IELTS Writing for Hindi-speaking candidates from India: How to Fix Mistakes with a, an and the
Check each noun: is it countable, singular, specific or general? Use 'a' or 'an' for one unspecified item, 'the' for something already identified, and no article for general plural or uncountable ideas.
At a glance
- For
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India
- Problem
- Mistakes with a, an and the
- Scoring criterion
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
- Task affected
- Task 1 and Task 2
- IELTS test
- Academic or General Training (check your requirement)
- Typical effort
- three to four weeks, because it is a habit
- First step
- Underline every noun in your essay and mark whether it is countable or uncountable.
Why this happens to Hindi-speaking candidates from India
Articles are small words, so they are easy to skip when writing quickly. Many learners come from languages without articles, and repeated errors are a common reason for a Grammatical Range and Accuracy score of 6.
Why this affects Hindi-speaking candidates from India: Indian English has its own idioms and prepositions, and some of these are marked as non-standard in IELTS.
Tense and article use sometimes follows local usage, not exam norms.
A strength to build on: High exposure to English means fluency and vocabulary are often strong.
Fix it in four steps
- Underline every noun in your essay and mark whether it is countable or uncountable.
- For each singular countable noun, check there is an article or another determiner.
- Use 'the' only when the reader already knows which one you mean.
- Leave out the article for general plural nouns, such as 'cities' or 'teachers'.
Before and after
Before
Government should build new hospital in city centre.
After
The government should build a new hospital in the city centre.
Ten-minute drill: Proofread two old paragraphs for articles only. Count the errors and repeat with a new paragraph tomorrow.
Questions and answers
What is the fastest way for Hindi-speaking candidates from India to fix mistakes with a, an and the?
Check each noun: is it countable, singular, specific or general? Use 'a' or 'an' for one unspecified item, 'the' for something already identified, and no article for general plural or uncountable ideas. Tense and article use sometimes follows local usage, not exam norms.
How long does it take Hindi-speaking candidates from India to fix mistakes with a, an and the?
Most learners need three to four weeks, because it is a habit. Focus on structure, register and proofreading rather than adding more vocabulary.
Why are articles so hard?
They depend on context rather than strict rules, and many languages do not have them. Regular proofreading for one error type is the fastest fix.
Do article mistakes lower my band?
Occasional ones do not. Frequent ones that appear in most sentences show limited accuracy and can hold Grammar at Band 6.
What does a good practice drill look like for Hindi-speaking candidates from India?
Proofread two old paragraphs for articles only. Count the errors and repeat with a new paragraph tomorrow. Focus on structure, register and proofreading rather than adding more vocabulary.
How can Hindi-speaking candidates from India tell they have fixed mistakes with a, an and the?
An article-only proofread of your last essay finds two or fewer errors.
What should Hindi-speaking candidates from India know about their IELTS Writing target?
Candidates from India often write fluent English and need targeted work on exam-specific structure, register and precision.
Should Hindi-speaking candidates from India practise this on Task 1, Task 2 or both?
It shows up in both tasks. Fix it in Task 2 first, because Task 2 carries about twice the weight of Task 1, then check Task 1 with the same checklist. High exposure to English means fluency and vocabulary are often strong.
Can an AI checker help Hindi-speaking candidates from India with mistakes with a, an and the?
An AI checker can show where this pattern appears in your own essay and which criterion it affects, which makes the fix concrete. It gives a practice estimate, not an official IELTS score, so use it to choose the next revision, rewrite, and check again. The first check on this site is free.
Check your own essay
See where mistakes with a, an and the appears in your own writing and which criterion it affects, then rewrite the weakest paragraph.
Feedback is a practice estimate, not an official IELTS score. Last reviewed 2026-11-11. Score requirements change, so confirm them with the organisation that will read your result.
Related guides
- IELTS Writing for Hindi-speaking candidates from India: overview
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India: memorised paragraphs that do not match the question
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India: unnatural word combinations
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India: rare or memorised words used in the wrong place
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India: an unclear position in Task 2
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India: switching tenses without a reason
- Hindi-speaking candidates from India: sentences that all have the same simple structure
- Full-time workers: mistakes with a, an and the
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