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January 19, 2012

Articles

96 comments

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Articles are of TWO types. They are
    1. Indefinite article  ----      A / An
    2. Definite article   ----      The
What's the difference?
If you want to say about ANY item, you should use the articles A / An. If you want to say about a SPECIFIC item, you should use the article THE.

Confused? Lets see an example. Assume that you've selected for a Bank Exam. You have a stupid friend like me. So obviously She will ask you a party.
Suppose if She says
  • Lets go to a Restaurant, that means She doesn't have any specific restaurant in Her mind. So you can give her party in ANY cheap restaurant.  But,
  • If she says Lets go to THE restaurant, that means She has some SPECIFICATIONS. I mean she have a specific restaurant in her mind. So you cant escape ;)
Well, this is the basic difference between A/An and The. There are so many differences and usages of these articles. We shall discuss them later.

Ok, lets discuss about the Indefinite articles first.

Indefinite Articles :

A : The indefinite article 'a' is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Consonant sound.
An : The indefinite article 'an" is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Vowel sound. 

Wow, Nice definitions. No?

Have a look at some examples,

A :
  • A Bat
  • A Cat
  • A Rat
  • A Jug
An :
  • An Apple
  • An Egg
  • AN Ink-Bottle
  • An Orange
  • An Umbrella
Great,

Now tell me, what should I use before the words European, One-Eyed Beggar, University, Useful Website?

Can I say, Guide4BankExams is an Useful site to know about Banking Exams? 

NO

why ?

Please Re-Read the definitions. Here we are talking about Vowel and Consonant SOUNDS. Not the Letters. People often confuse with this. They blindly put A before a word, if it starts with a Vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U) and put An before the word which starts with the consonant letter. 

Consider the SOUND, not the LETTER.

Confusing?  Lets see a short cut for this. 
  • If a word starts with a SWAR (Any of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use An before it.
  • If a word starts with a Vyanjan (An of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use A before it.
Have a look at this picture,





so, now see these examples,

A :
  • A European
  • A One-Eyed beggar
  • A University
  • A Useful Website

An:
  • An hour
  • An Honest Man
  • An honourable person
Thats it.

Now lets see some more TRICKY examples in English.

Suppose , if you want to say about the Member of Parliament, you can say a Member of Parliament, But if you use shorter form as M.P, Then you should say, He is an M.P

Lets see another example, He is an NRI but He is a Non Resident Indian


Thats all for now friends, tomorrow we shall discuss about the article THE.

Good Day

Read more English Shortcuts Here >>

                                                                                                           

96 comments:

  1. hi , i can understand the swar n vyanjan sound coz i dono hindi

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    Replies
    1. Ok tell me which is your mother tongue... We'll explain.

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    2. mam i can't understand swar n vyanjan sound plz explain.........

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    3. Tell me which is your mother tongue (local language), I will explain in that language....

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    4. Ok, for the letters starting with the sound of "Uyir ezhluthu" you should use "An"

      and for the letters starting with the sound of "Uyirmei ezhuthu" you should use "A"

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    5. shivani mam,thank u soo much.....

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    6. really your doing very well job madam...thank u

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    7. madam i cant understand swar and vyanjan....my mother tongue is telugu.

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  2. great blog help me lots to preparing ibps 2012 thanx shivani mam
    keep it up

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  3. wow...nice tips...maam...u r great...

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  4. faboulous style mam...its really easy way to explain articles...

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  5. mam explain swar and vyanjan in tamil...

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    Replies
    1. Very much useful mam,especially uyir eluthu and uyirmai eluthu

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  6. please provide pdf files to download.....

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  7. which is the best location in india

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  8. Plz upload pdf files of english lessons

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  9. Plz provide pdf files of english lessons to easy to read

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    Replies
    1. if u want to download the pdf then press ctrl+p then in left corner a option called destination choose save as pdf then click on save ..........................

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  10. Swar and vyanjan sounds in TELUGU

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  11. gr8 its reallyyy useful

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  12. shivani mam great job mam!!! keep going!!!

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  13. thanks a lot shivani ma'am.. u have made understanding english much more easier..

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  14. shivani mam, can u tell me the swar and vyanjan sounds in telugu. i am little bit confused about where to put a and an. thank you in advance

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    Replies
    1. Swar means Achhulu... Vyanjan means Hallulu...

      Achhulu vaste An

      Hallulu vaste A..

      hope it helped :)

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    2. what a talent u have mam u r awesome .......what ever language people are asking u r telling....u r extraordinary...by the way thanks a lot to whole of gr8ambitionz

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  15. Gr8 tips fr studnts n easy to remembr n recognize....

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  16. kindly send english shortcuts as pdf to sreyathanu@gmail.com

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  17. ma'am u r doing a gr888 job...I like the way u explain d things.... u make it so easy to understand... :) :)
    Thank u so much... :)

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  18. mam kindly send english shortcut pdf to sankareswaribca@yahoo.com

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  19. Mam my mothertongue is bengali.i can't understand swar & vyanjan.pls explain it

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    Replies
    1. Swar is nothing but shôrobôrno Anindya.

      Vyanjan means bênjonbôrno.

      Hope you got it now :)

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    2. mem i am bengali,, now i am understand shoroborno and benjonborno,, thank u...

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  20. mam your explanation power is too good...thank u very much :)

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  21. hi mam
    what do you mean by sound,i cant get it
    plz explain me

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  22. thank you very much. now I understood that I was wrong many times

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  23. Simply Awesome ...I regret why didnt i find this website earlier .

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  24. please upload the last 6 months current affairs like 2012 dec, nov and oct months, for IBPS PO'S

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  25. i i cant understand swar & vyajan bec i dont know hindi, pl explain as per tamil language

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  26. this is is very useful for all who prepare for competitive exams......well explained..also add g.k,currrent affairs,social,science,history ,geography,letter writing,essay writing,resume,cv writing etc as u wish....

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  27. Nice job mam thanks

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  28. only one word wowwww

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  29. mam..is der any mistake in ur explanation about the 'sounds' in the above para.(Here we are talking about vowel and consonant sounds.Not the Letters.......this para..)

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  30. thankss...for post...really helpful....

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  31. mam thankss for the post....really helpful...

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  32. MAM PLEASE UPLOAD SERIES FOR TESTING CALCULATION ASAP

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  33. this is very help full, thank you so much

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  34. this is very helpful thank you so much

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  35. Mam. ..swar like ri..sounds like Ri...a consonant R...then how can we put "an" article before it???...kindly ans mam...

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  36. really u r doing a great job

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  37. mam i cant understand y A B4 EUROPEAN, eventhough vowel sound E is sounding while spekin
    ,,,,,,

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  38. mam i cant understand y A b4 EUROPEAN,, eventhough Vowel sound E is soundin while pronouncing

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  39. actually Vasu, if you carefully listen the pronounciation of EUROPEAN, it's "yuropean" and not "eyuropean".
    So there is no sound of 'E'.

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  40. actually Vasu, if you carefully listen the pronounciation of EUROPEAN, it's "yuropean" and not "eyuropean".
    So there is no sound of 'E'.

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  41. thankyou sir it is so much useful for me

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  42. can u plz explain swar and vyanjan in kannada

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  43. i a, not getting exact ..jo swar se sound hoota hai uske liye"AN" use karna hai
    aur jo vanjam ..sa sound hoo raha hai uske liye "A" ko use karna hai ...plz tell me mam?

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  44. please anyone clarify for 'a one-eyed beggar"

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  45. hello mam,
    im kindly requesting you to send english grammar pdf files to alladi.srikanthyadav@gmail.com

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  46. This is very best thing u have define in this website.
    I salute u bro.

    Thanks alot.

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  47. Hello Mam,
    you have define all the thing very well.
    I salute you.

    Thanks alot.

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  48. 4 more notes on article go to :http://www.campusgate.co.in/2014/03/rules-pertaining-to-usage-of-articles.html

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  49. SO CLEARLY IT IS EXPLAINED SIR.......... THANK U FOR THAT.. BUT IN EXAM SOME KIND OF CONFUSION AM GETTIN... I THINK I HV TO PRACTICE,,

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  50. SIR I DNT KNOW HW PEOPLE R GIVING DER NAME HER................

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  51. In telugu how can be differentiated

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  52. good afternoon mam first of all thank you for this great job your doing.could you help me in finding any website or any audio topics for pronounciation in english since as a telugu medium student i cannot know how to pronounce so many words properly.i want to improve it and crack bank jobs thank you in advance.

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  53. hi shivani maam ,I read ur artcle and its very useful
    I have some doubts can u please tell me where is the in the sentences given below.
    1) of the two,solutions the second was,definitely better.
    2) I have been, informed that,mr.clinton visits rajasthan,following month
    3) whatever little, milk left in the bottle , was drunk by your cat

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  54. Thank you mam for teaching me concept of 'a' and 'an' artical.

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  55. Thank you so much it's wonder full explanation...:D

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  56. hello mam.. kya ye aapke 8 lesson competative exam ke liye enough hai ,, ya aur kuch padhna padega...

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  57. good job shivani mam ,very useful thanx a lot:-)

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  58. madam explain that sounds in telugu please....urgent as i am going to attend the postal assistant exam sooon

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  59. madam please explain the article sounds in telugu in urgent...as i am going to attend the postal exam soooon

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  60. Well explained! But, I'm not clear with these sentences They blindly put A before a word, if it starts with a Vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U) and put An before the word which starts with the consonant letter. 

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  61. Dinesh babu: emina word atchu sound vaste an vastundi, hallu sound vaste a vastundi.

    అఆఇఈఉఊఎఏఐఒఓఔఅం lu atchulu.

    కఖగఘఙచఛజఝఞటఠడఢణతథదధనపఫబభమయరలవశషసహ lu hallu lu.

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  62. Mam super mam especially uyir ezhuluthu n uyirmei ezhuthu,How did u learn tamil??,its somewhat difficult to learn the grammar of tamil

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  63. thank you mam
    you have explained very well.

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  64. Man i dnt knw hindi ....plz explain the words SWAR and YAN... in KANNDA plz mam

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  65. Please remove the mouse lock from this site.

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  66. gr8 mem...very nice

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  67. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  68. I couldn't understand swar and vyanjan part. Pls explain me mam. My mother tongue is bangla

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