What is an article?

Articles are either definite or indefinite. They combine to a noun to indicate the type of
reference being made by the noun.

The definite article is the.

The indefinite article is a / an.

The indefinite article a or an:

The article a / an is used when we don't specify the things or people we are talking
about:

I met a friend.
I work in a factory in New York.
I borrowed a pencil from a passenger sitting next to me.
1. The indefinite article a is used before a consonant sound:

a dog.

a pilot

a teacher.

a university

NOTE: Although 'university' starts with the vowel 'u', it is not pronounced as such. It is
pronounced as a consonant sound /ju:.niv3:.si.ti/. The same goes for words starting with
u, which are pronounced as a consonant /ju/.

2. The indefinite article an is used before a vowel sound:

an engineer.

an elephant.

an athlete

The definite article the:

It's used when the speaker talks about a specific object that both the person speaking
and the listener know.

The car over there is fast.

The president of the United States is giving a speech tonight.

When we speak of something or someone for the first time we use a or an, the next
time we repeat that object we use the definite article the.

I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.

No article:
1. Do not use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and
mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as "The United
States".

He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.

They live in Northern British Columbia.

They climbed Mount Everest.

2. we do not normally use an article with plurals and uncountable nouns to talk about
things in general:

He writes books.
She likes sweets.

Do you like jazz music?

She ate bread with butter in the morning.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS: We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count

"milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk"
itself.
Here are some more uncountable nouns:

music
art
love
happiness
advice

information
news
furniture
luggage
sugar

butter
water
electricity
gas
power

money

currency
sports

EXERCISES:
TASK 1:
Fill in the gaps with a/an/the/ x (no article)
1. I bought _____ pair of shoes.
2. I saw _____ movie last night.
3. They are staying at _____ hotel.
4. I think _____ man over there is very unfriendly.
5. I do not like _____ basketball.
6. That is ____ problem I told you about.
7. ____ night is quiet. Let's take a walk!
8. ____ price of gas keeps rising.
9. John traveled to ____ Mexico.
10.Juan is ____ Spanish.
11.I read ____ amazing story yesterday.
12.My brother doesn't eat ____ chicken.
13.____ love is such ____ beautiful thing.
14.I live in ____ apartment. ____ apartment is new.
15.I would like ____ piece of cake.
16.I was in ____ Japanese restaurant. ____ restaurant served good food.
17.Sara can play ____ guitar.

TASK 2:
Fill in the gaps with a/an/the.
1. Our department always meets on ____ last Friday of every month.
2. This month it falls on ____ 31st.
3. I have already reserved ____ conference room on the fifth floor.
4. There are three conference rooms on that floor, but we like ____ one overlooking
the gardens.
5. It is ____ very popular room.
6. Last month ____ person from accounting had already reserved it when I called.
7. That was _____ disappointment, but we managed to get ____ room across ____ hall
from it.

8. During our meetings one member of ____ group usually gives ____ presentation.
9. Last month Janet told us about ____ advantages of ____ employee referral
program.
10. This month it is my turn to speak and I have already thought of ____ interesting
topic for _____ group.

TASK 3:
Fill in the gaps with a/an/the.

1. Do you mind closing ____window? It's pretty cold in ____ room.

2. Has your new house got ____ garden? Yes, ____ garden is absolutely
beautiful.
3. How often do you go to ____ dentist? Twice ____ year.
4. Is there ____ restaurant near here? Yes, there is one round ____ corner.
____ restaurant is cheap but good.
5. Look at ____ moon! It looks so huge! ____ sky is beautiful.
6. I'm angry because ____ car needs repairing again. I should get ____ new
one.
7. Jane is ____ doctor and she works in ____ hospital.
8. We're going to ____ theatre in ____ evening. ____ play is supposed to be
really funny.
9. Did Kate find ____ jacket she wanted? Yes, she did. It's ____ very pretty
jacket.
10.
We went out to ____ pub last night. It was ____ nicest pub in ____
city centre.

TASK 4:
Fill in the gaps with a/an/the/ x (no article)

1. Sorry, but I can't come. I've got ____ terrible headache.

2. I hate ____ geography and ____ biology! ____ only subject I like is English.
3. Brighton is ____ small town in ____ England. It's by ____ sea and it has ____ nice
beach.
4. Are ____ Smiths going to be at ____ party tonight?
5. ____ Life would be difficult without ____ electricity.

6. John is ____ open person and he loves working with ____ people.
7. ____ people who work with me in ____ office are really nice.
8. Gdask is in ____ northern Poland and Krakw is in ____ south.
9. I have to go to ____ school in ____ afternoon and talk to my son's teacher.
10.
That's ____ amazing story! You always have ____ most interesting
adventures.

ANSWERS:
TASK 1:
1. a
2. a
3. a
4. the
5. x
6. the
7. the
8. the
9. x
10.x
11.an
12.x
13.x, a
14.an, the
15.a
16.a, the
17.the

TASK 2:
1. the
2. the
3. a
4. the
5. a
6. a
7. a, the, the
8. the, a
9. the, an
10.an, the
TASK 3:
1. the, the
2. a, the
3. the, a
4. a, the, the
5. the, the
6. the, a
7. a, a
8. the, the, the
9. the, a
10.a, the, the
TASK 4:
1. a
2. -, -, the
3. a, -, the, a
4. the, the
5. -, 6. an, 7. the, the
8. -, the
9. the, the
10.an, the