Distinguish Specific And General Ideas

Skill

Distinguish Specific And General Ideas

No description

With countable singular nouns it is possible to use either the definite or the indefinite article, but they have different meanings. The definite article is used to refer to one specific noun.

  • Tom will bring the book tomorrow. (There is one specific book that Tom will bring tomorrow.)
  • He will arrive on the first Tuesday in July. (There is only one first Tuesday in July.)
  • He sailed on the Pacific Ocean. (There is only one Pacific Ocean.)

The indefinite article is used when the noun could be one of several different nouns.

  • Tom will bring a book tomorrow. (Tom will bring any one book.)
  • He will arrive on a Tuesday in July. (He will arrive on one of four Tuesdays in July.)
  • He sailed on an ocean. (He sailed on any one of the world's oceans.)

The following chart outlines the key information that you should understand about specific and general ideas:

SPECIFIC AND GENERAL IDEAS

  • A or AN (General Idea)
    • Use when there are many, and you do not know which one it is.
    • Use when there are many, and you do not care which one it is.
  • THE (Specific Idea)
    • Use when it is the only one.
    • Use when there are many, and you know which one it is.

Exercise

Complete the following exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned:

Each of the following sentences contains one or more articles. Circle the articles. Draw arrows to the nouns they describe. Then indicate if the sentences are correct (C) or incorrect (I).

  1. He took a trip on a Snake River.
  2. I'll meet you at the library later.
  3. The ball hit a child on a head.
  4. He had a best grade in the class on the exam.
  5. The people who came here yesterday were here again today.
  6. She was a most beautiful girl in the room.
  7. The trip that I took last year to the Bahamas was the only vacation I had all year.
  8. I need a piece of paper so that I can finish the report that I am working on.
  9. A basketball player threw the ball to a center of the court.
  10. The sixth-grade class went on a field trip to visit a Lincoln Memorial.

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