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5. popular – _______________ 8. available – _______________
6. busy – _______________ 9. serious – _______________

7. final – _______________ 10. teach – _______________

Grammar Skills

A. Use of articles a, an and the
Definite Article (the)

The definite article ‘the’ is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific
or particular. It is used to refer to something again, to refer to unique objects, before
some geographical bodies, before the names of museums, hotels, newspapers, holy

books, before the names of musical instruments, before the superlative form, before
ordinal numbers and some countries like USA, UK etc.

Indefinite Articles (a and an)

The indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ are used with singular countable nouns. They are used
to refer to something for the first time, to a particular member of a group or when we
don’t specify the person or thing we are referring to.

We use ‘a’ before words beginning with a consonant.

We use ‘an’ before words beginning with a vowel.

Zero Article
The term zero article is used when definite or indefinite articles are not used. We do not
use articles with the following:

• uncountable nouns : (water, rice, food etc.)

• plural countable nouns : (roses, books etc.)

• proper names : (Ram, Robert, Rahim etc.)

• countries : (India, China etc.)
• sports : (tennis, cricket etc.)

• subjects and languages : (maths, science, English etc.)

• towns and cities : (Bangalore, Hyderabad etc.)

• names of days : (months, seasons and holidays etc.)

• means of transport : (car, bus etc.)
• regular places of visit : (school, college, temple, church etc.)

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Arrow-English Plus-5