La Academic

On this occasion English Learners Club is going to discuss the usage of the . The definite article the is the most frequent word in English. We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the hearer/reader knows exactly what we are referring to. • because there is only one : The Pope is visiting China. The sun is very bright today. The Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979. This is why we use the definite article with a superlative adjective: He is the tallest boy in the class. It is the oldest building in the town. • because there is only one in that place or in those surroundings: We live in a small village next to the mosque.  =  (the mosque in our village) = When we stayed at my grandmother’s house we went to the beach every day.  =  (the beach near my grandmother’s house) Look at the boy in the blue shirt over there.  = (the boy I am pointing at)...

The 3  articles  in English are  a, an  and  the . The learner has to decide noun-by-noun which one of the articles to use. The word  a  (which becomes  an  when the next word begins with a vowel - a, e, i, o, u) is called the indefinite article because the noun it goes with is indefinite or general. The meaning of the article a is similar to the number one, but one is stronger and gives more emphasis. It is possible to say I have a book or I have one book, but the second sentence emphasizes that I do not have two or three or some other number of books. The word  the  is known as the definite article and indicates a specific thing. The difference between the sentences I sat on a chair and I sat on the chair is that the second sentence refers to a particular, specific chair, not just any chair. Many nouns, especially singular forms of countable nouns must have an article. In English, it is not possible to say I sat on chai...