AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE
 (i) In exclamations before singular, countable nouns :         (d) Before the names of certain books:
      What a foolish boy!, What a pretty girl!                        The Vedas, The Ramayan, The Mahabharat, The Bible,
      Such a long queue!                                              The Iliad.
      What a beautiful building!                                (e) Before the names of certain material nouns; Only in
 (j) As a rule a/an is not used before uncountable nouns              specified cases :
      but there are some exceptions :                                The water of the ganges.
      On an average, to take an interest in, to give a warn-
                                                                 (f) With superlatives :
      ing, a short time ago, to be in a temper; a wrong use
                                                                     The best, the darkest etc.
      of, to make a good guess at,
      Have [a headache / a pain / a cold / a cough / a bath     (g) ‘The’ is used before other proper names consisting of
      / a drink / a talk / a rest / a walk / a meal / a bear /        Adjective + Noun or Noun + of + Noun :
      a shame / a shave / a conservation / a good education     (h) Before rank or title :
      / a knowledge / a good knowledge / a pity / a sleep /          The Captain, The Chairman, The Principal
      a good sleep / a dream / a chat / a quarrel / a fight /     (i) Before Musical Instruments :
      a swim / a ride / a good day / a bad day / a disagree-         The harmonium, The piano, The violin, etc.
      ment / a try / a go/ make /a wrong use of / a noise /
                                                                  (j) The with names of people has a very limited use the +
      a mistake] in a hurry; in a diagram, as a rule etc.
                                                                      plural surname can be used to mean ‘the .... family’ :
(k) One is the Pronoun equivalent of a/an;
                                                                (k) With ordinals; as,
      Did you get a ticket ?
                     ̄                                                the first, the second, the tenth etc.
             (here a means one)                                   (l) With newspaper/organisa-tion/community.
      — Yes, I managed to get one.                                   The Times of India
    Omission of A/An                                                 The Hindustan Times
      A/an is omitted :                                              The U.N.O., The W.T.O.,
(a) Before plural nouns. For example, Books, dogs, girls,            The Hindu (Community)
      cats
                                                               (m) When proper noun is used as common.
(b) Before Proper Noun : Ram, Atal, India, Delhi
                                                                     Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India.
      A/an is used before common Noun Singular Num-
      ber                                                             (Shakespeare is a Proper Noun                  but here
(c) Before Uncountable Nouns :                                                         Shakespeare means a great dramatist)
      Milk, oil, gold, tea etc.                                 (n) As an Adverb with compara-tives.
(d) But to show single item of Countable Noun, we use...        (o) Before Comparative Degree, if ‘of the two’ has been
      a...of + Uncountable Noun’. As,                                 used with it.
      A cup of tea       A bottle of milk                       (p) The is used with a host of general expressions that
(e) Before names of meals, except when there are pre-                 refer to our physical environment — the world around
      ceded by an adjective.                                          us and its climate — or to other common features of
 (f) Articles are often dropped in double expressions, par-           our life. For example, the town, the country, the sea,
      ticularly with preposition.                                     the mountains, the weather (General expression)
     With Wife and fork                                         (q) We often use the to refer to well-known, well-defined
     With hat and coat
                                                                      groups of people (e.g. nationalities), even when we are
     From top to bottom
                                                                      talking about these in general.
     On land and sea
     Arm in arm                                                      The Indians, The English (The people of England not
     Inch by inch                                                    English language)
     Day after day                                               (r) Before the names of political parties :
    Use of the Definite Article                                      The Bharatiya Janata Party
      The Definite Article the is used —                             The Labour Party
(a) When we speak of a particular person or thing, or one            The Communist Party
      already referred to. For example,                         (s) Before ’Armed Froces’ and law enforcing agencies.
     I like the book. (That book is known to us).
                                                                     the Army      the Air Force
(b) When a singular is meant to represent a whole class;
                                                                     the Navy      the Police
      as
     The cow is a useful animal.                                 (t) With physical positions :
     (or we may say ‘Cows are useful animals’)                       the inside, the top, the back, the outside, the bottom,
(c) The definite article is used when the object or group of         the front etc.
      objects is unique or considered to be unique or with      (u) With names of branches of the Government :
      certain proper names :                                         the Judiciary, the legislative,
     the Persian Gulf, the himalyas, The Ganges, the earth,     (v) With Appositions,
     the sea, the equator, the stars, the moon, The red sea,         Sumanji, the poet
     the Alps, The Indian ocean, The Bay of Bengal, The
                                                                     Shakespeare, the dramatist.
     top, The bottom, The East Indies, The Andmans, The
                                                                     Advani, the politician
     Punjab, The Sudan, The Congo, The U.S.A.
                                                           SEE–84