Articles and their Use with Adjectives

What are referred to as Articles?

Before you learn about the use of articles with examples, you should be clear about what is referred to as articles.

Articles are the group of adjectives that defines whether a noun is specific or unspecific. When it comes to the types of articles, you will find that there are three different articles- “A”, “An”, and “The”. These are always mentioned before the nouns and adjectives. Both definite and indefinite articles are used to impart accuracy and effectiveness to the nouns.

Examples of the use of articles:

The below-mentioned is the use of articles with examples:

• He read the novel yesterday
• Mansi is training to be a doctor
• He is living in an apartment

Mentioning The Rules of Use of Articles with Adjectives

If you are wondering the use of articles in English with adjectives, here are the rules to clarify your doubts. But before you learn about the rules, you should know what adjectives are.

An adjective in English is defined as the word that is used to modify a noun or pronoun. In simple words, an adjective is used in the sentence to add something meaningful to the noun or pronoun.

Now that it is clear what adjectives are, let’s know about the use of articles in english with adjectives.

Use of articles before the superlative degree

In case an adjective is of superlative degree in the sentence, then a definite noun is used before such an adjective.

The use of articles with examples:

• She is the best employee in our company
• He is the most handsome boy in our class

It is to be noted that indefinite articles “a” or “an” can also be used in case a sentence is talking about one out of many nouns which are qualified by the superlative adjectives.

Example,

This is a most useful sample paper required for competitive exams.

Use of articles before the comparative degree

In case an adjective is of comparative degree in the sentence, then a definite noun is used before such adjective, specifically, when two comparative degrees are represented to be directly or indirectly proportional to one another.

The use of articles with examples:

• The more water you use, the higher will be the bill
• The faster you walk, the greater are chances to fall

Use of articles if one out of two is selected

In case one out of two is selected then a comparative degree is used in the sentence and is preceded by “the: and followed by “of”.

The use of articles with examples:

• He is the faster of the two athletes
• He is the better of the two cricketers

In case “the” is used before adjectives including rich, meek, honest, etc, it represents the entire group and thus, becomes a plural noun. Such types of nouns take plural verbs.

Example,

• The honesty is always appreciated
• The rich are considered exploiting the poor

Use of articles when adjective qualifies a proper noun

The definite article “the” is used before an adjective if it qualifies as a proper noun.

Example,

• The great Alexander
• Ashoka, the great

Use of articles with ordinal numbers

The definite article is used before ordinal numbers like first, second, etc.

The use of articles with examples:

• The third chapter of this novel is interesting
• The second volume is on geography

Use of articles before adjectives including same, all, whole, both

The definite article is used before the adjectives like same, all, whole, both.

The use of articles with examples:

• She is the same girl that met me in the book store
• The whole day was wasted

In case the articles “a” or “the” are used with few and little, the meaning of the English sentence completely changes.

Few

• A few: It refers to a quantity that is not equivalent to zero
• Few: It represents equivalent to zero but not equal to zero
• The few: It represents all that is available

Little

• A little: It represents a quantity that is not equivalent to nothing
• Little: It represents equivalent to nothing but not equal to nothing
• The little: It represents all that is available

Conclusion

It is the article that sometimes modifies a noun in the sentence which is also modified by an adjective. It is vital to know the proper usage of articles, nouns, and adjectives in the sentence to frame grammatically correct English sentences. When it comes to the appropriate word order, it is article + adjective + noun. An article is mentioned before an adjective based on different rules. One must have the fundamental idea of articles to use them properly in spoken or written language.