Look at these examples to see how articles are used.
She's a doctor.
I need an umbrella.
Have you heard the news?
I don't like spiders.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Here are some of the most important things to know about using articles.
Jobs
When we say what people's jobs are, we usually use a/an.
He's an architect.
She's a scientist.
My grandmother was a teacher.
Singular nouns
Singular, countable nouns always have an article – a/an or the (or another determiner – my, your, this, that, etc.).
We use a/an – the indefinite article – when we talk about something for the first time, or something that is part of a group or type.
I saw a good film yesterday.
Do you want a drink?
We use a when the word that follows it begins with a consonant sound. We use an when it's followed by a vowel sound. This makes pronunciation easier.
She has a university degree.
It took me an hour to get home.
We use the – the definite article – when the listener already knows which thing we are talking about because it was mentioned before or because there's only one of them.
I'm going to take the dog for a walk.
Have you seen the car key?
They go to the school next to the bridge.
Things in general
When we talk about things in general, we normally use a plural or uncountable noun with no article.
Birds eat worms.
Water freezes at 0°C.
Children need a lot of sleep.
Particular groups of things
When we talk about a particular group of things, we use the.
We went to the zoo and saw the kangaroos. (These are the particular kangaroos in that zoo – not kangaroos in general.)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello rizzu8888,
The indefinite article is used with countable nouns rather than with plural nouns or uncountable nouns.
In your first sentence, the countable noun is smile. The adjective beautiful describes this noun.
In your second sentence, a is not used as an article, but rather as part of a phrase which is a quantifier (a phrase which tells us how much of something we have). The phrase is a lot of and it functions in the same way as other quantifiers like some and lots of.
Some quantifiers can be used with only plural countable nouns, some with only uncountable nouns and some with both. A lot of can be used with both. Here, the noun is love, which is uncountable.
You can read more about quantifiers on this page:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/quantifiers
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal
Yes, that is correct -- well done!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal,
It's normal to use did in questions like this. The past tense is used because the speaker is giving the information in the question, so by the end of the question we know that the other person knows.
It's not wrong to use do but it's much less common.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kbtnix,
Both mosquitoes and mosquitos are acceptable plural forms. There is no difference between them.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team