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Definite and indefinite articles | Modifiers | The parts of speech

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    - [Voiceover] So we've covered the
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    basic idea that divides the usage
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    of "the" from "a" and "an".
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    "The" is the definite article,
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    and "a" or "an" is the indefinite.
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    So when you're being non-specific
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    in language,
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    you would use
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    the indefinite article
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    as in,
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    "May I have
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    an orange?"
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    Cause it doesn't matter
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    which orange you're asking for,
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    you don't care,
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    it's any orange,
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    as opposed to if you wanted
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    the orange.
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    This usage is much more specific,
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    and it seems to indicate
    that there is only
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    one orange.
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    You see the orange in
    particular that you want,
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    you're identifying it,
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    you're asking for it.
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    That's what this definite usage is.
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    Something that's interesting about
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    the word "the"
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    is that it can be used for both singular
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    and plural nouns.
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    So it's both singular and plural.
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    So you could say
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    "May I have the orange?"
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    You could also say
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    "May I have the oranges?"
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    And "an" does not really allow this,
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    it is only singular.
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    So you can't say
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    "May I have an oranges?"
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    This is not standard.
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    What you'd probably say instead is
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    "May I have some oranges?"
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    So this is not standard,
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    does not work in standard
    American English.
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    The other thing about "a" or "an"
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    is that it's "a" or "an".
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    The indefinite article changes
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    depending on the vowel sound
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    that comes after it.
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    So changes for vowel sounds.
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    Now what does that mean?
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    Well it means that if you know
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    that word that you're going to say next
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    like ah or ooh or eh or uh or ee,
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    then you're gonna change it to "an".
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    So it's the difference between saying
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    "A box,"
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    and
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    "An apple."
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    What we don't say
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    in standard American English
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    is "a apple."
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    It's not as easy on the mouth, frankly,
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    it takes a little bit more effort.
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    And any linguist will tell you
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    that the way languages develop
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    is that they were word laziness.
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    So we say "a box"
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    but we say "an apple."
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    Something a little weird though,
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    you want to make sure
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    that you're looking for vowel sounds
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    not just for vowels.
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    Because some vowels,
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    for example,
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    the letter U
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    don't always produce "ooh" sounds.
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    Sometimes if they're at
    the beginning of a word,
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    like in word union,
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    so if you say "a union,"
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    that produces a "yuh" sound,
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    and "yuh" is technically
    a consonant sound.
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    That's not a vowel.
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    But there are certainly cases like
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    "An underwater boat,"
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    where the letter U does produce
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    an "ooh" or an "uh" sound,
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    and that's a vowel.
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    So if you're gonna start the word
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    with a vowel sound,
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    what you wanna do is choose
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    "an" instead of "a"
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    but just be careful of
    the letter U for example.
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    So to recap,
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    "the" is the definite article.
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    You can use it for both
    singular and plural usage.
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    "May I have the orange?"
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    "May I have the oranges?"
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    "A" or "an" is indefinite
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    and it's only singular,
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    so you can say
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    "May I have an orange?"
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    or
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    "May I have some oranges?"
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    Before a vowel sound,
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    "a" changes to "an"
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    so you say "a box,"
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    but "an apple".
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    Not "a apple."
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    You say "a union,"
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    but "an underwater boat."
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    You can learn anything.
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    David out.
Title:
Definite and indefinite articles | Modifiers | The parts of speech
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
04:14

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