The Indefinite Articles and their Uses

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1) The Indefinite Article

From: a/an
a is used for before a word beginning with with a consonant sound.
a girl, a boy, a man, a women, a table, a tree.

an is used for before a word beginning with a vowel sound or with a mute "h"
an apple, an egg, an orange, an hour.


   Uses of Indefinite Articles

(a/an)

Use No.1 The indefinite Article (a/an) is used before a noun which is singular, countable and mentioned for the first time.(But it should not represent a particular person or thing):

Explanation

Point No.1 A noun which is singular :

a girl : (a singular noun) an apple

girls : (a plural noun) apples

Point No.2 A noun which is countable:

A noun which can be counted ( or of which there is more than) called a countable noun.

a book, a chair, a table, a fan

Point No.3 A noun which is mentioned for the first time:

e.g: This is a pen. The pen is black.

In above sentences, the word "Pen" has been described two times. The word "Pen" mentioned for the first time takes the indefinites article a, whereas the word "Pen" mentioned for the second time does not take a. Instead it takes the definite-articles the.

Use No.2 a/an is used before singular countable noun to represent the whole class of persons, animals or things:

A tiger is an animal. =( All tigers are animals)

An apple grows on a tree. =(All apples grows on tree)

Use No.3 a/an is used before two nouns that are seen as a single unit:

a black and white horse a knife and fork

Use No.4 a/an is used before a singular noun to show that a person or thing is a member of a particular class,

group profession:

Reesha is a doctor. Zain is an army officer

Sameer is a Muslim. Bilal is an actor.

Use No.5 a/an is used when we talk about prices,quantities,rates,ratios,speed, etc:

Rs.50 a meter Rs.10 a kilo

two times a day 100 kilometers an hour

(Here a/an means per)

Use No.6 a/an is used before somebody's name or surname to show that the speaker does not know the person:

There is a Mr.Soomro waiting for you.

a Mr. Ali a Mr. Zainab

Use No.7   a/an   is used in exclamation before a singular countable noun:
What a nice day ! Such a long Journey !
What an interesting story ! What a beautiful lady she is !

Use No.8   a/an   is used before some numbers instead of one:

a hundred a thousand a million a half a third

Use No.9  a/an is used before the names of days of the week to talk about one particular day:
She was married on a Friday. He was killed on a Sunday.