KS1 Indefinite Articles | Using the Words A or An

English Quiz - Indefinite Articles 'A' or 'An' (Questions)

This quiz helps children identify which indefinite article to use. This quiz should be used after KS1 children have learned which letters are vowels. Becoming familiar with when to use the indefinite article ‘A’ or ‘An’ helps their sentence level as required by the National Curriculum. In addition, it adds a feather in their English and literacy cap.

Instead of ‘a’, if a word begins with a vowel, we write ‘an’. If we wrote ‘elephant’ but there was one, we would write ‘an elephant’ because the word begins with an ‘e’, a vowel. We always write ‘an’ for words beginning with vowels.

See if you know when to use ‘a’ or ‘an’.

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Let's recap. Which letters are the five vowels?

[ ]	aeiou
[ ]	abcde
[ ]	vwxyz
[ ]	aoyui

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	banana
[ ]	strawberry
[ ]	grape
[ ]	apple

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	goat
[ ]	elk
[ ]	hedgehog
[ ]	bunny

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	orange
[ ]	red
[ ]	yellow
[ ]	blue

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	bug
[ ]	insect
[ ]	bee
[ ]	wasp

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	assortment
[ ]	arrangement
[ ]	animal
[ ]	toy

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	seal
[ ]	otter
[ ]	octopus
[ ]	eel

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	excited
[ ]	overwhelmed
[ ]	tired
[ ]	amused

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	egg
[ ]	oven
[ ]	ice cube
[ ]	cake

10.

Which answer is correct?

[ ]	an rose
[ ]	an garden
[ ]	a rose
[ ]	a orange flower

English Quiz - Indefinite Articles 'A' or 'An' (Answers)

Let's recap. Which letters are the five vowels?

[x]	aeiou
[ ]	abcde
[ ]	vwxyz
[ ]	aoyui

Great! Now you know the five vowels, you'll know to write 'an' in front of a word that starts with one.

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	banana
[ ]	strawberry
[ ]	grape
[x]	apple

The word 'apple' begins with an 'a', which is a vowel. Because the word begins with a vowel, we would write 'an apple'.

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	goat
[x]	elk
[ ]	hedgehog
[ ]	bunny

An elk is a type of deer.

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[x]	orange
[ ]	red
[ ]	yellow
[ ]	blue

These are the colours of the rainbow. All the other colours would have 'a' in front of them, like 'a blue coat'.

Which of these words would you write 'an' in front of?

[ ]	bug
[x]	insect
[ ]	bee
[ ]	wasp

Most insects hatch from eggs.

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	assortment
[ ]	arrangement
[ ]	animal
[x]	toy

We could say it is an assortment of toys, or a toy.

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[x]	seal
[ ]	otter
[ ]	octopus
[ ]	eel

We would say 'a seal' and all the others begin with a vowel and would have 'an' in front of them.

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	excited
[ ]	overwhelmed
[x]	tired
[ ]	amused

We would write 'a tired woman'. The term for learning about 'a' or 'an' is called the indefinite article.

Which of these words would you write 'a' in front of?

[ ]	egg
[ ]	oven
[ ]	ice cube
[x]	cake

We would normally put the indefinite article in front of a noun or an adjective.

10.

Which answer is correct?

[ ]	an rose
[ ]	an garden
[x]	a rose
[ ]	a orange flower

The words 'a' and 'an' mean one, so if you are writing about roses, you wouldn't use either indefinite article.