Merilane: Thanks for turning up, Fastidious.
Fastidious: No problem. Living the dream!
Merilane: Of course. What have you got for us today?
Fastidious: Articles, Merilane, and I don’t mean the legal variety.
Merilane: Tell me then, what are these articles you speak of?
Fastidious: They are Parts of Speech. There are two types: Definite and Indefinite.
Merilane: Would I understand the usage better by knowing the meanings of these terms?
Fastidious: Definitely! Whatever works for you. Definite means something clear, certain, or fixed. Whereas, indefinite refers to something more vague, and unclear. So …
1. The definite article THE is used to draw attention to specific or particular nouns in a sentence.
eg: The longest river in the world is the Nile. (This sentence refers to a specific river.)
2. The indefinite article A/AN is used to draw attention to general nouns in a sentence.
eg: A river is a body of water, just like an ocean. (This sentence makes a generalised statement about rivers.)
Merilane: Why did you use the indefinite article an?
Fastidious: An is used before nouns starting with an unpronounced h or a vowel.
Merilane: Thanks. I’m up to speed.
Fastidious: My work here is done.
Merilane: Brilliant. Hey. Why are you wearing such dark glasses inside?
Fastidious: I was reading Hemingway’s Snows of Kilimanjaro and the snow was so bright it hurt my eyes! 😉
Kyla-Jayne Rajah
Author, Poet and lover of words. Kyla-Jayne enjoys editing, writing and publishing books for her gorgeous clients. In her spare time she talks to the cat, walks the coastline, and pursues her own writing goals.