7.2 Gradation of articles
The gradation words of GA are presented in tables: the second column gives the SF, the third the WF, and the fourth column gives an illustration of the use of the WF.
| Strong Form | Weak Form | Example | |
| a | eɪ | ə | a book |
| an | æn | ən | an ordeal |
| the | ðiː | ðə
Before vowels: ði |
the milk
the oil |
The SFs of the articles occur when they are accented, as in He is ˈthe /ðiː/ man for the job. Note, however, that /ðə/ may be the accented form of the as in I said ˈthe /ðə/ or /ˈðiː/ book, not a /eɪ/ book.
Some varieties use /ðə/ regardless of the following phoneme: the eagle: [ðə ʔˈiːgl].
