ARTICLES AND PREPOSITIONS

A.   Problems with Articles

Articles	Countable Singular Nouns	Countable Plural Nouns	Uncountable Nouns
Indefinite (General)	A banana An apple	.....bananas .....apples	.....money .....juice
Definite (Specific)	The banana The apple	The bananas The apples	The money The juice

     B.    Distinguish A and An

A and An

A is used in front of a singular noun with a consonant sound.

An is used in front of a singular noun with a vowel sound.

Be careful of nouns beginning with H or U. They may have a vowel or a consonant sound.

For example :

·         The dishwasher quit his job because he was making only four dollars an hour.

·          It was an unexpected disappointment to receive a rejection letter from the university.

·         It is raining, so you should bring an umbrella.

C.    Make Articles Agree with Nouns

The following chart states the key point for you to remember about the agreement of articles with nouns:

AGREEMENT OF ARTICLES WITH NOUNS

You should never use a or an with a plural noun.

 

For example :

·         She went to school in a local community.

·         The teacher introduces a new student in front of the class.

·         Now we have an English class. Mr Agus is our English teacher. 

 

D. Distinguish Specific and General Ideas

Specific and General Ideas
Article	Meaning	Uses
A or An	General Idea	§  Use when there are many, and you do not know which one it is. §  Use when there are many, and you do not care which one it is.
The	Specific Ideas	§  Use when it is the only one. §  Use when there are many, and you know which one it is.

For example :

·         Mr. Lutfi tells us a fun story. The story is about Abu Nawas.

·         The students of VIIA have just finished doing an experiment in the laboratory.

·         Andi’s school has a nice library. The library is not so big, but it has a lot of books, newspaper, and magazines.