Exercises

1. Think of your own examples illustrating the rules above.

2. Explain the use of the indefinite article in the following sentences.

Model: “A child can understand it”. The indefinite article in this sentence is used before the noun in a general sense having the meaning “every”.

1. I usually have a cup of coffee and a roll for breakfast.

2. A fool and his money are soon parted.

3. Sam gave me a lift yesterday.

4. This is an exciting story.

5. The new Paulo Coelho’s book was a success.

6. A man from Ohio was spending a month in Britain.

7. There are only twenty-four hours in a day.

8. There is a computer and a TV-set in the living room. The computer is old and the TV-set is old.

9. Let’s have a snack.

10. She should buy a kilo of sausage.

11. Mary is such a kind girl.

12. Johnny keeps a brown hamster in a box.

13. Nevertheless, citizens can also count on reducing the financial burden on the family budget if they decide to have a first child.

3. Explain the use or the absence of the definite article in the following sentences.

Model: “The dog was domesticated many centuries ago”. The definite article in this sentence is used before the noun in a generic sense.

1. Where is the DVD I gave you yesterday?

2. This man works in the same shop as I do.

3. Who is the boy playing the piano?

4. The best things in life are free.

5. The first step is the hardest.

6. The last straw breaks the camel's back.

7. You should go to the dentist twice a year.

8. I’m sorry I don’t remember the exact title of the book.

9. He was much given to quoting that wonderful phrase to describe the endless battle between man and nature.

10. He promised to help me last night but he didn’t.

11. Louis Braille invented a system of reading and writing for the blind.

12. Paul is wearing the green and yellow sweater we bought two weeks ago at Harrods.