The article ‘a’ or ‘an’?

In English grammar, it is not normal to use the word ‘a’, which can mean ‘one’, before a vowel (a,e,i,o and u, and the silent ‘h’), so before vowels, the article ‘a’ changes to ‘an’:

e.g. a car an elephant a house an ice-cream a boy an old car an hour

*Note that the changes in the spelling and pronunciation of the articles depend on the pronunciation of the words that follow the articles, but not on their spelling alone, because though some words begin with vowels, they do not give out vowel sound, for example, though the word “university” begins with ‘u’, a vowel, it is not pronounced with the same sound it has in the word ‘uncle’, therefore, when using an article before it, we use ‘a’ but not ‘an’. And some words beginning with consonants (-,b,c,d,-,f,g,(h),-,j,k,l,m,n,-,p,q,r,s,t,-,v,w,x,y,z) give out vowel sounds!

e.g. a university a one-man army but an ox an MP (but a Member of Parliament)

a young man a useful thing but an honest woman an heir [the ‘h’ in these words is silent]

a European a horse [the ‘h’ in this word is pronounced]

**Even as plain letters some consonants of the English alphabet take “an” before them because they have the vowel sound in them:

an A a J an S
a B a K a T
a C an L a U
a D an M a V
an E an N a W
an F an O an X
a G a P a Y
an H a Q a Z
an I an R

The article ‘the’ (with an ‘e’ sound) or ‘the’ (with an ‘a’ sound)?

The article ‘the’ is pronounced with an ‘e’ sound when used before words beginning with a vowel having vowel sound, and with an ‘a’ sound when used before words beginning with a consonant having consonant sound:

e.g. the ice age the egg-case but the beach the school
(‘e’ sound) (‘e’ sound” (‘a’ sound) (‘a’ sound)

“Article” as a general term has several dictionary meanings: ‘a piece of writing about a particular subject’, ‘a separate item in a contract or deed’, ‘a particular item or a separate thing in a set of things’, but here it is:

The ‘Articles’ in English grammar are: a or an and the

Using these three words is one of the most difficult tasks in English grammar. Luckily, however, most mistakes we make in the use of these three little but important words do not make much difference to the meaning of most of the sentences. There are however certain situations where using or not using the articles may make a lot of difference. Therefore, knowing some of the important rules will enable the learners to use them correctly.

Though it is usually possible to understand a sentence or expression without any articles, it is always better to use them correctly.

“A” and “An” are called ‘Indefinite Articles’ and “the” is called ‘Definite Article’. When we use ‘a/an’ we mean “one” or “some” and when we use ‘the’ we mean “the same”, the one that is mentioned before.

e.g. There is a man standing at the gate. (= some man, we do not know or do not recognise that man)
The man is wearing a long coat. (= the same man we see at the gate)