FCGU11WS6

Articles

PART 1: The Easy Part – Basic Rules

A. Read the sentences below and decide if the grammar is correct or incorrect.

0.      Istanbul is the capital of Turkey.              [Right/Wrong]

1.      Tina Turner is a grandmother.              [Right/Wrong]

2.      Turkish president is Ahmet Necdet Sezer.              [Right/Wrong]

3.      Do you drink the ayran every morning?              [Right/Wrong]

4.      Information you gave me yesterday is wrong.              [Right/Wrong]

5.      Could I have a bottle of Efes, please?              [Right/Wrong]

6.      Spaghetti doesn’t grow on trees, you know!              [Right/Wrong]

7.      Did you see the solar eclipse last summer?               [Right/Wrong]

8.      Man I met yesterday was really handsome.               [Right/Wrong]

9.      The food at McDougal’s is disgusting.               [Right/Wrong]

10.   Students never cheat in exams.               [Right/Wrong]

11.   The Queen of England is quite dull, isn’t she?              [Right/Wrong]

12.   Summer holiday starts in two months              [Right/Wrong]

13.   The children next door are very naughty.              [Right/Wrong]

B. Below is a list of basic rules about articles. Some are wrong. Can you put a line through the incorrect rules? (Use your answers in the previous exercise to help you.)

0.      We only use “the” with countable nouns.

1.      We can use “the” with both countable and uncountable nouns.

2.      “The” is always used to refer to something specific.

3.      “A/an” is only used with singular countable nouns.

4.      Only “a/an” can be used with singular countable nouns.

5.      A zero article is used when referring to things in general.

6.      “A/an” can’t be used with uncountable nouns

7.      “A/an” is used to refer to a singular countable noun which is indefinite; i.e. when we don’t know exactly which one of a group we are referring to, or else it doesn’t matter.

8.      “A/an” is used to refer to a singular countable noun indefinitely; i.e. when we don’t know what we are talking about.

9.      “The” is used when referring to something specific, and when it is clear what we are referring to.

10.   “The” is only used to refer to one thing.

C. Fill in the gaps with the correct article, or with no article at all!

(0)_A__ friend of mine told me that Cher is (1)____ grandmother, but I found it (2)____ bit hard to believe. Honestly, (3)____ grandmothers don’t dance around like that! Someone else told me that she had had (4)____ cosmetic surgery. He said (5)____ operation cost $400,000 but I didn’t believe (6)____ story at all. I’m sure it was (7) ____ lie. Honestly, some people find it impossible to tell (8)____ truth.

PART 2: The Hard Part – Some Exceptions

A. Unfortunately, articles aren’t that simple: there are lots of exceptions to the rules!

What about the words and phrases below? Should there be an article? Which one? Can you put the words and phrase in the box into the correct column?

B. Here are some of the rules. Read them, and then see if you can match the words in the box with the rule.

0.      Names of rivers, oceans and other bodies of water always have an article, e.g. The Mediterranean.

1.      Newspapers usually begin with “the”; for example, “The Times”.

2.      Countries, and proper nouns never take an article...

3.      ...unless they are plural or have a general geo-political noun of place, e.g. Republic, Emirate such as The United Arab Emirates.

4.      Occupations take an article, for example, “Is she really a priest?”

5.      Superlatives always take “the” (after all, there is only one of each superlative).

6.      Some nouns of place take “the” such as go to the pub.

7.      Other nouns of place take no article, such as go to school. This is for places you go to that have a purpose (e.g you are going to school for an education, not because you like the building).

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