Definite and Indefinite Articles

THE, A, AN

Definite Article
The is used:
1. To refer to something which has already been mentioned.
An elephant and a mouse fell in love.

The mouse loved the elephants trunk, and the elephant loved the mouses tiny nose.

2. In sentences or clauses where we define or identify a particular person or object.

The man who wrote this book is famous. Which car did you scratch? The red one. My house is the one with a blue door.

3. To refer to objects we regard as unique.

the sun the moon the world

4. Before superlatives and ordinal numbers. the highest building, the first page, the last chapter

5. With adjectives to refer to a whole group of people. the Japanese the old

6. With names of geographical areas and oceans. the Caribbean the Sahara the Atlantic

7. With decades or groups of years.

she grew up in the seventies

Indefinite Article
A Use a with nouns starting with a consonant (b,c,d,f,g) Ex. a boy a car a house An Use an with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) Ex. an apple an orange an opera

Note: 1. 2.

An before an h mute (an hour, an honour) A before u and eu when they sound like you
(a European, a university, a unit)

The indefinite article is used: to refer to something for the first time
An elephant and a mouse fell in love.

to refer to a particular member of a group or class

Quantifiers
-CARDINALS AND ORDINAL NUMBERS -QUANTIFIERS WITH COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS -A FEW AND FEW, A LITTLE AND LITTLE -SOME AND ANY

Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

Cardinal Numbers (one, two, three, etc.) -refer to quantity Ex. 1. There are twentyfive people in the room. 2. Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake. Ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) -refer to distribution Ex. 1. He was the fourteenth person to win the award since 1934. 2. I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.

Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Only with uncountable nouns With uncountable and countable nouns Only with countable nouns

How much?
A little A bit (of)

How much? or How many?

no/none Not any

How many?
A few A number (of)

A great deal of A large amount of -

Some (any)
A lot of Plenty of Lots of + noun

several
A large number of A great number of -

A few and few, a little and little

A few and a little describe the quantity in a positive way. Ex.
1.

Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way. Ex.

1.

2.

Ive got a few friends(=maybe not many, but enough) Ive got a little money(=Ive got enough to live on)

2.

Few people visited him in the hospital(=he almost had no visitors) He had little money(=almost no money)

Some and Any

Some is used in positive statements Ex.
1.
2.

I had some rice for lunch. Hes got some books from the library.

Any is used in question and with not in negative statements. Ex.

1. 2.

Have you got any tea. He didnt give me any tea.