ARTICLES

A/AN THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

- We use a before a consonant and an before a vowel. But it depends on the pronunciation of
the following word, not the spelling.
a cat
a uniform
a one-day trip

an elephant
an interesting story
an hour

- We use a/an only with singular countable nouns

a pencil
an orange
- We use a/an with jobs
Shes a nurse.
Hes an engineer.
-We use a/an when we are talking about a person or thing for the first time.
We saw a girl with a dog.
-We use the when we talk about it again.
The girl was very little and the dog was big.
-We use a in some expressions when it means every
Once a day
(once every day)
Twice a year
Three times a week.
etc.
-We use a in some fixed time expressions.
Have a cold.
Have a headache.
Take a picture
sleep like a log

Have(take) a bath/shower
go for a walk etc.

THE THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

THE means you know which one/ones I mean. It can be used before any noun, singular or
plural.
-We use the when we talk about something that has been mentioned before
I bought a shit and sweater. The shirt is red and the sweater is blue.
-We use the when it is clear what we mean.
Open the door! (You can see which one)
Turn on the TV.
-We use the with persons or things that are unique(theres only one)
When I was in Rome I saw the Pope.
Dont sit in the sun. Its too hot.
-We use the with some time expressions.
in the evening in the morning in the afternoon at the weekend
-We use the with musical instruments
Can you play the piano?
-We use the with superlatives and ordinal numbers.
Shes the fastest runner in our class but today I was the first to finish the race

-We use the with some names

a)with the names of rivers, seas, and oceans
the Amazon the Black Sea the Pacific Ocean
b)with the names of groups of islands and mountain ranges
the Bahamas the Alps
c)with the names of groups of countries that include a union, a republic or kingdom
the United States The Republic of Croatia
the United Kingdom
but Croatia
England
Canada
d)with the names of hotels, cinemas, theatres, museums and buildings
the Hilton the Broadway Cinema the National Theatre
the Science Museum the Empire State Building
e)with family names in plural
The Greens are coming to dinner tonight.
-We use the in some fixed expressions
listen to the radio but watch TV
go to the cinema
go to the theatre
go to the doctors
call the police
live at the seaside
live in the country
on the left
on the right

in the middle etc.

NO ARTICLE
There are a number of situations when we use no article.
-We use no article with the names of people.
This is Paul Smith.
-In general we use no article with the names of countries, continents and cities.
Hes from London.
Brazil is a country in South America.
-We use no article with the names of streets, squares, parks and bridges
Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street are all in London.
-We use no article with the names of lakes, island and mountains in the singular
Lake Michigan is in the States.
Hvar is in Croatia.
Ben Nevis is mountain in Scotland.
-We use no article wit the names of languages, school subject, sports and games
Can you speak French?
History is my favourite subject.
He loves football and chess.
-We use no article with the names of the days and months.
Ill see you on Monday.
The course ends in June.
-We use no article with the names of meals.
Lets have breakfast.
What time is dinner?
-We use no article in a number of common expressions.
go to school
go to work
go to church
go home
be at home
go to prison/be in prison (as a prisoner)
go to hospital/be in hospital (as a patient)
go on holiday
travel by car/by plane/by bus/by train
come on foot
fall in love etc.

PRACTICE
1. A or an?
1 _______ apple
2_______union
3_______accident
4_______horse
5_______umbrella
6_______one man show

7_______university
8_______useful object
9_______honest person
10______intelligent answer
11_______nice evening
12_______Italian car

2.A, an or no article?
1 In my country ____doctors make good money. My dad is ___ doctor.
2 They go to the cinema once ____month but we go ___every Sunday.
3 ____ Irish stories are often funny. Heres ____ old Irish story.
4 Lets go for ___ walk. Its good for ______your body.
5 I dont like ___ football much but Im crazy about ___tennis.
6 He usually takes ___shower before he goes to ___ bed.
7 Wed like to go to ___ Australia because its ___ unusual country.
8 I sleep like ___ log when Im on ___ holiday.
9 Lets watch ___ TV. Theres ___ good film on.
10 Wheres ___Mary? She has ___ bad headache.
3 A, an or the?
1 yesterday I me ____ interesting boy. ___ boy had ___ parrot on his shoulder. ___ parrot was singing
___ song. ___ song was in French.
2 My brother found ___ wallet in the street ___ few days ago. There was ___ lot of money in ___
wallet but no name. Then he saw __ policeman and gave ___ wallet to him. ___ policeman thanked
him and promised to give him ___ reward.
3 Our neighbour Tom is ___ very active person. In ___ morning he jogs for __ hour and in ___
evening he works out in his garden. At ___ weekend he plays football with us. Youd never say hes
75.
4 Grandma has had ___ cold for two weeks now. I think she should go to ___ doctors.
5 We went to __ cinema last night and saw ___ exciting film. ___ number of famous actors were in it.
Actually, I think its ___ best film Ive seen in years.
6 _____ most important thing for my parents is how Im doing in school. How was school today? is
____ first question they ask me when I come home.
4 The or no article
_____ Keenans are very interesting family. ___ Mr Keenan was born in ___ Ireland but came to ___
United States when he was 18. He still speaks ___ Irish very different from _____ English.
He met his wife, ___ Gertrud, when he was working at ___ Ritz Hotel in _____ New York. She was
____ German and came to ___ America with her rich parents. They fell in ____
Love and were married soon. Together, they started a small restaurant near -__ Central Park which
became one of ____ most popular places to eat. Life was good for ___ Keenans then.
They had three children and a nice house in ____ country.
One night, as the were driving ___ home from ____ theatre, they had an accident. Gertrud was badly
hurt and she was in _____ hospital for a long time.
When she recovered, they sold ______ restaurant an ____ house and moved to ____ Bahamas.
Gertrud became a writer. ____ first book she wrote was bestseller and ___ second one was made into a
movie. Mr Keenan started renting boats to tourists. Now he owns __ biggest business in ___
Bahamas. ____ children are grown up. Nick, ___ oldest son, is a painter. He lives on a small island in
___ Pacific. His sister, Helen, works in ___ Metropolitan
Museum of art in ___ New York. ___ youngest child, Patric, is a musician. He plays ___ guitar in a
rock band and travels all over ____ world.
_____ family always gets together at ____ Christmas.

5 A, an the or no article?
1 Look at ___ moon. Isnt it beautiful?
2 My sister is ___ architect. She lives in ____ Japan.
3 Will someone answer ___ telephone?
4 Hes been playing ___ basketball since he was a child.
5 Lets have ___ lunch. Im starving.
6 This is _____first time that Ive been to the United Kingdom.
7 My birthday party is on ____Saturday. Bring ___ friend if you like.
8 Could you close ____ door, please?
9 This is ___ best book Ive ever read.
10 We usually go to ____ work on ___ foot.
11 Sally had _____ accident while skiing in ____ Alps. She crashed into _____ tree and broke both
legs.
12 All I want to do now is go____ home and have ______ nice hot bath.
6 The or no article?
1) Last year we visited____ St. Paul's Cathedral and __ Tower.
2) ___ Mount Everest is ___ highest mountain on earth.
3)____ Loch Ness is ____ most famous lake in Scotland.
4) ____ most children like___ sweets.
5) ____ summer of 1996 was hot and dry.
6) ___ Plaza Hotel is on the corner of____ 59th Street and ____5th Avenue.
7) My sister often stays at _____ Uncle Tim's in Detroit.
8) Our friends _____ Millers moved to Florida last August.
9) ____ smog is a problem in_____ big cities.
10) Our children go to ____ school by ___bus
7 The or no article?
Hi John,
I arrived in ______ USA last Monday. We left ____ Rome, flew over _____Alps and made a quick stop
in ______London. There we went shopping in _____Harrods, visited ____ Tower and enjoyed a sunny
afternoon in ____Hyde Park. On ____ following day we left for ____New York. The time on board
wasn't boring as two films were to watch on ____ monitor. ____ people on the plane were all
____Italian. Before we landed at ___ JFK airport, we saw ____ Statue of Liberty, ___Ellis Island and
the Empire State Building. ___ hotel I stayed in was on the corner of ___42nd Street and ____5th
Avenue. I don't like ____ hotels very much, but I didn't have ____time to rent an apartment.
Please say hello to Peter and Mandy.
Yours,
Peter