Below are extracts from news reports that appeared in three different newspapers on July 21:
1. The Chemmencheri police on Saturday rescued a 83-year-old ailing man, who lived in the same room with the body of his son for nearly three days without realising that he was dead. (Sunday Times, Chennai)
2. Three years ago, a heavily pregnant Resya P would travel 60 km everyday to college and back by bus. “Most times, I would stand the whole distance, clinging on for dear life, as the bus heaved and twisted,” says Resya, then a MCA (Master of Computer Applications) student in the University of Calicut. (The Hindu, Chennai)
3. There is a criminal conspiracy behind the murder of various Hindu outfit leaders. The government should depute a SIT to find out the truth,” he (Subramanian Swamy) said. (The New Sunday Express, Chennai)
In all the three extracts you find an inappropriate article. Instead of ‘an’, ‘a’ has been used before the words that begin with the vowel sounds: 83, MCA, and SIT.
According to Purdue Online Writing Lab, “The choice of article is actually based upon the phonetic (sound) quality of the first letter in a word, not on the orthographic (written) representation of the letter.”
The article ‘an’ should be used before a vowel sound even if the first letter of the word (singular) is not a vowel. For example:
• An hour ago, an honest official, an FBI official, an MLA, an MP, an heir
In the same way, the article ‘a’ should be used before a consonant sound even if the first letter of the word (singular) is not a consonant as in these examples:
• A one-dollar book
• In a country of the blind, a one-eyed man is the king.
The article ‘an’ should be used before unsounded ‘h’ if the sound that follows the article is a vowel. Look at these examples: an honest student, for an hour, an honorable member of the parliament. The article ‘a’ should be used before the words that begin with the letter ‘u’ when they make the sound as the ‘y’ in ‘youth’ or ‘young’. Here are some examples: a union, a UPA politician, a unicorn.
In the following words, ‘h’ is pronounced and therefore the article ‘a’ is used before them:
• A hotel, a hymn, a historical novel.
Sometimes no article is used before certain nouns and this is called the ‘zero’ article.
Here are some rules for when not to use an article before a noun:
• Don’t use articles before uncountable nouns, plural nouns and when talking about things in general: Women are better managers than men. I don’t need advice from you. I don’t drink milk.
• Don’t use articles before languages, countries, towns, streets, and single mountains: We have a resource person from China. She speaks German. I want to climb Mount Everest.
In exclamations with what+uncountable noun: What wonderful news! What beautiful weather!
“Language is the means of getting an idea from my brain into yours without surgery.” — Mark Amidon
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk