history but an historic event
a hind
a hound
a one but an orange
an ode
an odyssey
Revised on 10/20/2015 by Mark M. Garrow 1

2. Student's Name:
The dialect of American English I speak (Conneticut River Valley) oftens retains forms that are no
longer used in many parts of the country. In my dialect, the "h" in history is pronounced, but the "h"
in historic is not since the accent of the word shifts to the second sylable and an ellision of the article
to the word it modifies takes place. The tenth edition of the Gregg Reference manual notes this usage:
In speech, both a historic and an historic are okay, it depends on whether the
"h" is sounded or left silent. In written English, a historic is more common.
The use of "mine" instead of "my" before vowels was once very common in English, e.g.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord (Battle Hymn of the
Republic, 1861);
I lift mine eyes unto the mountains (Psalm 121:1).
Exercises I: Insert an or a into the blanks in the following sentences.
1. She's ____ secretary.
2. She's ____ actress.
3. Ricky Martin is _____ Hispanic-American singer.
4. Aunt Carolyn lives in ____ hotel.
5. Can you exchange these old Russian coins for ___ Euro?
6. He's ___ hero.
7. My friend's ___ alcoholic.
Exercise II: Insert ѳə or ѳē into the following blanks.
1. He's ___ actor I told you about.
2. He's ___ one who plays ___ flute.
3. He's ___ heir to the Getty estate.
4. ____ Euro is ____ common currency of Spain, France, Germany
and Italy.
5. ___ history of Germany is very interesting.
Revised on 10/20/2015 by Mark M. Garrow 2

3. Student's Name:
Exercise 1: The definite article the is used to define or limit a class of objects.
An or a is used in front of nouns which are indefinite. Insert an or
a, ѳē or ѳə into the following blanks.
Mary has two brothers. Her oldest brother lives in Oakland, California and
her younger brother lives in New York City. ___ brother who lives in New
York City is ___ actor. ___ older brother, who lives in Oakland, is ___
accountant. ___ accountant is not married, but ___ the actor is.
Mary has two brothers. One brother has a degree in drama and works in
a theater. Her other brother is a CPA and works in a bank. ___ CPA lives
in Oakland, California and ___ actor lives in New York City.
I have two homes: one is in Delaware and one is in New York City. My
mother actually owns ___ one in Delaware but she does not live there.
She actually lives in Miami, Florida. I own ___ one in New York City.
My home in New York City is ___ townhouse as is ___ one in Delaware.
Both homes have ___ small garden in ___ back of ___ house. ___ house
in New York City is built of cream-colored brick. ___ townhouse in
Delaware was built in 1780 with red bricks. It is ___ historic building.
My home in New York City is not nearly as old as ___ townhouse in
Delaware; it was build in 1910. It has ___ greenhouse on the roof and ___
old dovecote. There are no doves in ___ dovecote. During __ week, I work
in New York City at ___ large bank, but on weekends I often spend ___ day or
two in ___ old townhouse in Delaware with my sister. Across the street from
my townhouse in New York City, there are three buildings: ___ church, ___
Jewish deli and __ Italian restaurant. I often eat lasagna at ___ Italian restaurant
across the street from my townhouse. I aways have ___ glass of red wine
with my meal. When I retire, I'm going to sell ___ townhouse in New York City
and move to Miami. I am not going to sell ___ townhouse in Delaware.
Revised on 10/20/2015 by Mark M. Garrow 3