Sample Material of Online Coaching For SSC CGL (Tier - 2) - Common error
Sample Material SSC CGL TIER-2 Online Coaching
General English (Chapter: Common error)
1. Articles
1. Articles: There are three articles in English—a, an and the. A and
an are called indefinite article.The is the definite article. An article is
placed before a noun. If there is an adjective before a noun, the article is
placed before the adjective:
a train, a fast train, an incident, an unusual incident
Note: We can never use a singular count noun alone, that is, without
a/an/the/my/some/any etc.
2. A/an
Singular count nouns take the indefinite article a/an with them:
a ball an egg a dog an elephant
Uncount nouns do not generally take an article with them. we do not generally
say
a milk a beauty a wisdom
for milk, beauty, wisdom cannot be counted.
3. We use a with singular count nouns beginning with a consonant sound:
a girl a map auniversity a union
a one-sided affair a one-rupee note
Note: That the words university, union, and one begin with a vowel but no a
vowel sound. University and union begin with the yoo sound while one begins with
the w sound.
Well-known words which begin with a vowel but take a with them are:
European uniform union unit
universal usual useful eau-de-cologne
4. An:
An is used before words beginning with a vowel sound:
an umbrella an opportunity an honest boy an honourable person
The letter h in honest and honourable is not sounded. Common words in English
which begin with an unsounded h are:
heir heiress honest honorary
honourable hour hourly
5. In abbreviations,
if consonants begin with a vowel sound, they take an before them:
an M.P. an S.P.
But if consonants begin with a consonant sound, they take a before them:
a Ph.D. a B.Ed.
6. Note the use of a in the following phrases:
a pity a shame
a pleasure a noise
a rage a nuisance
a headache a toothache
a bad cold in a whisper
in a low voice in a loud voice
to be at a loss
7. The definite Article the:
The, the definite article, is a weakended form of that. It is
pronounced as (di:) when it preceded a vowel sound and as do before a consonant
sound. In meaning also, it is weaker than that. Instead of pointing out, it
defines, particularises or singles out:
I have read the book you are talking of. (not any book but a particular book
that is being referred to)
The artists who came to seem me today are quite accomplished. (not any artists
but the ones who came to see me today)
8. In the examples given in § 7, the book and the artists are
particularised by two adjective clauses. In certain cases, a noun's being
particular may be clear from the context and it may not have any defining
expression with it. The is also prefixed to such a noun:
Shut the door. (the door of the room in which we are sitting)
He was brought before the Principal. (The Principal of the institution in which
he was studying)
The king pardoned him. (the king we are talking about at the moment)
9. If I am looking at the picture of a room, I can talk about the
ceiling, the floor, because there is only one ceiling and one floor, but I
cannot talk about the wall if there are more than one walls in the picture
because I would not be talking about the only one. I can, however, talk about
the left wall and the right wall because there is only one left wall and one
right wall in the picture.
10. More about the: We use the definite article the
1. with superlatives and the words used in the superlative sense:
the best student in the class
the Chief Justice
the Prime Minister
2. when special emphasis almost equivalent to the use of the superlative is
intended:
He is the leader today. (the greatest leader)
This is just the thing. (the right thing)
This is the way to solve this problem. (the proper way).
3. even in comparative degrees when one of the two items is singled out in
preference to the other:
He is the moon, the world, (But not: He is the finer batsman than others. The
correct form would be : He is a finer bats man than others.)
4. with things of which there is only one in our world, or things which are
otherwise well known but do not begin with a capital letter:
the sun, the moon, the world, the equator, the north, the east.