Whenever we open our eyes, we see uncountable number of things around us. We see from tiny grains of sand to giant stars, from dew drops to vast sea, from tiny bugs to huge whales.

We have given names to all living and nonliving things for our convenience to recognize them. Seeing things and recognizing things are quite different. We need to know the name of a thing to recognize it but to know the name is irrelevant with a thing to see. In communication nomenclature is a must. Nobody can communicate without knowing names of things, living or nonliving. In perfect communication we have to express whether the thing we mention is define or not. To solve this problem we use three tiny words called ‘Articles’. They are ‘A’, ‘An’ and ‘The’.

Do you know how to use these tiny little words? It is very easy to understand. If you see something unique or special, use ‘The’ before the noun. We use ‘The’ with singular nouns as well as plural nouns if unique. If a thing is one out of many common ones, use ‘A’ before the noun to show it is ‘One’ out of many. When you find it difficult to pronouns ‘A’ with nouns beginning with vowel sounds, use ‘An’ instead of ‘A’ giving the same meaning. Don’t use Articles with plural nouns if the noun is not defined.

Try naming the major parts of your body. ‘The head’, ‘The body’, ‘An arm’, ‘An arm’, ‘The arms’, ‘A leg’, ‘A leg’, ‘The legs’. When you say, ‘The arms’ learn to pronouns it correctly. Pronounce ‘The’ as ‘Thi’.

Once you learn this simple thing, you will be able to read the world as you see it. You can learn English articles further, at the English Language Laboratory.