Articles, determiners and prepositions

Articles should be used by matching the noun's countability, sound and reference: a or an for one nonspecific singular count noun, the for a specific or unique noun, and zero article for general plural, uncount or proper nouns. The Rajasthan Staff Selection Board official LDC 2018 syllabus places Paper II at 100 marks.

Articles are small words, but in objective grammar they decide whether a sentence is acceptable, natural or wrong. English has the indefinite articles a and an, the definite article the, and a zero article pattern where no article is used. The first rule is countability. A and an are used only with singular count nouns: a book, an answer, a clerk, an hour. They cannot normally stand before plural count nouns or uncount nouns. A files, an informations and a water are wrong in ordinary exam English. If a noun is plural, use no article, a number, a quantifier or the according to meaning: files, two files, many files, the files. If a noun is uncount, use no article, some, much, a piece of, the or another suitable determiner: information, some information, much water, a piece of advice, the water in this glass.

The choice between a and an depends on sound, not only spelling. Use a before a consonant sound: a boy, a university, a useful rule, a European country, a one-rupee coin. Use an before a vowel sound: an apple, an honest man, an hour, an MLA, an FIR. The first sound controls the article. University begins with a /y/ sound, so a university is correct. Hour begins with a vowel sound because h is silent, so an hour is correct. Abbreviations are tested in the same way: an MA degree if the letter name begins with a vowel sound, but a B.Ed. course if the first sound is consonantal.

The article the marks a specific, already identified or uniquely understood noun. Compare I saw a file on the table and I signed the file. In the first sentence, a file introduces one file not previously identified. In the second, the file refers to the known file. The also appears with unique references such as the sun, the moon, the earth when treated as unique in ordinary speech, and with superlatives or ordinal expressions such as the best answer, the first chapter and the last date. It is used with a noun made specific by a following phrase: the book on the shelf, the man in white, the result declared yesterday.

Zero article is not absence by mistake; it is a real pattern. Plural count nouns and uncount nouns often take zero article when used generally: Books are useful; Water is necessary; Honesty is respected. Proper nouns generally take zero article: Jaipur, India, Ramesh, English. Names of meals, languages, subjects and games usually take no article in general use: We had lunch; She studies English; He plays cricket. But when a noun is made specific, the may return: The lunch served at the meeting was cold; The English spoken in the interview was clear.

For LDC-style gap filling, test the noun first. Is it singular count, plural count, or uncount? Then test reference. Is the noun new, any one member, already known, unique, or general? A singular count noun normally needs a determiner, so He bought book is wrong; He bought a book or He bought the book is required. Plural and uncount nouns may stand without an article when the meaning is general. Many article errors are therefore not solved by memorising a list; they are solved by combining countability with reference.