Extra English Practice [EEP squeak]
Hi, everybody, welcome back. Today, we wanted to talk about something that gets
really confusing in English. It is articles.
There are three articles in English, which are THE, A and AN.
A and AN are used for the same thing. They're both general, so they're talking about things in general.
And THE is used when you're talking about something specific.
So first we want to focus on A and AN. A and AN mean the same thing,
but we choose A or AN based on pronunciation -- the pronunciation of the noun that comes after it.
So, for example, if we have a word like APPLE. APPLE starts with a vowel sound -- A, A, APPLE.
So we will say AN apple, not A apple. It's very difficult to say A apple. So, AN apple instead.
But something like BALL... BALL. B-B-BALL starts with a consonant sound.
A consonant sound.. we will say A. A ball and AN apple.
Okay, so we're going to show you some items and say the word,
and you're going to help us decide should we use A or AN. Ready?
Train. Toy train. Either way it's A. A train, A toy train. Mm-hmm.
Cup, cup. A cup. A cup.
Ooo, owl. What do you think? AN owl.
Camera. What do you think? A camera. It's a consonan sound. A camera. A camera.
Clock. Giant clock. Giant clock. Clock C-C-Clock is a consonant. A clock.
But what if we talk about hour? Hour, hour is a very tricky one.
Hour starts with a consonant letter, but listen: hour. It's a vowel sound. AN hour, AN hour. That's a tricky one.
Orange, orange. AN orange.
Ooo, elephant. Elephant. What do you guys think? AN elephant. AN elephant.
Another animal: mouse. What do you think? A mouse.
Not a real mouse. Not a real animal. A computer mouse. Thank goodness! I don't want to see a real one.
Wallet, wallet. A wallet. A wallet. You got it.
Umbrella, umbrella. What do you think? AN umbrella. AN umbrella.
[child talking] A unicorn! Say it again. Unicorn! Unicorn.
Unicorn -- even though it starts with a U, which is a vowel,
the sound it makes is a consonant sound -- YY, which is like a Y sound.
So unicorn.. before unicorn we have to use A. It's another tricky one.
Magic wand. Magic wand. A magic wand. You got it.
Okay, so we talked before about how A or AN are used to talk about things in general.
So we're going to make some sentences talking about birds in general.
So we have a picture here of some birds, and we're going to make some sentences
talking about A bird.. so all or any birds. So something that connects to all birds.
Yeah. So, for example, A bird flies. Oh, nice one.
A bird has two eyes. Hmm. A bird has a beak.
A bird has feathers. You know feathers? They're the things like this.
A bird sings.
A bird has feet. Just like that. Yep.
So in those examples, we were talking about general birds, any bird. A bird does this, A bird does that.
Now let's talk about THIS bird, so this specific bird. When we talk about it, we will use THE,
so THE bird has crazy eyes. He does.
The bird is ugly. Oh. I'm sorry, but it's true!
The bird looks scared. Mm-hmm.
The bird has a small beak.
The bird is brown.
The bird looks weird.
So, we use THE because we're talking about this specific one.
As opposed to.... we use A with these birds because we're talking about any kind of bird. Any one of those.
A bird flies. THE bird flies. This one. That's right.
So today we just want to talk about the very basic principles of A and THE -- A, AN and THE.
But articles can be very complicated, so we'll.. there will be another video
that will explain the more subtle and complex uses of articles.
For now, just remember A and AN are used for general things-- if you're talking about any item of a group.
And THE is used for something specific that you know or can see. Alright.
Extra English Practice [EEP squeak]
Girl. Girl. Girl. A girl. A girl. Because G-G-Girl. Consonant sound.
Ahh! A mouse!