A Simple Guide To Articles

Articles

Definite and Indefinite Articles 
(i) 'A' and 'an' are Indefinite Articles.
 (ii) 'The' is Definite Article. 
 (iii) 'A' and 'an' modify a noun in a general way. 
 (iv) 'The' particularises it. e.g., Mohan has a pen.
The pen which you gave me was expensive.

Vowel and Consonant Sounds 
(i) 'A' is used before words starting with the sound of a consonant. 
(ii) 'An' is used before a vowel sound (vowels a, e, i, o, u) e.g., a book, a cat, a useful thing, a European girl, a university, but an FDR, an MA, an honest boy, an hour, an owl, an egg, an umbrella, etc. Use of Articles 'A' and 'An'
A cat mews. (i.e., every cat)
The cat of my neighbour mews day and night. (i.e., a particular cat)
He gave me an egg. (Here 'an' means 'one') 

Use of Article 'The'
1. 'The' is used before names of rivers, mountains, seas, oceans: The Himalayas, the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, the Nile, the English Channel, etc.
2. Names of newspapers and magazines: The Times of India, the Tribune, The Sun, etc.
3. Names of the famous and holy books: The Guru Granth Sahib, The Gita, The Ramayana, etc.
4. Names of creations of nature: the sun, the earth, the moon, the sky, etc.
5. While using Adjectives as Nouns: The poor should be helped by the rich.
6. Sometimes with the Comparative Degree: The more you think, the more you worry.
7. With the Superlative Degree: She is the most intelligent girl in our school.
8. Before the imaginary lines and directions: The Latitude, The Equator, the east, the west, etc.
9. Before the names of musical instruments: the violin, the piano, the flute, etc.
10. While using a Proper Noun as a Common Noun: Mohan is the Sachin of our team.

Omission of Article 'The'
1. Before some Nouns used to convey general sense, articles are not used but are used to particularise them:
Man is mortal.

2. Before Proper Nouns:
Rakesh is an intelligent boy.

3. With Abstract Noun:
Childhood is the prime time of one's life.
The childhood of Sohan was full of sorrow.

4. With Material Nouns:
Milk is an essential food.
The milk of the cow is sweet.

5. Usually no article is used before names of diseases:
Cancer is a fatal disease.
However, when we talk about a disease figuratively, we use an article before its name, e.g. Corruption is a cancer.

6. Names of games and language:
I like football.
I can speak Punjabi, Hindi and English.

7. Gold is a precious metal.

NOTE: As you must have noted above, the definite article 'the' has been used where a noun is particularised.

Double Use of Article 'The'
Read the following sentences carefully to understand this :
1. The poet and novelist has been honoured. (The same person is the poet as well as novelist)
2. The poet and the novelist have been honoured. (The poet and the novelist are two different persons).
3. I have a black and white dog. (that is, one dog)
4. I have a black and a white dog. (that is, two dogs)