The Article

Part I

The indefinite article

Exercise 1.1

Put in a/an if necessary.

1. I had a sandwich, read a book and listened to – music.

2. I’d like to ask you … question. Is there … hotel near here? I’m … tourist.

3. Tom never wears … jacket, he only wears … jeans and … T-shirt.

4. Jamaica is … island with … beautiful views and … wonderful hotels.

5. Amy never eats … meat, she eats only … vegetables and … bread.

6. Ben is … tall young man with … brown eyes and … short black hair.

7. We live in … small house, but there’s … nice garden with … beautiful flowers.

8. I can use … computer and I speak … foreign languages, but I wouldn’t like to work in … office.

9. Did you send me … letter when you were in Greece? – No, I don’t like writing … letters, I prefer … E-mails.

10. Look! There’s … woman at the bus stop and she’s carrying … bag with … dog in it!

11. … cows eat … grass and drink … water.

12. My mum says it’s unhealthy to eat … hamburgers and … fries all the time.

13. There was … café near my house some time ago, and now there is … disco.

14. My brother says … students always feel nervous before … exam.

Exercise 1.2

Use the words given to answer the questions. Use a/an or some in your answers.

1. What is there on the table? – salt, spoon, knife, milk, egg

There’s some salt, a spoon, a jug, some milk and an egg on the table.

2. What have you got in your bag? – toothpaste, toothbrush, purse, money, credit card

3. What did you buy in the shops? – hat, pair of shoes, perfume, pen, CDs

4. What do you want to buy at the post office? – newspaper, postcards, stamps, magazine, envelope

5. What would you like for breakfast? – coffee, white bread, butter, piece of cake, chocolate

6. What presents did you get for your birthday? – flowers, CD, cookery book, dictionary, camera

7. What did you visit on holiday? – museum, gallery, shops, old castle, farm.

Exercise 1.3

Compete the sentences with a/an, some or any.

1. Is there a telephone here? I need to make a call.

2. There aren’t … pets in my parents’ house.

3. There are … people at the door. They want to ask us … questions about the house.

4. I bought … ice-cream, … cake and … lemonade for the party.

5. Mum, I need … money because I want to buy … new CDs and … new school bag.

6. We went to … party yesterday. We talked to … interesting people there.

7. They wanted … information about the town and asked … policeman to help them.

8. I’ve got … good idea. Let’s buy … wood and make … shelf.

9. I don’t know … people who can help you with your car.

10. He worked for … rich company and he told me … facts about it.

11. My sister is … designer, she already made … fashionable clothes.

12. I had … feeling that I knew … guests at the party.

Exercise 1.4

Use a/an where necessary.

1. My granddad worked as … farmer, but then he became … factory worker.

2. Why did you buy such … expensive jacket?

3. What … delicious jam your grandma makes!

4. Henry has quite … interesting job, and he goes on such … exciting trips!

5. My mum is … journalist and my dad is … architect.

6. We usually have … breakfast in the kitchen, but we have … lunch in the dining room.

7. The woman collected … thousand postcards during her life.

8. I go to see my parents three or four times … year.

9. What time is … dinner? – Let’s go for … walk after … lunch, and then I’ll start cooking … dinner.

10. I like having … light breakfast and … big tasty dinner.

11. He earned £2,000 … month when he worked for that company.

Exercise 1.5

Choose the correct form, with or without a/an.

1. We are going to buy new furniture / a new furniture.

2. Kyle is born leader / a born leader, so we chose him to manage our team.

3. Thank you, you gave me very good advice / a very good advice.

4. Studying at university is hard work / a hard work.

5. The jumper was made from soft pink wool / a soft pink wool.

6. We laughed a lot and had great fun / a great fun.

7. She looked like on the pages of fashion magazine / a fashion magazine.

8. I always wear warm clothes/ a warm clothes in cold weather / a cold weather.

9. Many people now use credit cards / a credit cards instead of paper money / a paper money.

10. She made great progress / a great progress in her English last year.

11. He drank a glass of sweet red wine / a sweet red wine after dinner.

12. My grandma is eighty years old, but she’s still in good health / a good health.

13. We learnt very important information / a very important information from her letter.

14. I like having tea with delicious orange marmalade/a delicious orange marmalade.

15. It was bad luck / a bad luck that he fell down and broke his leg.

16. I’ve passed all my exams! – It’s very good news/a very good news!