Focus on Grammar / Lesson Five / Articles / Book Two

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What is an article? Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns. English has two articles: The and A/An. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; A/An is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call The the definite article and A/An the indefinite article.

Grammar rule 1
When you have a single, countable English noun, you must always have an article before it. We cannot say "Please pass me pen.", we must say "Please pass me the pen." or "Please pass me a pen." or "Please pass me your pen." Nouns in English can also be uncountable. Uncountable nouns can be concepts, such as 'life', 'happiness' and so on, or materials and substances, such as 'coffee', or 'wood'.

Grammar rule 2
Uncountable nouns don't use 'a' or 'an'. This is because you can't count them. For example, advice is an uncountable noun. You can't say "He gave me an advice.", but you can say "He gave me some advice.", or "He gave me a piece of advice". Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable. For example, we say "coffee" meaning the product, but we say "a coffee" when asking for one cup of coffee.

Grammar rule 3
You can use 'the' to make general things specific. You can use 'the' with any type of noun plural or singular, countable or uncountable. "Please pass me a pen" any pen. "Please pass me the pen" the one that we can both see. "Children grow up quickly" children in general. "The children I know grow up quickly" not all children, just the ones I know. "Poetry can be beautiful"- poetry in general. "The poetry of Hafez is beautiful" I'm only talking about the poetry Hafez wrote.
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Plus The?
1)

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Countries whose name includes a word like Republic, United, Kingdom or Republic: the Islamic Republic Of Iran; the United States Of America; the Peoples Republic of China 2) Parts of Day: (in the morning; in the afternoon; in the evening) The 3) Ships: the Titanic; the Queen Mary The 4) Deserts: the Sahara Desert; the Kavir; the Kalahari Desert The 5) Hotels: the Hilton; the Sheraton The 6) Rivers: the Ganges; the Zayanderood; the Thames The 7) Gulfs: the Persian Gulf; the Mexico gulf The 8) Museums: the Louvre; the Natural History The 9) Libraries: the Congress Library; the National library The 10) Newspapers / Magazines: the Times; the Economist The 11) Seas / Oceans: the Mediterranean; the Caspian (sea); the Pacific ocean The 12) Unique Names: the sun; the Earth; the moon; the Quran; the Bible The 13) Ordinal Numbers: the 1st; the 2nd ; the 3rd ; the 4th ; the last; the next The 14) Groups of Islands: the Canary Islands; Indonesia Islands The 15) Cinemas / Theatres: the Rex cinema; the Qods cinema The 16) Musical Instruments: the guitar; the piano; the violin The 17) Superlative Adjectives: the best; the most interesting The 18) Nouns Mentioned before: the man; the book The 19) Known Things around us: the light; the window The 20) Mountain Ranges or groups: the Alps; the Alborz; the Andes The 21) Nouns modified by a clause: The man who(m) you saw is my fathers friend. 22) The + adj. = plural noun (classes of people): The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. She devoted her life to looking after the sick and the disabled. 23) The + plural family name = the members of the family: the Smiths; the Browns

Zero article? 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

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Countries whose name is a single word: Iran; America; China People / Titles: John; Mary; Dr. Watson; Queen Elizabeth Cities: Tehran; Isfahan; London; New York; Tokyo Towns: Karaj; Fasa; Najafabad Meals: breakfast; lunch; dinner (The lunch mother cooked tasted good.)

Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article Zero article

6) Lakes: Uromieh; Gahar; lake Victoria 7) Streets: Milton St.; Hafez St.; Washington Blvd.; Main St. 8) Sports: football; soccer; volleyball; yoga; wrestling 9) Languages: English; Persian - (the English language/the language of dolphins) 10) Villages: Mahmoudabad; Asgarabad; 11) Airports: Heathrow; Mehrabad; Charles de Gaulle 12) Churches: Vank; St. Petersburg; St. Mary 13) Mountains: Mount Everest; Mount Damavand; Mount Fuji 14) Continents: Asia; America; Europe; Africa 15) Parks / Zoos: Mellat park; Hashtbehesht park 16) Bus / Train Stations: Kaveh station; Engelab station 17) Days / Months / season / Years: Sunday; September; summer; 2011 18) Squares in towns and cities: Azadi sq.; Imam sq. 19) Noon / Night / Dawn / Dusk: at noon; at night; at dawn; at dusk 20) Poss. Adjectives / Demonstratives: my classmate; Marys bag; this map

21) Non-count Nouns in general sense: Honesty is the best policy. Zero article War is destructive. / Rice is the main food in Asia. / Power doesnt interest him. Inflation is rising. / Information is important to any organisation. 22) Plural form of a count noun in general sense: I like roses/oranges. Zero article Ive just seen a new book about computers. / She hates dogs/monkeys. 23) In some fixed expressions : Zero article by car / by train / by air / by bus / by taxi / by plane / by rail / on foot / on holiday / on air (in broadcasting) at school / at University / in church / in prison / in bed / at work 24) Names of academic subjects: mathematics, biology, history, computer science

A / An / The ?

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- Choose the best option: 1) ...... apple a day keeps the doctor away. a- An b- The c- A 2) We spent a lot of time swimming in ...... sea on holiday. a- the b- a c- ---3) It's ...... most expensive hotel in town. a- ---b- a c- the 4) ...... Mount Everest is in the Himalayas. a- A b- The c- ---5) My mother is allergic to ...... cigarette smoke. a- the b- ---c- a 6) A nonbeliever does not believe in ...... God. a- a b- the c- ---7) He never listens to ...... classical music. a- a b- ---c- the 8) You can pay that bill at ...... bank. a- the b- ---c- an 9) It was ...... excellent meal last night. a- the b- an c- ---10) We usually have ...... dinner at eight. a- a b- the c- ---11) I'm against ...... capital punishment (death penalty). a- the b- ---c- a 12) ...... underground is a very convenient way of getting around London. a- A b- The c- --13) I don't go to ...... theatre very often. a- a b- the c- ---14) His birthday is on ...... fourth of May. a- a b- the c- --15) ...... roses are my favorite flowers. a- --b- The c- A 16) Do you know how to use ...... computer? a- a b- an c- ---17) Did you see the film on ...... TV last night? a- the b- --c- a 18) I've got to get to ...... post office before it closes. a- a b- --c- the 19) It is ...... largest producer of computer keyboards in the world. a- the b- a c- ---20) I always listen to ...... radio on my way into work. a- a b- the c- ---21) ...... Andes are in South America. a- The b- ---c- An 22) There is a major problem with ...... crime nowadays. a- ---b- the c- a 23) Paris is ...... capital of France. a- a b- ---c- the 24) They go to ...... church every week. a- --b- a c- the 25) They crashed because they had ...... burst tyre. a- the b- a c- ---

26) Would you mind turning off ...... light when you leave? a- --b- the c- a 27) The party was so loud that she asked them to turn ...... music down. a- a b- the c- --28) ...... price of gold is rising, but the price of silver is falling. a- The / --- / the b- The / the / the c- The / --- / --29) We start ...... work at a quarter to nine. a- --b- the c- a 30) The only sport I enjoy is ...... rugby. a- --b- the c- a 31) It's ...... old house and needs some work. a- the b- an c- a 32) The man took ...... his book and put it into his briefcase. a- the / --b- --- / the c- --- / --33) Could you take ...... books you borrowed back to the library, please? a- --b- the c- a 34) Come in! ...... water's lovely and warm. Prepared by: A. Mohammadi a- The b- --c- A 35) He joined ...... union when he started work. a- a / --b- an / --c- --- / --36) We often go to ...... Central Park and watch animals in zoo. a- the / --- / the b- --- / the / --c- --- / the / the 37) He's wearing ...... tie I gave him. a- the b- a c- --38) What time would you like ...... breakfast? a- a b- --c- the 39) I don't know anywhere in ...... world quite as beautiful as here. a- a b- --c- the 40) We were stopped by ...... police last night. a- the b- --c- a 41) She's been looking for ...... job since she was graduated. a- the b- a c- --42) The River Nile is ...... longest river of all. a- a b- --c- the 43) I was really angry because I missed ...... bus. a-a b- the c- --44) Christmas Day falls on ...... Sunday this year. a- a b- the c- --45) There were no buses so I had to take ...... taxi. a- --b- a c- the 46) ...... number of boys were swimming in the lake, but I didn't know ...... exact number of them. a- A / the b- The / an c- The / the 47) ...... French believe ...... French is ...... most beautiful language in the world. a- --- / --- the b- --- /the / the c- The /--- / the 48) ...... Smiths often eat in ...... most expensive restaurant on Sunday. a- --- / the b- A / the c- The / the 49) It takes us ...... hour and ...... half to get there. a- a /a b- a / an c- an / a 50) His sister is ...... university student. Shes to wear ...... uniform at work. a- an / an b- a / a c- the / the