EclecticEnglish.Com

[alper kenber]

Hı everyone ı am from Istanbul
ı have leaving some problems about "a" "an" "the"
and ı cant write easily essay how can ı write can you help me please...

thanks
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c.alper kenber

[romiesp]

sorry to disturb ur thread...i'm beginner and my english is very poor...can i learn from this site?

[nikita]

Hello, there!

It’s not easy to explain how English articles (“a”, “an”, “the”, and “ “ or zero article) work. But I will try to do it, but not in just one posting.

Here is something to start from.

We put “a” before consonants (b, c, d, etc), and we put “an” before “vowels” (a, e, i, etc).

You can say “a” or “an” only when you can say “one”. For example, “a chair”, “a friend”, “a CD”. Consequently, if you cannot say “one”, for example, before uncountable or plural nouns, you cannot put “a/an” before this noun.

Compare:
“I want to become a sportsman.”
“They want to become sportsmen.”

“I have bought a new CD.”
“I have bought some new CDs.”

Normally, we put “a”/”an” before new information, and “the” before the information that has already been mentioned, or we know already.

For example:
“I have a son and a daughter. The son lives at home, but the daughter is a student at university.”

To be continued...

Nikita