Grammar Challenge

Indefinite articles
Practice activities

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007

 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Indefinite articles

Exercise 1:
Match the beginnings of the sentences to the correct endings.

1. What a a. reporter on TV.

2. She works as a b. a pair of scissors please?

3. She was driving at c. a delicious meal!

4. Have you got d. fantastic idea!

5. He gave e. a day.

6. He's an f. 80 kilometres an hour.

7. Yum! What g. a CD and a book for her birthday.

8. They always eat 3 meals h. artist.

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 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Indefinite Articles
Exercise 2:
Read the sentence and choose the one option a - c which best fits the space.

1. She's got … TV in her kitchen and one in her sitting room.

a. a
b. (no article)
c. an

2. I like to get my hair cut …

a. once month
b. once the month
c. once a month

3. … I don't know when I last saw a film that good.

a. What fantastic a film!
b. What a fantastic film!
c. What the fantastic film!

4. I'm busy just now. Can you please just …?

a. wait a minute
b. wait the minute
c. a minute wait

5. What … fast car! It can go from 0 to 60 … in 5 seconds.

a. the / miles the hour
b. a / miles an hour
c. (no article) / miles a hour

6. He was … unemployed for … few months but now he's got … new job.
a. (no article) / the / the / a
b. (no article) / a / a
c. an / a / the

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 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Indefinite articles - Answers

Exercise 1:
Match the beginnings of the sentences to the correct endings.

1. What a d. fantastic idea!

2. She works as a a. reporter on TV.

3. She was driving at f. 80 kilometres an hour.

4. Have you got b. a pair of scissors please?

5. He gave her g. a CD and a book for her birthday.

6. He's an h. artist.

7. Yum! What c. a delicious meal!

8. They always eat 3 meals e. a day.

Grammar Challenge activities © BBC Learning English

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 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Indefinite articles - Answers

Exercise 2:

1. She's got … TV in her kitchen and one in her sitting room.

a. a - Well done, we use the indefinite article to refer to something or someone for
the first time in a conversation.
b. (no article) – Sorry, you need an article before the noun 'TV'.
c. an – Sorry, you need a different indefinite article.

2. I like to get my hair cut …

a. once month – Sorry, you need an article before the noun 'month'.
b. once the month – Sorry, you need a different article.
c. once a month – Well done, we use the indefinite article with this expression.

3. … I don't know when I last saw a film that good.

a. What fantastic a film! – Sorry, the words are in the wrong order.
b. What a fantastic film! – Well done, we use the indefinite article.
c. What the fantastic film! – Sorry, you need a different article.

4. I'm busy just now. Can you please just …?

a. wait a minute – Well done, we use the indefinite article.
b. wait the minute – Sorry, you need a different article.
c. a minute wait – Sorry, the words are in the wrong order.

5. What … fast car! It can go from 0 to 60 … in 5 seconds.

a. the / miles the hour – Sorry, in both answers you need a different article.
b. a / miles an hour – Well done, we use indefinite articles with both these
expressions.
c. (no article) / hours a mile – Sorry, in the first answer you need an article and in the second
one the words are in the wrong order and you need a different indefinite article.

6. He was … unemployed for … few months but now he's got … new job.
a. (no article) / the / the – Sorry, the first answer is correct but the second and third need
different articles.
b. (no article) / a / a - Well done, we don't need an article before this adjective and
the other two answers all take indefinite articles.
c. an / a / the – Sorry, the second answer is correct but the first and the third answers are
incorrect.

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