Articles and Prepositions

  Rules of indefinite articles. 1.  'A' is used before a consonant:  Example: a dog, a cat, a pen, a table 2. 'An' is used before a vowel. Example: an animal, an orange, an article, an apple, an umbrella.  3. If the pronunciation of vowel comes before the pronunciation of the consonant used, 'An' is used. Example: An MLA / SDO / SDM / M.Sc. / hour   4. If the vowel is pronounced as 'U' or 'Oa' (as in 'one') Example:  A one-rupee note / one-act play / university / union / European.  5. If  the pronunciation of 'h' is silent, 'an' is used. Example: An hour / honourable man / honest man.  6. An indefinite article is used before a proper noun to refer to an indefinite person. Example: A Mr. Das has come. (=A person named Mr. Das has come)  7. An indefinite article is used before a proper noun to refer to compare a person with another great person.  Example: You are a Kalidas, I see. (= Your poetic skill is like that of Kalidas...

  Rules of definite article Rules of Using "The"  i) To refer to definite things:  Example: a) Where is the pen that I gave you? b) Please pass the salt.   ii) Before superlative degree :  Example :  a) He is the best boy in the class.  b) Where is the last person who came here?  iii) Before the things that are one and unique:  a) The sun rises in the east.  b) We live in the earth.   iv) To name a species of animals:  a) The tiger is the king of the forest.   v) Before the name of place when the name suggests a collection of places. a) They live in the Punjab / the USA / the USSR / the UK .  vi) Before a proper noun to compare some great person with another great person. Example: Rabindranath Tagore is the Shakespeare of India.  vii) Before some proper nouns like names of rivers, mountains, islands, oceans, names of books and newspaper etc.    Example:  1. ........ Indian Ocean. (th...

 Articles Exercise 1  Fill in the blanks with "a", "an" or "the"  1. To The south of India is ........ Indian Ocean  2. I read ......... Gita  3.  I read ....... Bible  4.  I read ....... Mahabharata  5.  I read ....... Koran  6.  I read ........ Ramayana  7. Rabindranath is ....... Shakespeare of India  8. ......... Souvik has come.  9. He is ........ Kalidas.  10. ........ earth moves round ....... sun.  11. ........ earth is a happy place.  12. ........ Ganga is a holy river.  13. Everest is ......... highest peak in the world.  14. ........ Himalaya is ....... biggest mountain in the world.  15. ....... Andaman and Nicobar Islands is situated in the south of India. 16. ......... Indian Ocean is on the south of India.  17. ....... Arabian sea is on the west of India. 18. ....... Brahmaputra is a long river.  19. ........ lion is the king of jungle.  20. My brother i...

 Articles Exercise 2 Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles 1. This is ... delightful spot.   2. Meter is .... unit of length.   3. She saw .... wonderful sight.   4. She is .... heir to this property.   5. She wrote .... one-act play.  6. He is ..... BA.  7. Gopal is ..... FRCS   8. This is ..... umbrella.  9. There is .... university in Tripura.   10. We took .... unanimous decision.   11. He is  .......... MBBS  12. He is.......... SDO.   13. He is..........MLA    14. He is.......... LLB  15. He is.......... MSc.   16. He is..........  MA   17. He is.......... DM   18. He is.......... SDM    19. He is.......... honourable man.    20. He will come after ......... hour. 21. It is......... one-act play  22. It is.......... one-rupee note.  23. He is.......... one-eyed man  24. It is..........

  General use of prepostions Some necessary prepositions Preposition of place-- in, at, on, above, over, from Mira lives in Kolkata. (for a big place like city).  I live in India. (for a big place -- country) He is in the room.(=inside the room) We live in a village. (indefinite village) The pen is on the table. (touching the table) The fan is above my head. (not touching)  The bird flew over my head. (moving)  The object is on the table/ on the wall/ hanging from the ceiling.  I live at Durganagar. (name of a village) We live at Kowai.(name of a small town) Subir lives at 21, Nazrul Street (Address of house) Preposition of  Time -- in, at, on  at--  Raja gets up from bed at 5 a.m. /at dawn / at sunrise / at dusk. Mira sleeps at noon / at night / at midnight / at once/ At breakfast / at dinner/ at desk.  In--  He will come in a month / in a week / in a year/ in 2011/ in 20th century /in the winter holidays/ in the Puja holidays/ in the m...

 Exercise on general use of prepositions Fill in the blanks with prepositions 1) He came ....  the morning.  2) He came ....  afternoon.  3) He came ....  night.  4) He came ....  the day 5) He came ....  day. 6) He came .... the evening.  7) He came ....  5 a.m. 8) He came ....  6 a.m. 9) He came ....  noon.  10) He came ....  dawn.  11) He came ....  1990 12) He came ....  February. 13) He came ....  Sunday. 14) He came ....  Monday.  15) He came ....  24 February.  16) He came ....  the last century.  17) He came ....  Tuesday.  18) He came ....  school.  19) He came ....  market.  20) He came ....  midnight.  21) The fox jumped.....  the fence.  22) Hang the picture.......  the wall.  23) A bird flew ...... my head.  24) She hit me......  the head. 26. Keep the pen.......  the table. 27...