English Grammar - Articles for Class 6

English has three articles: a, an and the. They’re tiny words, but they cause more mistakes than almost anything else in Class 6 writing. That’s especially true for students whose home language is Hindi, Tamil, Bengali or another Indian language, because most of these have no direct equivalent of a and the. So the choice has to be learned as a rule, not by feel.

The Two Kinds

• The indefinite articles, a and an, are for something general or mentioned for the first time: a dog, an apple.

• The definite article, the, is for something specific, which the listener already knows about or can identify: the dog next door, the apple on the table.

Here’s the difference in action: I saw a dog in the park. The dog was chasing a ball. The first time, it’s any dog. The second time, it’s that particular dog, so it takes the.

A or An: Go by the Sound, Not the Letter

Use an before a vowel sound and a before a consonant sound. The first letter can mislead you.

The rule of thumb: say the word out loud and listen to the very first sound. U words trip up younger kids most, and this list of words that start with U sorts them by sound, which makes the choice easy to see.

When to Use The

1. When the listener knows which one you mean. Please close the door. (The door in this room.)

2. When there’s only one of something. The sun, the moon, the sky, the internet.

3. With superlatives and ordinal numbers. The tallest building, the first chapter.

4. With some geographical names:

   • Rivers: the Ganga, the Nile

   • Seas and oceans: the Arabian Sea, the Pacific Ocean

   • Mountain ranges: the Himalayas, the Alps

   • Groups of islands: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

   • Countries whose names include a word like Republic, Kingdom, States or Emirates, or are plural: the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands

5. With well-known buildings, newspapers, ships and holy books. The Taj Mahal, The Hindu, the Titanic, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible.

6. With musical instruments, when you talk about playing them. She plays the sitar.

When to Use No Article at All

1. Plural or uncountable nouns used in a general sense. Dogs are loyal. Milk is good for you. But if you mean particular ones, use the: The milk in this jug has gone sour.

2. Names of people, cities, most countries and single mountains or lakes. Anu lives in Pune. Mount Everest is in Nepal. Dal Lake is in Srinagar.

3. Meals, days, months and languages, in general use. We have dinner at eight. School reopens in June. She speaks Marathi.

4. Common phrases about routine places. Go to school, go to bed, go to church, at home, in hospital.

There’s a subtle difference here: go to school means to study there, while go to the school means to visit the building, perhaps for a meeting. Differences this fine stick better when kids hear and use them in conversation, which is what the speaking practice in Unbox English online classes is for.

Practice

Fill in a, an, the, or write X if no article is needed.

1. She is ______ honest girl.

2. ______ Ganga is ______ holy river.

3. My father is ______ engineer, and my mother works at ______ university.

4. ______ sun rises in ______ east.

5. He plays ______ tabla beautifully.

6. We had ______ lunch at one o’clock.

7. Mount Everest is ______ highest mountain in ______ world.

8. I waited for ______ hour, but nobody came.

9. ______ honesty is ______ best policy.

10. My cousin lives in ______ United Kingdom, not in ______ Germany.

Answers

1. an (silent h)

2. The, a

3. an, a (“yoo” sound)

4. The, the

5. the (instrument)

6. X (meal)

7. the, the (superlative, and only one world)

8. an (silent h)

9. X, the (abstract noun in general use, then superlative)

10. the, X

How to Make Articles Stick

Reading is the best teacher here. Students who read English regularly start to “hear” when the is missing. Until then, the most useful habit is a two-question check on every noun in a draft: Is this the first time I’ve mentioned it, or does the reader already know which one? And does it start with a vowel sound?

Bambinos’ live English classes for Class 6 build accuracy through reading, speaking and short writing tasks, with a teacher correcting article errors as they happen. Book a free trial lesson for your kid.