Article

An article is a kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about a noun. There are only two articles a, an and the. But they are used very often and are important for using English accurately.

The word a (which becomes an when the next word begins with a vowel - a, e, I, o, u) is called the indefinite article because the noun it goes with is indefinite or general. The meaning of the article a is similar to the number one, but one is stronger and gives more emphasis. It is possible to say I have a book or I have one book, but the second sentence emphasizes that I do not have two or three or some other number of books.

The is known as the definite article and indicates a specific thing. The difference between the sentences I sat on a chair and I sat on the chair is that the second sentence refers to a particular, specific chair, not just any chair.