Understand English Grammar, Article (a,an,the) easily

Try to have a good command of English? This is the first things you need to know. It's seem simple, but somehow many ESL people underestimate this. They think it's easy. When you have to write a good essay or writing at overseas universities then you will realize that articles is hard. Perhaps, when you take TOEFL also makes you realize that actually this section is hard.

The basic things that we already know about article is:
"a, an" is used for the very first time of speaking. It is also used for a vocal sound noun, ex (an axe, a banana, an hour, a university). Also, it is used for the countable noun.
Meanwhile, "the" is used for a definite noun that have been talked before, and for a clear situation.

Example:
There is a tiger under the tree. The tiger is very big.


a tiger --> first time being talked
the tree --> the speaker and his/her pair already know which tree (clear situation)
the tiger --> talked for the second time.


Other things that we have to know about articled are based on these rules:
article the is also used to accompany:

Òa time period (ordinal number)

  E.g. the 21st century

ÒUnique things

  E.g. the moon

ÒSpecified things

  E.g. the knowledge of most students

ÒRegions and rivers.

  E.g. The Blue Mountains,  The Thames

ÒInstitutions and bodies.

  E.g. The CIA

ÒPositions

  E.g. the middle

ÒWell known-people and things.

  E.g. The Indonesian president

ÒHistorical document

  E.g. The magna charta

ÒSchool/University

  E.g University of Gajah Mada

And article the is not accompany with:

ÒNames of countries (except the USA, the UK, or country that starts with Republic)

ÒAbstract nouns (e.g. poverty)

ÒCompanies/institutions named after people (Deakin University,  David Jones)

ÒNames of continent

ÒSingular Lake, mount

ÒCardinal number

ÒSport

ÒGeneral areas of subject matter (biology, maths)

ÒHoliday

Exercise:

Fill the blanks with the article (a/an/the) if necessary, if there is no article needed, leave it blanks.

1.    ________ book that you read yesterday is mine

2.    ________ Indonesia has more than ________thirty provinces.

3.    Scientist sent_________ Expedition to _______ Mars during __________1990s.

4.    ________ Declaration of Independence was drawn up in 1945

5.    _______rich always take _______ trip to __________ Singapore every year.

6.    ______Bali is the most popular palce to visit in ______ world.

7.    Last night there was _____ dog barking outside my house. My wife was very afraid of _____ dog

8.    We went out for ______meal last night. ___________ restaurant we went to was excellent.

9.    This morning I bought ________ newspaper and ________ magazine. ________newspaper is in my bag but I don’t know where ________ magazine is.

10. We life in ________ old house in _______ middle of the village. There is ________ beautiful garden behind _______ house. ______ roof of __________ house is in very bad condition.

contact me for the answer checking.