Kids Learn With Concept“A apple” or “an apple”? Almost every Indian learner has said the wrong one at some point. The rule is small and it never changes — but it depends on vowels and consonants, so that is where this lesson starts.
Vowels and consonants
The letters of the English alphabet can be divided into two groups: vowels and consonants.
The five letters a, e, i, o and u are called vowels.
All the other letters are called consonants.
The poem the lesson opens with
Make a cake, bake a cake
Bring the cake to Grandma
Eat the cake, finish the cake,
Shut the gate for Grandma
When we use a and an
- We write a or an before words that are one in number and which we mention for the first time.
- We use a or an when we talk about something which is not special and is one of the many things around us.
⭐ We use a before words that begin with a consonant sound.
⭐ We use an before words that begin with a vowel sound.
When we use the
We use the when we talk about something which we already know about, or are talking about for the second time.
Now read the poem again and check how a and the have been used. The first time the cake appears it is “a cake”. Every time after that it is “the cake”, because by then we all know which cake is being talked about.
Sing along
A mango here and an orange there
I've also got a teddy here.
The teddy's nice, the orange's bright
What a pretty sight.
OH, what a pretty sight.
Writing a or an
Practice from the lesson
- Circle the words that begin with a vowel sound: horse, elephant, banana, ice, boat, arm, giraffe, orange, eraser.
- Circle the words that begin with a consonant sound: hen, apple, owl, monkey, egg, kite, ant, milk, pin.
- Write a or an before these words: table, jacket, onion, crocodile, tree, doll, eye, carrot, sheep.
- Place these words in the correct column, A or AN: rainbow, horse, onion, fish, ear, apple, door, egg, snake, orange. (Rainbow and onion are done for you.)
Answer key for grown-ups
1. elephant, ice, arm, orange, eraser
2. hen, monkey, kite, milk, pin
3. a) a table b) a jacket c) an onion d) a crocodile e) a tree f) a doll g) an eye h) a carrot i) a sheep
4. A — rainbow, horse, door, fish, snake. AN — onion, apple, egg, ear, orange.
A quick tip for parents
Teach it as a sound rule, never a letter rule. The word is “an hour”, not “a hour”, because the h is silent and the word begins with a vowel sound — and it is “a university”, not “an university”, because that u sounds like “yoo”. Your child will not meet those two words for a few years yet, but if the rule is stored as a sound rule from the start, they will never have to unlearn anything.
English Grammar Workbook — Class 1
This lesson is one chapter. The workbook has all 15, in order, with far more practice than a single page can hold — naming words, special names, one & many, gender, pronouns, a/an, this/that/these/those, action words, describing words, opposites, prepositions, is/am/are, has/have, was/were and punctuation.
- Concept first, then practice — the rule is explained in a child's words before a single blank has to be filled.
- Colourful picture-based exercises that Class 1 children actually finish.
- A complete answer key at the back, so a parent can check the work in a minute.
Instant download · Print at home and reuse forever · Written by educator Vandana Kumari (M.Sc, LL.B).