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Articles Pronunciation of the For the sake of convenience, many teachers tell their students that the indefinite article a is used before consonants, while an is used before vowels. In most cases, this is true:
However, the choice between a and an actually depends on pronunciation, not spelling. Thus, a is used before a consonant sound, even if it is written as a vowel, and an is used before a vowel sound, even if it is written as a consonant: The information about a and an above is directly relevant to the pronunciation of the definite article, the. This word has two pronunciations, depending on whether it comes before a consonant sound or a vowel sound. The is pronounced Ồi: before a vowel sound, even if it is written as a consonant, and Ồә before a consonant sound, even if it is written as a vowel:
The same applies for abbreviations as for a and an (see above). Acronyms (words formed from the initial letters of a group of words), should be treated as words, and not abbreviations:
Some people say an, not a, before words beginning with h when the first syllable is not stressed:
When an abbreviation takes an article, it depends on the pronunciation of the first letter of the abbreviation:
Little is used with uncountable nouns:
Few is used with plural nouns:
Used in this way, little and few have somewhat negative meanings:
Used in this way, little and few are also quite formal. We can say the same thing in a less formal way by using not much and not many:
When we use the indefinite article a before little and few, it has a more positive meaning, similar to some:
Before a pronoun or a determiner, (a) little of and (a) few of are used:
Some and Any We use the determiners some and any to speak about indefinite quantities or numbers, when the exact quantity or number that we are thinking of is not important. In the most basic terms, we can say that we use some for affirmative statements, and any for questions and negative statements:
It is possible, however, to use some in questions and any in affirmative statements in certain circumstances. When we are make an offer, or a request, and we want to encourage the person we are speaking to to say "Yes", we use some in our question:
We use any in affirmative statements if it comes after a word whose meaning is negative or limiting:
In conditional sentences, we can often use some and any with no difference in meaning:
The same rules that apply for some and any also apply for somebody/anybody, someone/anyone, somewhere/anywhere, something/anything:
Such "What is the difference between such and such as?" The use of such as is relatively simple. It is used with a noun to introduce examples:
The use of such is more complicated. In Practical English Usage (Michael Swan, Oxford University Press), the following principle uses of such are described: 1) "In the formal style, such + noun can be used to mean 'like this / that' or 'of the kind that has just been mentioned'. Such comes before a / an.
2) "Such is often used when we are talking about a high degree of some quality – in situations where very is also a suitable word. In this sense, such is common before adjective + noun.
3) "In an informal style, such can also be used to give new information, when the speaker wishes to emphasize what is said.
Note also the difference between such and so. We use such before a noun (with or without an adjective).
We use so before an adjective on its own (without a noun) or an adverb.
For more information, and quizzes, on determiners, see the following web sites:
http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html#a http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/help/grammar_help/use_of_a_or_an_before_vowels.html |
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