Articles grammar

Articles

First the good news:There are only three articles in English: a, an and the.

There are two types of articles indefinite 'a' and 'an' or definite 'the'. You also need to know when not to use an article.

The bad news is that their proper use is complex, especially when you get into the advanced use of English. Quite often you have to work it out by what sounds right, which can be frustrating for a learner.

Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners)

A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.

A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before:-

For example:

"I saw an elephant this morning." "I ate a banana for lunch."

A and an are also used when talking about your profession:-

For example:

"I am an English teacher." "I am a builder."

Note!

You use a when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, "a city", "a factory", and "a hotel". You use an when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) Pronunciation changes this rule. It's the sound that matters, not the spelling. If the next word begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for example, "university" then we use a. If the next word begins with a vowel sound when we say it, for example "hour" then we use an. We say "university" with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "youniversity". So, "a university" IS correct. We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our". So, "an hour" IS correct.

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Penggunaan Kata "another"

Contoh beberapa penggunaan kata another yang salah:

We need an other sofa.

Our family has other four days holiday.

Lalu bagaimanakah peggunaan yang benar? Ikuti pedoman berikut:

1. Perhatikan bahwa another harus ditulis sebagai satu kata. Sehingga pemisahan antara "an" dan "other" adalah penulisan yang salah.

2. Biasanya, another diikuti oleh noun singular (kata benda singular). Sebagai contoh, kita dapat mengatakan "another day" yang menunjukkan satu hari (singular) tapi kita tidak dapat mengatakan "another days" yang menunjukkan lebih dari satu hari (plural).

Meskipun demikian, terkadang kata another dapat diikuti oleh kata "few" dan kata benda angka plural. Lihat contoh berikut:

• She have got another four days holiday.
• There's a room for another few students in the bus.

Other

• with count nouns

1. an + other +singular noun (one more)

another pencil => one more pencil

2. the + other + singular noun (last of the set)

the other pencil => the last pencil present

3. the other + plural noun (the rest of the set)

the other pencils => all remaining pencils

• with non-count nouns

1. other + noun count nouns (more of the set)

other water => some more water

2. the other water => the remaining water

Exercise

1. This pen isn’t working. Please give me another (singular).

2. If you’re still thirsty. I’ll make the other pet of coffee.

3. This dictionary has a page missing. Please give me the other one (the last one).

4. He doesn’t need those books. He needs the other ones call the remaining.

5. There are thirty people in the room. Twenty are form Latin America and the other are form other countries.

6. Six people were in the store. Two were buying meat the other was looking at magazines.

7. This glass of milk is sour. Another glass of milk is sour too.

8. The army was practicing its drill. One group was doing artillery practise other was marching; another was at attention; and the other was practicing combat tactics.

9. There are seven students from Japan other are form iran and the other are from other places.

10. We looked at four cars today. The first two were far too expensive, but the other ones was reasonably priced.

Notes : Another and other are non specific while the other is specific if the subsect is understood, one can omit the noun and keep the determiner and other so that other functions as a pronoun. If it is a plural count noun that is omitted, other becomes others. The word other can never be plural if it is followed by a noun.

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The Ordering of Determiners

The Ordering of Determiners

Determiner terletak sebelum nomina, dan digunakan untuk menunjukkan keterangan apa yang dimiliki nomina tersebut. Dalam kalimat, determiner dapat dibedakan menjadi tiga macam, yaitu: predeterminer, central determiner, dan postdeterminer.

Contoh predeterminer, central determiner, dan postdeterminer dalam satu kalimat:
- I met all my many friends.
- All my many plants have died.
- Have you spent all your much money?

Kalimat-kalimat di atas tidak biasa digunakan dalam satu kalimat. Umumnya hanya satu atau dua determiner yang dipakai.


Catatan
Predeterminer menerangkan kuantitas atau menguatkan makna suatu nomina yang mengikutinya. Yang termasuk dalam predeterminer adalah multipliers, fractional expressions, intensifiers, dan kata half, both, all.
Contoh: twice my salary, double my salary, ten times my salary, half my salary, one-third my salary, all my salary, both my salaries, what a mess, etc.

Yang termasuk central determiner adalah definite article the, indefinite article a/an, possessives, dan demonstratives.
Contoh: all the book, half a chapter, all your money, all his/her money, all our money, all these problems, twice that size, four times this amount, etc.

Cardinal numerals, ordinal numerals, general numerals, dan quantifiers biasa digunakan sebagai postdeterminer.
Contoh: the two children, his fourth birthday, my next project, our last meeting, your previous remark, her subsequent letter, my many friends, our several achievements, the few friends that I have, etc.

Postdeterminer juga dapat digunakan lebih dari sekali dalam satu frase atau kalimat, seperti: my next two projects, several other people, etc.

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