When to use A and AN | Grammar Lesson (PART 1) Indefinite Articles
Aug 24, 2023
When to use A and AN | Grammar Lesson (PART 1) Indefinite Articles
We are learning how \u0026 when to use A and AN - the indefinite articles in English grammar! I’ve got 4 simple rules you must learn plus, some pronunciation practice so you use A \u0026 AN naturally when you speak! https://www.mmmenglish.com/2022/03/29 …https://bit.ly/hey-lady-trial https://bit.ly/hey-lady-trial https://bit.ly/mmmEnglishCourses https://bit.ly/prepositions8x8 https://bit.ly/mmmEnglishImitationCourse https://www.grammarly.com/mmmenglish http://www.audibletrial.com/mmmEnglish http://bit.ly/mmmEnglish http://bit.ly/mmmEnglishFB http://bit.ly/mmmEnglishInsta http://bit.ly/Subscribe2mmmEnglish
Content
0.08 -> Well hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
4.08 -> Today we are talking about English articles.
7.52 -> Those little tiny but super
10.24 -> important words that you will need to
use in almost every English sentence.
15.92 -> Here's the thing, if you're making mistakes
with articles in your spoken English,
21.44 -> it's unlikely that native speakers will
correct you because, let's be honest,
26.72 -> we can usually work out what you mean despite
your mistakes, but they will be noticed.
34.56 -> There are two types of articles in
English: definite and indefinite.
39.36 -> Today we're going to focus on the
indefinite article and that is 'a/an'.
45.6 -> You'll see that when my next video comes out it
is a deep dive into the definite article 'the'.
52.72 -> So make sure you're subscribed, that you turn
on notifications, so that you don't miss out.
58.72 -> I want you to be able to watch this
complete package of lessons about articles.
64.16 -> Let's get into the first one.
71.44 -> Okay, in this lesson I have four simple rules
to help you use indefinite articles accurately.
79.12 -> I'm also going to show you how to
pronounce a and an naturally when you speak
85.12 -> and at the end I have a quiz to help
you practice everything you learn
89.92 -> just to make sure all of these rules
92 -> are locked into your memory and you
can use them when you need them.
96.24 -> Let's start with the basics.
98.24 -> There are two indefinite articles.
100.64 -> You should know this by now because i've
already mentioned them. Tell me, what are they?
109.28 -> A, an. But do you know when and
why we need to use each one?
116.24 -> We use a with nouns that
begin with a consonant sound.
120.64 -> A cat. A mirror. A fan. A zoo.
126.48 -> All of these nouns start
with a consonant: c, m, f, z.
132.64 -> We use an before nouns that
begin with a vowel sound.
137.6 -> An apple. An ice cream. An orange. An umbrella.
143.84 -> So we use an before a word that
starts with a vowel: a, i, o, and u.
150.56 -> But there is something super important
that you need to remember here and that is
156.16 -> that we're talking about vowel
and consonant sounds not letters.
161.92 -> I know it sounds crazy but not all vowel
letters are pronounced as vowel sounds
168.96 -> and some consonant letters are actually
silent and they're not pronounced at all.
174.48 -> Let me show you what I mean.
176.08 -> University. Umbrella.
180.4 -> So the u in university is pronounced
184.88 -> "you". University. As if it's written
with the consonant letter y. That sound y.
193.52 -> We say university. So the
article we use is a university.
200.24 -> Now the u in umbrella is pronounced "a". Umbrella.
207.28 -> So this time the u is pronounced as a vowel
sound so we need to use an an umbrella.
216.08 -> It's the same with these two
examples: orange and one-off event.
222 -> So the o in orange is pronounced
o. That's a vowel sound. An orange.
230.16 -> But the o in one is pronounced
with a consonant sound "w".
238.32 -> So we need to use a. A one-off event. Got it?
244.56 -> The same thing happens with consonants that are
silent or they're pronounced as vowel sounds.
250 -> Like in hour where the h is silent. The first
sound in hour is a vowel sound so we say an hour.
262 -> Now if you compare that to
263.84 -> hippopotamus. Well the h is not silent.
A hippopotamus. We hear that "h" sound.
273.44 -> We've talked about how
articles are used before nouns.
277.76 -> Well sometimes we use other words in
front of a noun, like this adjective.
284.96 -> The articles that you choose, relate to the
word that comes directly after it in a sentence.
291.44 -> So we say an hour but a happy hour.
297.76 -> An umbrella, but a wet
umbrella. Does that make sense?
304.08 -> if you're not sure you can always
use a good dictionary to tell you how
308.64 -> a word is pronounced correctly,
311.04 -> whether or not the first sound
is a consonant or a vowel sound
316.08 -> Every time that you learn a new noun in
English, when you learn it for the first time,
321.6 -> always write it down with the
correct article straight away.
326 -> Learn the article together with the noun and
that way you will never need to think about:
331.76 -> which article should I be using?
333.92 -> And since we're talking about pronunciation,
336.72 -> in naturally spoken English we
pronounce this as /ʌ/ or /ə/ not /eɪ/
346 -> and we say /ən/ not /æn/.
352.4 -> A cat. Not /eɪ/ cat. An apple. Not /æn/ apple.
358.96 -> So now let's get stuck into the juicy stuff.
The rules. When do we use these articles?
365.44 -> Rule number one: use the indefinite article
with singular countable nouns. Write this down!
373.28 -> In many languages the indefinite
article is actually just
377.44 -> the number one. There is one book on the table.
381.92 -> In English it is much more common and more
natural to use a or an instead of one.
388.88 -> Sure one is used, but generally, it's used
392.8 -> to emphasise that something
is singular and not plural.
397.12 -> If you're not sure whether or not
to use the indefinite article,
400.8 -> it can be really helpful to think about it
by replacing a or an with the number one.
408 -> A book. one book. It's the same thing.
411.36 -> But if the noun is plural or it's an uncountable
noun, we can't use it with the number one, can we?
419.36 -> So we also can't use it
with an indefinite article.
423.04 -> Okay, I'm going to put up a list
of nouns and I want you to see
427.76 -> if you can guess which ones
take a or an as their article.
450.64 -> A cat. A strawberry. An olive. Children
and friends are plural nouns so
458.8 -> we can't use a singular a or an and milk is
uncountable so we also can't use a or an.
468.16 -> We only use a or an with
singular countable nouns. Got it?
475.52 -> Rule number two: use the indefinite article
to introduce something for the first time
482.32 -> To show you what I mean here we're going to
read a little story together. It's very quick
507.52 -> Notice that each time we introduce a new noun into
the story we use the indefinite article a or an,
515.68 -> but the next time we refer to the same
noun we use the definite article the.
523.28 -> The indefinite article helps us to
talk generally about a noun. A woman is
529.84 -> one of many it could be any one of them,
there are many women on the planet.
536.24 -> The woman helps us to be specific
about which woman we're talking about.
542.08 -> Sometimes it's already clear or it's obvious
545.6 -> which noun we're referring to. So we can actually
introduce a noun for the first time using the.
554.24 -> Oh the doorbell's ringing. Did you hear it?
559.36 -> Sure somewhere in the world right now, in
this moment, a doorbell is probably ringing,
565.36 -> but because I said the.
568.48 -> We can assume that I mean my doorbell is ringing.
My doorbell, in my house not any random doorbell.
576.8 -> The good news is that my next lesson
here on YouTube will be all about the.
582.4 -> So make sure you're subscribing and that you
pay attention to the next lesson that I release.
588.32 -> It's gonna couple with this one nicely and give
you a complete overview of articles in English.
595.44 -> Rule number three: we use a or an when
describing something that is not specific.
602.48 -> I've got a little tip to help you
here, to help you understand this rule.
607.6 -> If you can replace a or an with
any you're not being specific.
614.24 -> So let's say you walk into a bakery and
you say: "I'd like a piece of cake please"
621.6 -> Well you know it's a bakery and it's
the morning. There's a whole cake there,
626.8 -> and let's say there are eight or
there's ten pieces of cake there.
631.44 -> You haven't said which exact
piece of cake you want.
636.16 -> You said "I'll have a piece of cake".
I'll have any piece of cake. It's not
642.32 -> important which particular piece it
is as long as I get a piece of cake.
647.28 -> If there was more than one type of cake you
might want to specify what type of cake you want.
654.4 -> A piece of chocolate cake or
a piece of carrot cake, right?
659.76 -> I've got another example for you:
we found a key on the ground.
665.52 -> So it's a random key. The type of key is not
clear. There was just any old key on the ground.
673.84 -> But you compare that with
the car key was on the ground
679.44 -> or the house key was on the ground
or my keys were on the ground.
686.4 -> In all of these examples I talked about a specific
690.08 -> type of key and in that case we
can't replace the or my with any.
698.24 -> Alright? Because we're being specific.
701.28 -> Rule number four: use a or
an with jobs and job titles.
707.36 -> Now this one might be a little obvious
to you but I want to highlight it because
712.48 -> not every language uses articles in this same way.
716.8 -> I'm particularly thinking about my German
students but who else uses articles like this?
723.44 -> Do you use articles with jobs in your native
language? Let me know down in the comments
728.72 -> because I think it's probably
way more than i realise!
732.08 -> In English, when we want to describe
what someone does for a living,
735.84 -> we use a or an with the job title.
740.16 -> I'm a teacher. He's an engineer.
Lucy's a scientist. Daniel's a nurse.
747.68 -> Why do we need these articles?
750.72 -> Because there are millions of teachers and
scientists and nurses all over the world.
756.72 -> Lucy is just one of many scientists. So
unless you're describing a specific job
763.76 -> that is unique to one person, then
we use a or an as the job title.
769.84 -> The exception to this rule
is when there is only one
773.52 -> of this role so in that case, we would use the.
778 -> Elizabeth is the Queen of England, that's
because there is only one Queen of England.
785.52 -> There is only one President of the United
States. So when an American says "The President"
793.52 -> you can assume that they're talking about the
only guy in their country that has that job
799.28 -> and hopefully one day soon it
will be a woman who has that job.
803.52 -> There is one mistake that I often
hear my students making with
808.08 -> indefinite articles and I wonder
if you make this same mistake.
815.2 -> He's busy man. She's intelligent
woman. That's very expensive car.
823.52 -> Do you know what's wrong with these sentences?
827.12 -> Sometimes where there is an adjective before
the noun, it's easy to forget about the article.
833.76 -> But in English this is wrong. We don't
use adjectives instead of articles.
839.68 -> We use them in addition to articles. So
they come between the article and the noun.
847.28 -> He's a busy man. She's an intelligent
woman. That's a very expensive car.
855.36 -> Okay, so here's the thing. Omitting this
article is not going to stop someone
860.24 -> from understanding you but it will be noticeable.
863.84 -> I know that you want to sound accurate
and natural in English, right?
869.2 -> These tiny little words are really important
872.88 -> and it's a good thing to realise where your
mistakes are, so that you can fix them.
878.16 -> So that you can improve and you can feel
confident that you're speaking beautiful
883.44 -> accurate English every time.
886.4 -> On that note I've prepared a
little practice quiz for you.
890.48 -> Are you ready?
894.24 -> There are four questions. Each question refers to
898 -> one of the rules that we've
just learned in this lesson.
901.2 -> You'll see a sentence and you'll need to
complete it by adding the correct article.
906.64 -> a, an or even the and sometimes
no article is necessary.
928.16 -> On the table, there were spoons.
That's a plural noun so no article.
937.2 -> Bowl, that's a singular countable noun,
940.56 -> starting with the consonant sound
so we need to use a. A bowl.
946.24 -> Fruit is an uncountable noun so again no article
951.68 -> and tub of ice cream, well that's a singular
countable noun so we use a. A tub of ice cream.
975.04 -> When we introduce a noun for
the first time, we use a or an.
979.92 -> So we say an accident. A man. A red light.
985.12 -> But after that we use the
definite article. The accident.
991.04 -> We use a red light because we're telling
this story to someone a week later,
996.24 -> someone who didn't see the accident so they
don't know which red light the man drove through.
1003.12 -> We have to introduce it as a and if we
mention it again in the story we can use the.
1022.16 -> In this question, we're talking about any
light bulb not one specific light bulb.
1029.04 -> There were ten and I bought one of them.
It wasn't important which one I bought.
1047.36 -> Here we're describing job titles.
1049.92 -> So we use a and an. We use a with
a consonant sound, Ruby is a pilot.
1058.8 -> An with a vowel sound, Jesse is an astronaut.
1064.64 -> Alright! You made it through
to the end of the lesson!
1067.84 -> Well done. You're a very good student!
1070.64 -> I hope that you feel really good
about using the indefinite article
1074.56 -> now and that you've learned something new,
something that you can put into practice.
1079.52 -> If you've got a question or you just want to say
hello, drop me a comment down below the video.
1085.6 -> Make sure you subscribe to the channel,
1088.08 -> turn on notifications so that you find
out when the next video is released.
1093.2 -> Remember that video is going to be
all about the definite article the.
1098.24 -> It's going to be part 2 to this one. So
definitely come and check that one out
1102.48 -> and if you want to keep going right
now I've got this lesson for you
1106.56 -> it's a practice speaking with
me lesson, an imitation lesson
1111.2 -> where you'll get to follow along
and imitate me as I'm speaking.
1115.76 -> Great practice with articles out loud in
spoken natural English. I'll see you in there.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX12FsLMf3c
