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hi guys..
i am a jordanian student in the united kingdom

i feel that my english language is still very poor after one and a half year of living in the UK.

to be honest with you, some of my problems are tenses and the use of (a, an, the)

could i find help here

Jazz · Accepted Answer

hi student,
here are the using of these articales:
"a" is calling indifinint articale and use with only nouns or adjectives which already begin with non vowel letter, example; a book, a nice rose, book is noun and began with b, nice is adjective and began with n, and so on.

"an" is also deal with it as articale a but we can use it with nouns or adjectives which begins with vowel letter such as "a,u,i,o,e,and some time h when we pronounse like: honest so we can say an honest boy!

to be more easy for you try to use "a" letter with apple, you will note that is not suitable to say it, become more diffecult than say an apple isn't it ali?

"the" is difinint articale: is using for some thing we already know it or some thing we mention it in our conversation so when we want to repeat it again we use "the" before it, eg: i went to a resturant and i have had my lunch there, i saw my old friend in the resturant, i but 'the' coz u already know which resturant i talked about, also we use it with some thing is papular in the world, eg. the indian ocean, but we can't use it before people names, meals,like lunch,dinner......., so "the" has many uses.

by the way, u r studing in uk it is so nice place to have stronger english i jealous u coz i hope i am there!

Abbie1948 · Answer

An excellent reply, Jazz. I hope you won't mind if I expand on it a little.

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.

Abbie1948 · Answer

Hi Jazz,

Thanks for saying I could correct your post on line.

Re: your reply to Ali;

1. In English we always begin a new sentence with a capital letter, and we use a capital letter for people's names, and for names of places such as London, the Indian Ocean etc. So your greeting should be:

"Hi Student ..."

I know that when we use the internet or text, we often leave out things like capital letters and punctuation, but when you are learning, it's a good excercise to pay attention to the details.

We also always use a capital letter for 'I'

2. It is important to use a dictionary to ensure your spelling is correct. (But we all make mistakes!)

Here is a list of your spelling errors:

articale; indifinint; pronounse; diffecult; difinint; resturant; papular; studing

See if you can find these in a dictionary and correct them.

3. Verbs - these can be quite difficult to understand. This site might help.
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/wordgame_current_frame.html

* "here are the using..."
This needs to be present simple + noun. "Here is the use...."
Use is a verb, but also a noun, and you are using it as a noun here. As it is singular, the verb also needs to be singulr.

* "A" is called (NOT is calling) - I agree, it sounds as if you should use the present continuous here, but in fact we don't; we use the simple past. I was called X when I was born, and it is a long situation.

* "and use with only nouns ...."

Here you need the present tense of "be" + the participle "used"

"and is used with ...."

* "book is A noun and began with 'b'"
The simple present here - it is a permanent situation; book begins with 'b', and will always begin with 'b'. the same goes for "nice BEGINS with 'n' "

Also, pay attention to your articles, particularly as this post is about articles!

* I went to a restaurant and I have had ...."
Here you need the simple past: "I had my lunch there" because having lunch is a short, quickly finish action.

"Which restaurant I talked about ...."
The past progressive is better here; it is used for temporary actions and situations in the past.

"Which restaurant I was talking about" Presumably you didn't talk for years about the restaurant, nor did you repeatedly talk about it!

OK, here's the corrected item - although I'm leaving the spelling mistakes in so you can look them up!

Hi Student,
Here is the use of these articales:
"A" is called THE indifinint articale and useD with only nouns or adjectives which already begin with A CONSONANT, FOR example; a book, a nice rose. Book is A noun and begINS with b, nice is AN adjective and begINS with n, and so on.

"An" is also dealT with it as AN articale, but we can use it with nouns or adjectives which begin with vowelS such as "a,u,i,o,e,and someTIMES 'h' when we pronounse IT like: honest , so we can say an honest boy!

To MAKE IT easIER for you, try to use "a" with apple. You will note that IT IS more diffecult TO say an apple, isn't it Ali?

"The" is THE difinint articale: IT is usED for someTHING we already know, or someTHING we HAVE mentionED in our conversation; so when we want to repeat it again we use "the" before it, eg: I went to a resturant and I HAD my lunch there, I saw my old friend in the resturant. WE USE 'THE' BECAUSE YOU already know which resturant I WAS TALKING about. Also we use it with something UNIQUE in the world, eg. The Indian Ocean, but we can't use it before people'S names, OR meals, like lunch,dinner ETC. So "the" has many uses.

By the way, u r studing in THE UK. It is A GOOD place to LEARN BETTER English. I AM jealous u coz I WISH I WERE there!

P.S Re; full membership: I think this is very reasonable question, because I didn't know at first. I think it depends upon how many times you post a question or response to the forum, so keep on working, and it will just happen.

Do keep on answering posts, as you did to Ali, because it helps everyone.

Jazz · Answer

" THANKS ALOT FOR YOU"
I wish once day that I can challenge you in your fluent English, wait me, I am coming for that day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Abbie1948 · Answer

I look forward to it Jazz, but don't forget I don't speak your language, so the challenge will have to be entirely in English! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Jazz · Answer

Hi
what do you mean by "your language" do you know mine?! I would like to challenge you in English language!!

Abbie1948 · Answer

Of course, Jazz. I was making an oblique compliment to you, because I don't know a single word of your language, but you are learning English![Y]

I look forward to the challenge

Ali the dreamer · Answer

thanks for your help... i really appreciate that...

and really I am very happy to see corrections on other posts... i learned too much from this correction

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