This document provides information and examples on the use of articles (a, an, the) in the English language. It explains that "a" and "an" are used when referring to things in a non-specific way, with "a" preceding consonant sounds and "an" preceding vowel sounds. "The" is used when referring to something specific or before singular nouns representing an entire class. It also lists situations where articles are not used, such as before names of materials, common nouns used in their widest sense, and certain proper nouns. The document concludes with exercises filling in blanks with the appropriate article.

1. ARTICLES.
A
When you do not want to specify the thing referred to, e.g.
‘A man’ refers to any man.
Used with words beginning with consonant sounds
A book/chair/wicked witch/university/union/European/one-armed man
AN
When you do not want to specify the thing referred to, e.g.
‘An egg’ refers to any egg
Used with words beginning with vowel sounds (a,e,i,o,u)
An aeroplane/apple/elegant lady/hour/heir/honest man
THE
When you want to refer to something specific, e.g.
‘The egg on the table’ refers to one particular egg.’
Before a singular noun representing a whole class, e.g.
‘The cow is a very useful animal’ means all cows are useful.
‘The Maherian is good looking’ means all Maherians are good looking.
Before an adjective representing a whole class, e.g.
‘The poor will be given help’ means all who are poor will receive help.
‘The strong will survive’ means all who are strong will survive. man
Before unique common nouns, e.g.
The sun/moon/sea/sky
Before names of special books, e.g.
The Koran/Bible
Before names of certain rivers/seas/mountains, etc., e.g.
The Kelantan River/Indian Ocean/Himalaya Mountains/Grand Canyon/Sahara Desert
Before adjectives in the superlative form, e.g.
The best story/fastest runner/happiest/greatest person
WHERE ARTICLES ARE NOT USED
Before the names of materials used in general sense, e.g.
Gold is yellow. / Iron can rust. / Wood is used to make furniture.
Before common nouns used in their wildest sense, e.g.
Man is intelligent. / Milk is good for you. / We need water to live.
Before certain proper nouns, e.g.
Rama is from Pahang. / New York is in America
Before abstract nouns used in a general sense, e.g.
Honesty is the best policy./ Education is important./ Practice makes perfect.
Before the nouns in certain phrases, e.g.
to go home / to leave school/ in jail/ by day/ at night

2. Fill in the blanks with either a, an or the.
1. I know ____ woman who is holding ____ umbrella.
2. ____ tiger is ____fierce animal.
3. There is _____ orange in the ____ red box.
4. Please close ____ front door.
5. ____ principal of my school keeps his money in ____ box.
6. She is reading ____ book about ____ Yellow River in China.
7. ____ moon goes around ____earth once in ____ month.
8. ____ apple ____ day keeps ____ doctor away.
9. This is ____ club for ____ rich.
10. They have ____ hour to finish painting ____ wall.
11. Shafie shot ____arrow through ____ bull’s-eye.
12. ____ best cupcake I have eaten is made by _____ friend.
13. Haslina lives in ____ house in ____ Beringin Valley.
14. ____ civet cat went into ____ceiling of my house.
15. She is ____ only girl who got ____ present.
16. There is ____ astronaut on _____ moon.
17. Frankenstein is ____ product of ____ experiment gone wrong.
18. When you reach ____ top of ____ hill, you will see ____ whole town.
19. Your eyes work ____ lot like ____ camera.
20. There is ____ impressive collection of stamps at ____ Soda Club.
Fill in the blanks with either a, an, the or -.
1. Have you heard of ____ fish that shoots insects? It is called ____ Archer Fish. It is ____ fish
with ____ odd behaviour. It shoots down ____ insects with ____ stream of water squirted
from its mouth. ____ Archer Fish has good vision and can knock down ____ spiders and ____
flying insects from distances of more than ____ metre away.
2. The agile ground mantis is ____ looking insect. Like ____ grasshopper, it begins its life from
____ egg, then to ____ nymph before finally turning into ____ adult. It has ____ long, thin
body. ____ front legs are ___ extra long to help grip its ____ food such as ____ small insects.
3. I speak ____ Tamil.
4. Hassan does ____ most work.
5. ____ iPhone he gave her is ____ latest.
6. ____ hardwork is ____ key to ____ success.
7. ____ honey is good for you but ____ honey in that bottle is not pure.
8. There is ____ man outside ____ office. He is ____same man who came last week.
9. Please put ____ table in front of ____hall. ____ table must not be longer than ____ sofa.
10. ____ Sultan of Brunei met ____ Queen of Norway last ____ Sunday.
11. They had ____ picnic by ____ Danube River.
12. ____ Kelantan is in ____ north of _____ Terengganu.
13. Ronaldo has to train at night. Now he wants to leave ____ school to train in ____ day too.
14. ____ diamonds are mined in _____ Africa.
15. ____ tin is used in ____ making of pewter.
16. We befriended ____ European man who was travelling around ____ Kelantan.
17. Jakarta is ____ capital of ____ country.
18. ____ week ago, she met with ____ accident near ____ Kek Lok Si Temple.
19. When I was in ____ Washington, I stayed with ____ old friend on ____ Capitol Hill. We had
____ dinner at ____ popular restaurant up there.
20. ____ Mount Everest is ____ highest mountain in ____ world.
ihi.2014