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Parts of Speech
Chapter 9 - Articles

An article is a kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about
a noun. There are only two articles a and the, but they are used very often and are
important for using English accurately.

The word a (which becomes an when the next word begins with a vowel - a, e, i, o, u) is
called the indefinite article because the noun it goes with is indefinite or general. The
meaning of the article a is similar to the number one, but one is stronger and gives more
emphasis. It is possible to say I have a book or I have one book, but the second sentence
emphasizes that I do not have two or three or some other number of books.

The word the is known as the definite article and indicates a specific thing. The difference
between the sentences I sat on a chair and I sat on the chair is that the second sentence
refers to a particular, specific chair, not just any chair.

Many nouns, especially singular forms of countable nouns which you will learn about later,
must have an article. In English, it is not possible to say I sat on chair without an article,
but a demonstrative or possessive adjective can be used instead of an article as in the
sentences I sat on that chair and I sat on his chair.

Whenever you see an article, you will find a noun with it. The noun may be the next word
as inthe man or there may be adjectives and perhaps adverbs between the article and the
noun as in the very angry, young man.

Review this lesson as many times as you want, and when you are ready, take the pop quiz
on this chapter.

END OF CHAPTER 9

Take Pop Quiz Quit Table of Contents Go to Chapter 10

 2002 INTERLINK LanguageCenters - Created by Mark Feder

Pop Quiz for Chapter 9

CLICK THE CORRECT ANSWER:

1) How many kinds of articles are there in English?

1 2 3 4 5

2) An article always comes with a

pronoun adjective noun verb preposition

3) An article is a kind of
pronoun conjunction noun adjective adverb
4) Which is not correct?
a ant the dog an elephant the monkey a cat

5) Which is not correct?

a shirt an hat the necktie the pajamas a shoe

6) Which is not correct?

a mile a kilometer a inch a foot a meter

7) Which is not correct?

an article an object an adverb an adjective an noun

8) Which is not correct?

I see a cat. I see her cat. I see cat. I see the cat. I see that cat.

9) How many articles are in the sentence: That was the best movie I have seen in a year.
0 1 2 3 4

10) How many articles are in the sentence: I saw a monkey and an elephant at the zoo.
0 1 2 3 4

End of Pop Quiz for Chapter 9

Table of Contents Quit Go to Chapter 10

2002 INTERLINK LanguageCenters - Created by Mark Feder