Articles

When you are not specific about the object. Use ' a ' or use ' the ' with a purpose.

eg. I am ' a ' man.

But - I am ' the ' man who have just made a post. ( to be specific about the man )


Use ' an ' when the following word starts with a vowel sound. a e i o u

eg. a letter, an email

Are they ONLY used with nouns? I'm familiar with the rules you mentioned above, but when I write any sentence I'm not quite sure whether I should include an article or not. Please help me.

Thanks a lot.

Hmm, yeah they are always attached to a noun unless the adjective itself used as a noun.

Many poor people are jealous of the rich. ( adjective ' rich ' used as a noun ) to mean ' rich people )

As far as I know there are lots of rules about articles. So In a short time, I will write everything about it. But don't worry. It is not hard. If you make some practice, than u will be used to using them in your sentences

Articles were discussed here before, you can check:
http://www.EnglishForward.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=4201

Hi,

I'm not a native English speaker. I know the rules like: an apple, a university, an honor, an hour etc. However, when I try making a sentence, I'm not always sure whether or not it needs an article. That's why I always avoid writing long emails.

here's some of the sentences I've always had difficulty with. These are some examples but not limited to these.

1) I see him a few times in a week. (not sure here)

2) A couple of times ( why does it need an article here?)

Mary had a nice car. The car she drove was a BMW Z3 series. This was an easier one,but when I try making sentences like one & two above, I have to