Articles

Articles are of TWO types. They are

1. Indefinite article  ----      A / An
2. Definite article   ----      The

What's the difference?

If you want to say about ANY item, you should use the articles A / An. If you want to say about a SPECIFIC item, you should use the article THE.

Confused? Lets see an example. Assume that you've selected for a Bank Exam. You have a stupid friend like me. So obviously She will ask you a party.
Suppose if She says

• Lets go to a Restaurant, that means She doesn't have any specific restaurant in Her mind. So you can give her party in ANY cheap restaurant.  But,
• If she says Lets go to THE restaurant, that means She has some SPECIFICATIONS. I mean she have a specific restaurant in her mind. So you cant escape ;)

Well, this is the basic difference between A/An and The. There are so many differences and usages of these articles. We shall discuss them later.

Ok, lets discuss about the Indefinite articles first.

Indefinite Articles :

A : The indefinite article 'a' is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Consonant sound.

An : The indefinite article 'an" is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Vowel sound. 

Wow, Nice definitions. No?

Have a look at some examples,

A :

• A Bat
• A Cat
• A Rat
• A Jug

An :

• An Apple
• An Egg
• AN Ink-Bottle
• An Orange
• An Umbrella

Great,

Now tell me, what should I use before the words European, One-Eyed Beggar, University, Useful Website?

Can I say, Guide4BankExams is an Useful site to know about Banking Exams? 

NO

why ?

Please Re-Read the definitions. Here we are talking about Vowel and Consonant SOUNDS. Not the Letters. People often confuse with this. They blindly put A before a word, if it starts with a Vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U) and put An before the word which starts with the consonant letter. 

Consider the SOUND, not the LETTER.

Confusing?  Lets see a short cut for this. 

• If a word starts with a SWAR (Any of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use An before it.
• If a word starts with a Vyanjan (An of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use A before it.

Have a look at this picture,

so, now see these examples,

A :

• A European
• A One-Eyed beggar
• A University
• A Useful Website

An:

• An hour
• An Honest Man
• An honourable person

Thats it.

Now lets see some more TRICKY examples in English.

Suppose , if you want to say about the Member of Parliament, you can say a Member of Parliament, But if you use shorter form as M.P, Then you should say, He is an M.P

Lets see another example, He is an NRI but He is a Non Resident Indian

Thats all for now friends, tomorrow we shall discuss about the article THE.

Good Day

Read more English Shortcuts Here >>

07:09 - By Unknown 0

Noun and Verb and Pronoun Agreement

 Noun and Verb / Pronoun Agreement

Noun and Verb Agreement :

In this Post we shall discuss about the Noun and Verb agreement of the sentences. Have a look at the following points. These points will help you to use correct verbs while writing sentences.

• In the sentences, with " One of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Plural. Confused??? see the example.
• Aamir is one of the students who has paid the fee   ☓ 
• Aamir is one of the students who have paid the fee  ✔ 

• In the sentences with the "Only one of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Singular.
• Aamir is the only one of the students who have paid the fee.  ☓  :P
• Aamir is the only one of the students who has paid the fee. 

                               Got the difference???

• When two nouns joined by "and" have their own articles, it is plural in number. 
• The lecturer and the Principal is on the leave.  ☓ 
• The lecturer and the principal are on the leave.  ✔

                       What is the difference? We are saying THE lecturer and THE principal. So they are TWO people. So we should use ARE instead of IS. Have a look at another Rule. So that you can get the rule in detail.

• But, when two nouns joined by "and" with an article before the first are treated as Singular.
• The lecturer and principal are on leave.  ☓ 
• The lecturer and principal is on leave.  ✔

                   Here, we are joining TWO nouns with and and using a Sing article (THE) before them. Simply, we are using one THE for two nouns. So, we are talking about a single person. So we should use IS instead of ARE. 

Check the following examples

• I have a black and a white dogs. (Two dogs)
• I have a black and white dog. (One dog)

• When two nouns are joined by "and" refers to one thing, singular verb can be used.
• Bread and butter is a healthy food.
• The horse & carriage is at the door. 

Noun and Pronoun Agreement :

• When a collective noun is unanimous, it takes a singular verb. 
• The committee has taken its decision unanimously.

• But when a collective noun is NOT unanimous, it usually takes a plural verb & plural pronoun (adj) 
• The committee are divided in their opinion. 

• The expression "many a" takes everything in singular, but it express a plural meaning.
• Many students have passed their test  ✔
• Many a students has passed this test  ✔

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07:25 - By Unknown 0

English Grammar Shortcuts

Lesson 1 : Usage of Articles

• Basics of Articles (Part 1 - A and An)
• Basics of Articles (Part 2 - The)
• Basics of Articles (Part 3 - Article Omission)

Lesson 2 : Usage of Nouns

• Basics of Nouns (Part 1 - Noun and Number)
• Basics of Nouns (Part 2 - Noun and Case)
• Basics of Nouns (Part 3 - Noun and Verb / Pronoun Agreement)

Lesson 3 : Some Common Errors of English

Lesson 4 : Important Shortcut rules of English for Competitive Exams

• Nouns Shortcut Rules
• Pronouns - Shortcut Rules 
• Verbs - Shortcut Rules 
• Adjectives - Shortcut Rules
• Articles - Shortcut Rules  
• Adverbs - Shortcut Rules  
• Conjunctions - Shortcut rules  (new update)      
• Prepositions - Shortcut Rules  (new update)     
• Parts of Speech - Shortcut Rules

Lesson 5 : Important topics of English Section for Competitive Exams

• Tenses - Explained with Examples (new update)   
• Sentence Re-arrangement / Re ordering Tips   (new update)    
• Correction of Sentences - Short notes
• Correction of Sentences (Example Problems)
• Spotting Errors Practice Papers
• Basic English Grammar for Competitive Exams - Pdf Download
• Voice
• Tenses
• Irregular Verbs - Shortcut Rules
• Parallelism - Shortcut Rules
• Conditionals - Shortcut Rules
•  Tenses - Table
• Idioms and Phrases
• Comparatives and Superlatives
• Either or / Neither nor Usage
• A Little / A Few / Little / Few Usage
• Too and Enough Usage
• Much and Many Usage
• I wish - If Only Usage
• Used to - Be Used to and Get Used to Usage
• One Word Substitution    
• R. S. Aggrawal's Objective English (Pdf) Download

Lesson 6 : Reading Comprehension :

• How to get Good Marks in Reading Comprehension ?

 Lesson 7 : Descriptive Paper :

• Precis Writing Tips

1.  Introduction
2. How to write Good Precis for SBI PO Exams ?
3. Approach to Precis Writing
4. Important Techniques to Compress the given data for Precis Writing  
5. Precis Writing Examples 

• Letter Writing Tips
•  Introduction
•  Personal and Informal Letter Writing
• Examples of Informal Letters
• Essay Writing Tips
• Lesson 1 : Introduction
• Lesson 2 : How to Write Essays for Bank and Other Competitive Exams Here
• Lesson 3 : Preparation of Essay Here
• Lesson 4 : Writing Plan of Essays Here 
• Lesson 5 : Drafting and writing Conclusion Here

07:07 - By Unknown 0