The Article

Richard:

Please, sir, what part of speech is a or an or the?

Teacher:

Well, what do you think? What do they always go with? Here are some examples: a book, an apple, the dog, the house.

Richard:

They always seem to go with nouns.

Teacher:

Quite right. The is called the definite article and a (an) the indefinite article.

Richard:

Please, sir, what's the difference between a and an?

Teacher:

Well, here are some examples:

a boy an apple

a horse an ear

a ship an ink-bottle

a dog an orange

Now can you tell me the answer?

Richard:

Oh yes, I see it. If the noun begins with a consonant sound, you use a, but if it begins with a vowel sound you use an.

Teacher:

You are right. But with words like hour, honour, honest we use an, because the h is not sounded.

A (an) originally means one, e. g. “Tom has an apple” means. “Tom has one apple.”

So a or an can go with any noun, Frederick?

Frederick:

Oh, no; only if they are singular number.

Teacher:

Of course! You can say “a book” but not “a books”, “a woman” but not “a women”.

The plural of a book is books or some books. Here are a few examples.

Singular

A horse is a useful animal.

An apple grows on a tree.

There is a book on the table.

Plural

Horses are useful animals.

Apples are on trees.

There are books on the table.

Now, here's a question for you, John:

Can a or an used with any singular noun?

John:

Yes, I think so.

Ann:

No, I think we can use a (an) with countable nouns; we can't use a (an) with uncountable nouns.

Teacher:

Yes, you are right. But sometimes we use a (an) with uncountable nouns, but the meaning of the words is changed, e. g.

iron

ice

science

work

decision

an iron

an ice

a science

a work

a decision