thepunctuationshow.com

Articles don’t really have a meaning of their own, but they affect the sentence that they are part of.

There are two types of article.

The ‘definite’ article - ‘the’.
The ‘indefinite’ article - ‘a’ or ‘an’.

When ‘the’ is used in a sentence, it generally indicates that the noun is familiar or specific:

'It was the right time.' suggests familiarity
'They’re going to the cinema.' suggests a specific cinema

When ‘a’ (or ‘an’ when the next word starts with a vowel) is used in a sentence, it normally gives less emphasis or suggests less importance.

'It was a bad idea.' sounds dismissive
'They’re going to a cinema.' suggests any cinema.

Remember, an article is a ‘determiner’ because it helps to determine meaning.

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