English Grammar

English Grammar

Lesson 1

Objectives

ESL Students will learn about the basic use of articles in the sentence structure. They will also able to differentiate between indefinite and definite articles at the end of lesson 1.

Activities

Different exercises for the use of articles are designed to engage students in a constructive activity.

Articles

Article is a word in English grammar which precedes a noun. There are two types of articles in English grammar; the definite article and the indefinite article. The definite article will specify a particular individual or a proper noun whereas; the indefinite article shows that the noun is a member of the class (Nordquist, 2013). Indefinite Article

This article includes “An” and “A” which are used for non-specific and common noun. Examples include: He sold a shirt, she eats an apple.

There is a major difference between “An” and “A” usage. The article “An” will be used when the noun starts with a vowel or a consonant starting with a vowel sound whereas; “A” will be used when the noun starts with a consonant. A cat, a picture, a tree, a book, an apple, an umbrella, an hour, an honest man are some examples of indefinite articles (Nordquist, 2013).

Rules of Using “A, An”

There are certain rules in the usage of indefinite articles in the sentence. The first rule is the difference between the usage of “an” and “a”, which has already described above (Shoebottom, 2013).

1. A or an will be used when before a countable singular noun. For example: He bought a shirt. He is using an umbrella. He is an honest man. 2. These articles are used to describe certain amount or quantity.For example: A dozen of eggs, a lot of people, a couple of shoes. 3. These articles are should be used before any singular noun which refers to a class.For example: A mango is a king of fruits, an orange is full of vitamin C. 4. These articles can be used before the name of any profession.For example: He is a doctor, is he an engineer, and is she a shoe maker? 5. These articles should be used for certain numbers like thousand, hundred. For example: He makes a double hundred, she has won a million of pounds. 6. These articles should be used before a countable singular noun in exclamation (Shoebottom, 2013). For example: What a nice color boy! What a lovely weather!

Definite Article

Definite article used in English grammar is “The” which is used for particular or specific noun. Examples include: He bought the car; I am in love with the shirt hanging there. In both examples, article “the” before the noun “car” and “shirt” mean that the car he bought and the shirt, he is in love with are particular things (Shoebottom, 2013). Rule of Using “The”

This article can be used with both singular and plural nouns but according to some grammatical rules. Following are some rules which should be followed in sentence structure. 1. This article is used before any object, ...