Students should refer to the following Article Rules of English Grammar. These rules have been designed by expert English teachers to help students appearing in English Exams in schools or competitive examinations. You should remember the following Article Rules so that you can use them correctly and score good marks in examinations. You should refer to all Rules of English Grammar provided by us to strengthen your understanding.

Article Rules

The Indefinite Articles: A and An
The indefinite article ‘a’ is used before:
Rule 1- A word beginning with a letter having a consonant sound.
• Examples: a book, a man, a dinner.

Rule 2- A word beginning with ‘u’ or ‘eu’ giving the consonant sound of ‘yu’.
• Examples: a European, a university.

Rule 3- A word that begins with a letter (like O) with the sound like ‘wa’
• Examples: a one-rupee note, a one-eyed man, a one man army etc.

Rule 4- ‘A’ is used before indefinite numbers.
For Eg – a great deal of , a lot of, a large no of , a quarter of etc

Rule 5- A is used before indefinite collective numbers
For eg – a team of , a flock of , a gang of , a herd of, a panel of etc

Rule 6- When a verb is used as a noun, ‘A’ is used before it.
For eg- She has gone for a ride.
I had a talk with her

Rule 7- ‘A’ is used instead of ‘per’
For eg – Oranges are sold at 50 RS a kg.

Rule 8 – If a noun is modified by an adjective and the initial sound of
adjective is consonant then ‘a’ is used
For eg – A broken egg , a European country etc

Rule 9 – ‘A’ is also used in following situations :-
• Half a KG , Half a dozen etc ( Half a ….. )
• What a beautiful day , What a tough questions ( Exclamations )
• In phrases like – in a hurry , in a nutshell, in a fix

The indefinite article ‘an’ is used before:

Rule 10- A word beginning with a letter like a, e, i, o, u having a vowel sound.
• Examples: an elephant, an egg, an umbrella, an idiot, an apple etc.

Rule 11 – A word beginning with ‘h’ but the pronunciation starts with a vowel sound.
• Examples: an hour, an honest man, an heir etc.

Rule 12- An abbreviation, the first letter of which is consonant but pronunciation starts with a sound of vowel
• Examples: an M.P., an M.Com degree , an X mas tree, an M.L.A

Rule 13 – If a noun is modified by an adjective and the initial sound of adjective is of a vowel then ‘an’ is used
For eg – An unusual problem

The Definite Article: The
Article “THE” is used in the following ways:

Rule 14 – Before the names of the historical or public buildings:
• Ex- The HawaMahal, The Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, etc

Rule 15- Before the name of Oceans: , The Antarctic ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, etc.

Rule 16 – Before the names of rivers: The Brahmaputra, the Krishna, the Ganga, the Yamuna etc.

Rule 17 – Before the names of seas: The Black sea, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea etc.

Rule 18 – Before the names of certain chains of Mountains: the Himalayas, the Alps, etc.

Rule 19 – Before the names of deserts: the Sahara, the Thar, etc.

Rule 20 – Before the name of groups of islands: the Andamans, the West Indies, etc.

Rule 21 – Before the names of newspapers, magazines etc: The times of India, the Hindustan Times, the Deccan Chronicle etc

Rule 22- The is used before certain adjectives to give a plural meaning.
For Eg- The Blind, The Deaf, The rich, The poor, The dead, The sick, the healthy etc.
 • The rich = rich people
 • The Dead = Dead People
 • The poor = poor people
Example:
 • Wise think before they speak (Incorrect)
  The wise think before they speak (correct

Rule23 – Before the names of certain countries (This is an exception): the Yemen, the Sudan, the Hague, etc

Rule 24 – Before a noun when special emphasis is needed.
• Example : This is the book I wanted. (not any book, but a particular book)

Rule 25- Before a common noun to give it the meaning of an abstract noun.
Examples : At last the father in him prevailed and excused him.

Rule 26- In special comparatives
• Examples:
1. The more you earn, the more you can help the poor
2. The more, the better

Rule 27- Before musical instruments.
• Examples:
Rajani can play piano very well (Incorrect)
Rajani can play the piano very well. (correct)

Rule 28 – Before the names of certain countries each of which is a union of smaller units.
• Examples : the U.S.A., the west indies, the U.A.E., the U.S.S.R etc.

Rule 29 – Before some proper nouns consisting of adjectives and noun or noun + of + noun
• Examples : the State Bank of India, the National Museum

Rule 30- Before north, south east, west etc when these are used as nouns.
• Examples : the north of India, the Middle East, the West Asia.

Rule 31 – Before the names of political parties.
• Example : the BJP, the Congress

Rule 32 – Before the dates of months.
Examples : the 23rd Nov 1950, the 15th Oct 1947, etc.

Rule 33- Before ‘only’ and ordinal numbers, such as first, second, millionth etc.
and adjectives of a number.
• Examples :
1. All the students of a first year are invited. (Incorrect
All the students of the first year are invited (correct)

2. Second question is tough (Incorrect)
The second question is tough. (correct)

3. He is only one in the class who got selected for Google. (Incorrect)
He is the only one in the class who got selected for Google. (correct)