Indefinite Articles
Definition : they are placed before nouns and adjectives.They help define the specificity of a noun and an adjective.
Types : Definite (the)
Indefinite (a.an)
Indefinite articles : they are used to indicate the generic charateristic of a noun.They are called indefinite also because they usually leave indefinite the person or thing spoken of.
The difference between a and an
A- used before singular countable nouns
an - used before a word begining with a vowel sound
[though there are 5 vowels in the English Alphabet (a,e,i,o,u) they represent 20 sounds,hence many a time the word spelling might begin with a vowel letter but the sound might be a consonant sound]
eg. one is pronounced as /won/ which is a consonant sound and hence we say 'a one rupee note'
university is pronounced as /yu/ which is a consonant sound and hence 'a university'
hour is pronounced as /our/ which is a vowel sound and hence 'an hour'
This explanation should help you understand the answers in this quiz on indefinite articles
Answers
- I'll be back in an hour.
- He bought a one room kitchen flat.
- Let us have dinner. [no article required]
- Sreedhar is a/the most intelligent student. [ 'a most' would mean very and 'the most' would mean the superlative degree of the adjective much]
- I had a late lunch today. [we use 'a' when there is an adjective before nouns indicating meals]
Ma'am, for the fourth Q. how can we use 'a' , because the adjective is in the superlative form
ReplyDelete-Anand
nice and simple test.
ReplyDeletenice & simple test
ReplyDeletei didnt get the 4th ans. hw can we use a?
ReplyDeleteI didnt understood the 4th answer. Though it is in a superlative degree, how we can use the article 'a'.
ReplyDeletei dint get the 2nd question..when it is a vowel how can v use A,an not An
ReplyDeleteis anybody there to answer the above queries?
ReplyDeleteDear Anand and Mohit,
ReplyDeleteIn the fourth sentence if you read the explanation it says most when used in the superlative degree would take the article 'the' but 'a most' would mean very which is also appropriate in the above context.
Dear Anonymous (plz mention your names while posting a comment,it helps in answering the queries),
ReplyDeleteThe usage of a/an depends on the sound of the first letter of the word.If the word begins with a vowel sound it takes 'an' but when it begins with a consonant sound it takes 'a'.
In the 2nd example the word 'one' is pronounced as 'won' which is a consonant sound.So though the word spelling begins with a vowel it does not take a 'an' as the pronunciation is a consonant sound.
Dear anguished Anonymous :) ,
ReplyDeleteThere are some time constraints we all face as part of our schedules.You need to give us that much concession to reply to your queries.
Nevertheless that does not discount my answering these queries late but you need appreciate the problems we face at our end.
I would surely try to answer at the earliest.
in the second sentence a means one and one is already there in the sentence so why is there a need to use a????
ReplyDeleteDear Mona,
ReplyDeleteThe article 'a' is used to give a generic meaning to the noun and not to be used as an indefinite pronoun one.Hence in the second sentence we need to use the article 'a'
Sreedhar is a/the most intelligent student. [ 'a most' would mean very and 'the most' would mean the superlative degree of the adjective much]
ReplyDeletei did not get the sentence