Search results for 'tag:Definite articles tag:Consonants' matching tags 'Definite articles' and 'Consonants'

Re: Puzzle about the pronunciation of the word 'THE'

yizhivika — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:04:16 GMT

Hi Mathew,

Yes, as Mister Micawber says, native English-speakers instinctively know which pronunciation of 'the' to use before a noun (or an adjective + noun), but I can see that it may be a problem for some people learning the language.

As you have yourself noted, we generally use the 'thee' version before a vowel (as in 'the apple'), and the "theh' version before a consonant (as in 'the pen'), and the reason native English-speakers know which version to use, is because they read (or think of) the two words together, not separately!

From your name, I would guess that your mother-tongue is probably Mandarin Chinese (Ni shi zhong guo ren ma?), and if so, then you'll know that there's sometimes a similar situation in Chinese with tones (e.g. 'bu' meaning 'not' is normally pronounced as a fourth tone, but changes to a second tone when followed by another word that is pronounced with a fourth tone), and the only way you know which tone to use is by thinking of the two words together, not as individual characters.

By the way, there is an exception to the general rule of pronouncing 'the' as 'theh' before a consonant, but it's a special case, as the 'the' is being used less as a definite article, and more like an adjective. For example:

"Beijing is the (pronounced as 'thee') place to be this August!" (because of the Olympic Games!).

Re: Canadians and their English

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:54:21 GMT

General Canadian English is extremely similar to General American English. However, there are a number of differences between the two dialects. Firstly, GCE (General Canadian English) exhibits a linguistic phenomenon called Canadian Raising. Basically, the diphthong âaiâ--as in "by" or "lie"--is raised before voiceless consonants (t, k, p, s, f); by contrast, this diphthong is not raised before other consonants (v, z, d, b, l, m, n, r, etc). Thus, by using Canadian Raising, the words in the following word pairs can be pronounced differently: ride and write, five and fife, and rise and rice.
The diphthong "au," as in "loud," is commonly raised before the consonants "t," "th," "ch," and "s." This diphthong is not raised before the consonants "d," "z," "n," and "j." As was pointed out, the word "about" sounds like "a boat"... well, to American ears, that is. In General American English, the diphthong "ai" is not raised before any consonant, nor is the diphthong "au." Yet, this raising has been occurring in various areas of the U.S., and it has spread quite far.

Another difference between these dialects is that, in GCE, the vowel "o" is always pronounced as "o" before the consonant "r." Therefore, âsorryâ is pronounced sor-ee, âborrowâ is pronounced bor-row, and âsorrow,â sor-row. In General American English, the vowel "o" is sometimes pronounced as the vowel "a"--as in "father"--before the consonant "r." In GAE (General American English), "sorry" is pronounced sar-ee, "borrow" is pronounced bar-row, and âsor-rowâ is pronounced sar-row. This, nevertheless, isn't very common in GAE; in fact, I canât think of any other word that is pronounced with the vowel âa,â other than sorrow, borrow, and sorry.

Many Canadians pronounce the word "marry" as "merry." In GAE, âmarryâ is pronounced with the vowel âae.â

In GCE, "pasta," "mazda," "lava," "drama," âYahooÂ®,â "taco," and other similar words are pronounced with the vowel "ae." In GAE, these words are pronounced with the vowel "a.â In GCE, on the other hand, these and few other foreign words are pronounced with the vowel "a": macho, Guatemala, Bach, and karate. Why is this so? I sure as heck don't know; it's an anomaly.

Of course, let's not forget Canadian lexicon. In Canada, "pop" is universally used as a term for a carbonated beverage. Even in the U.S., "pop" is used quite widely. It's largely used in the Midwest, Upper Midwest, and Northwest. As well, many Canadians refer to candy bars as "chocolate bars."
In GCE, the idioms "in hospital" and "to university" are used, in lieu of the American idioms "in the hospital" and "to the university," which includes a definite article. So, one may say, "I'm going to have my surgery in hospital," or "I'm going to attend university during the fall."

The last letter of the Canadian alphabet, "zed," is different from the last letter of the American alphabet, "zee."

Well, this is pretty much all I know about GCE.

Re: ufo

Conchita57 — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:38:09 GMT

Numbers 1 and 3 are correct.

Note that the abbreviation 'UFO' starts with a consonant sound:

[].

If you say 'unidentified flying object', though, the indefinite article is 'an':

[].

Re: 'a' or 'an' for acronyms and abbrevation

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:55:48 GMT

A and an signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. These indefinite articles are used with singular nouns when the noun is general; the corresponding indefinite quantity word some is used for plural general nouns. The rule is:

a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy
an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant
a + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound, so 'a' is used)
some + plural noun: some girls

If the noun is modified by an adjective, the choice between a and an depends on the initial sound of the adjective that immedately follows the article:

a broken egg
an unusual problem
a European country (sounds like 'yer-o-pi-an,' i.e. begins with consonant 'y' sound)

Note also that in English, the indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a profession, nation, or religion.

I am a teacher.
Brian is an Irishman.
Seiko is a practicing Buddhist.

Re: Indefinite article with Hispanic?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:33:33 GMT

Just passing by, pardon me for sticking my nose in, but...

We say 'a history' but 'an historical'.

Some people do. I'm not sure when it became trendy but I wish people would cut it out. I find it painful to hear. "An historical whatever" or "an hallucination" is only correct if you're an 18th century Briton or a moden Cockney and drop your aitches ("It's an 'istorical occcasion, guvnor!").

"In modern written English, we use a before a word beginning with a consonant sound, however it may be spelled (a frog, a university, a euphemism). We use an before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an orange, an hour)." -- The American HeritageÂ® Book of English Usage (1996).

"An historical" and a few other exceptions are acceptable in formal writing for historical reasons, but they are holdover varients based on obsolete pronunciations, not to be encouraged.

So: "a Hispanic person" would be the preferred usage, just like "a hissing noise".

-Tom Swiss / tms at infamous dot net

Re: Indefinite article with Hispanic?

Clive — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:30:12 GMT

Hi,

I am having a debate with co-workers regarding which indefinite article to use preceding Hispanic. We agree the article a precedes words beginning with a consonant, the article an precedes words beginning with vowels. We also know an precedes words beginning with a silent h, and words with a sounding h having the second syllable accented. We are still confused where the word Hispanic fits in with all of this. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Simply put, I'd say you should use 'a' if you sound the 'h', otherwise use 'an'.

The larger question is whether the 'h' should be sounded. For me, it is, but I think other people may give you other, and probably more detailed, opinions on its pronunciation.

Best wishes, Clive

Indefinite article with Hispanic?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 08:24:23 GMT

Re: Use of a or an

X11 — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:48:43 GMT

Guest wrote:
Use "a" if the next word begins with a consonant, and "an" if the next word begins with a vowel. A tiger, an angel, a book, etc. A historical character.

This is not completely correct.

The indefinite article a is used when the following word starts with a consonant sound

The indefinite article an is used when the following word starts with a wovel sound

Take for instance - university - which is called a university due to the start of the noun uni(juni)versity

Regards Jay

Re: 'A' or 'AN' :-s

pieanne — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 16:23:17 GMT

hello, Martine,
It's "a" nominee
The indefinite article is "a" when before a word beginning with a consonant

Re: Pls correct my translation homework

abbie1948 — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:57:21 GMT

Hi Lyn,

Here is one of my posts from a previous thread on the topic of articles. It might help.

Posted: 03-30-2005 12:26 PM

The correct use of articles is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult points of English grammar, so don't be despondant Ali; mistakes don't usually matter too much, as you will still be understood.

First, we don't usually use an article with plural or uncountable nouns. e.g. "there are lots of fish in the sea" NOT "Lots of the fish in the sea". "I love cats" NOT "I love the cats".

"The" is a definite article, as Jazz says. We use it for the following:

* to refer to something which has already been mentioned

"Ali posted a question to English Forum; THE question was about articles."

*when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not been mentioned before.

"Have you done the housework?"

* when we are speaking about a particular person or object
"The man over there is a famous film actor."

* objects which are regarded as unique
"The sun" "the moon" "the sea" "The world"

* with adjectives which refer to a whole group of people
"The English" "The Americans"

* names of geographical areas
"The Indian Ocean" "the Sahara Desert"

and finally
* with groups of years
"the seventies" "the 1800's"

a/an are indefinite articles.

We use 'a' when the word which follows begins with a consonant. (i.e. any letter whch is not a vowel),
"a book" "a film"

We also use 'a' in front of a word which begins with vowels which sound like a consonant (e.g. 'u' & 'eu' sound like 'y', so we say "a university", "a euphoric experience"

We use 'an' when the word which follows begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).

"an apple" "an exciting time"

As Jazz says, sometimes 'h' isa silent letter, i.e. we don't pronounce it, and we use 'an' in front of these words. I'm afraid these just have to be learned, but there aren't many of them. (e.g. "an hour" "an honest boy" "an hotel".)

Indefinite articles are used:

* When we talk about something for the first time.
"lets go to see a film"

* when we talk about particular groups of people (don't confuse this with the groups mentioned above)

e.g.
*jobs "a doctor"
*nationalities "an Englishwoman",
*religions " a Muslim"
*musical instruments "a piano" (but, if we are describing an action we say "he is playing THE piano", because we are speaking about one particular piano)
*names of days "I go to town on a Monday"
*with numbers "a hundred pounds" "a thousand and one uses"
*when we talk about one particular thing or person "she has a beautiful silver bracelet", " a thief stole it"

Ok - that's a fairly long explanation! Now how about some practice? Go to this site

http://a4esl.org/

Click on English grammar quizes, easy, then look at level 2 "Articles". You will find some exercises there to help you.