Articles – Pronouns - Determiners

Articles
Decide : correct or incorrect
1. I’ve got lots of the friends.
2. I don’t like the fast food. I’m afraid of gaining the weight
3. My father is businessman.
4. He ignored advice I gave him that day.
5. He enjoys work he does.
6. She took CD off the shelf
1. I’ve got lots of ☓friends.
2. I don’t like ☓fast food. I’m afraid of gaining ☓ weight
3. My father is a businessman.
4. He ignored the advice I gave him that day.
5. He enjoys the work he does.
6. She took the CD off the shelf
• INDEFINITE ARTICLE A/AN
• A/An is used with unspecified or unfamiliar objects, persons, or
incidents. It is only used with singular nouns
• E.g. A machine(one) a table
• Before a consonant sound we use a and before a vowel sound we use an
• E.g. A machine an answering machine.
• * But be careful of silent h and the letter u
• E.g. an hour, an honor but a house, a helicopter
• an upper tooth, but a unit, a used car.
• an unusual skill but a university
We use the indefinite article a/an
 when we describe someone or something, including someone’s job
E.g. She’s a head teacher. It’s a nice day

 with a unit of measurement (weight, quantity, time)

E.g. $ 2 a kilo, three times a day, once a week

To give a definition of something

E.g. Vinpearl Land is a tourist
attraction in QN
DEFINITE ARTICLE THE
 We use the with specific or familiar objects, persons, or incidents.
E.g. There is a bedroom and a living room. The bedroom is large.
Can you pass the salt? What happened after the war?
 We use the definite article The:
* when there is only one
E.g. the moon the sun the weather
before some collective nouns referring to the whole group of people.
E.g. the police the government the public the army
before some adjectives (used with a noun) to refer to the group in general
E.g. the rich the poor the unemployed the disabled
before names of musical instruments when we talk about the ability to play them
E.g. I can’t play the piano but I can play the guitar.
before superlatives and ordinals
E.g. This is the best. You are the first. This is the only one.
USE THE with the names of:
* oceans, seas, rivers and canals:
the Atlantic, the River Amazon , the Red Sea, the Panama Canal
* hotels, restaurants, pubs:
the Station Hotel, the Red Lion pub
* theatres, cinemas:
the Palace Theatre, the Odeon Cinema
* museums, galleries:
the British Museum, the Tate Gallery
USE THE with the names of:
* newspapers:
the Times, the Sun
* organizations:
the BBC
(the British Broadcasting Corporation)
* names with ‘... of...’ usually have the
The Bank of England
The Tower of London
ZERO ARTICLE: We do not use articles
with plural, uncountable nouns, and abstract or general ideas (not previously mentioned
and not post-modified)
E.g. I like orange juice. Give peace a chance. I hate wasps.

Before names of meals when they refer to routine times

E.g. It’s time for lunch. What’s for dinner?

Before some nouns of place, when the place plays a special role
E.g. Everyday she goes to school. School begins at 9 and finishes at 3.
(In this example, we are not necessarily thinking of a particular school. We are thinking of
school as a general idea, as an institution, and we are interested in what we use it for.)
Today, Alice wants to visit her neighbour, a prisoner. So she has gone to the prison to
see him. She’s at the prison now.
•
Nouns used in similar ways are: church, hospital, school, university
before the names of
* people (1) Ann is my niece.
* days Today is Tuesday.
* months His birthday is in July.
* languages Japanese is a beautiful language.
* countries (2) What is the capital of Australia?
* continents Singapore is in Asia.
* cities, towns, and villages Tokyo is a big city ; Ben Tre is a small town.
* streets, roads, circus squares, parks My office is in West Street ; Times Square,
Hyde Park, etc
* states, regions, etc in California, Central Europe, etc
* mountains (3) Mount Everest, Etna,
* islands Sicily, Bermuda
* lakes Lake Superior, Lake Constance
* when we use Mr. / Mrs. / Captain / Doctor, etc + a name, we do not use the
E.g. Mr. Smith President Ho Chi Minh Uncle Bernard
• But
(1) We use the with plural names of people in such a case:
E.g. The Johnsons (= the Johnson’s family)

(2) We use the in names with ‘Republic’, ‘Kingdom’, ‘State’, etc

E.g. The United States of America (= The U.S.A)
The United Kingdom (= The U.K)

(3) We use the when we refer to mountain ranges

E.g. The Alps

(4) North / northern, etc

We say: The north of Vietnam but northern Vietnam
The South-east of America but south-east America
Also: The Middle East, the Far East
We can also use north / south, etc + a place name (without ‘the’)
E.g. North America, West Africa
EXPRESSIONS WITH AND WITHOUT THE:
I. EXPRESSIONS WITHOUT THE
Bed - work - home
There are some expressions containing these words without the
go to work start work be at work
go to bed be in bed stay home
go home arrive home be at home
E.g. It’s time to go to bed now.
Is Tom still in bed?
Why isn’t Kate at work ?
Go to sea / be at sea
E.g. He is a seaman. He spends most of his life at sea but It can be dangerous to swim in the sea.
Watch television / on television
E.g. There is a new film on television tonight but Can you turn off the T.V, please?
Have breakfast / dinner / lunch
E.g. We usually have breakfast at 7.00 but She had a big breakfast yesterday.
EXPRESSION WITH THE
We use these expressions with the:
Go to the cinema/Go to the theatre ;
Be on the radio/Listen to the radio
Play (learn)the guitar, etc

These expressions with the have a general meaning: the town, the
country, the sun, the rain, the environment but space (without ‘the’).
E.g. I often swim in the sea.
Do you like walking in the rain?
This is the first time he is in space.
• Put in a / an or the
• This morning I bought ______ newspaper and _____ magazine. ____ newspaper is in
my bag but I don’t know where I put ____ magazine.
• I saw ___ accident this morning. ____ car crashed into ____ tree. ____ driver of ____
car wasn’t hurt but ____ car was badly damaged.
• There are two cars parked outside: ____ blue one and ____ gray one. ____ blue one
belongs to my neighbours ; I don’t know who ____owner of ____ gray one is.
• My friends live in ____ old house in ____ small village. There is ____ beautiful garden
behind ____ house. I would like to have ____ garden like that.
• This house is very nice. Has it got ____ garden?
• It’s a beautiful day. Let’s sit in ____ garden.
• Can you recommend ____ good restaurant?
• We had dinner in ____ very nice restaurant.
• We had dinner in ____ most expensive restaurant in town.
• She has ____ French name but in fact she’s English, not French.
Complete the sentences using one of the following. Use the where necessary:
(the) basketball, (the) questions, (the) history, (the) hotels, (the) meat, (the) lies, (the)
information, (the) patience, (the) people, (the) water, (the) grass, (the) spiders
1.My favourite sport is ____________.
2.___________ we were given wasn’t correct.
3.Many people are afraid of ____________.
4.A vegetarian is somebody who doesn’t eat ________.
5.The test wasn’t very difficult. I answered all _____________ without difficulty.
6.Do you know ______________ who live next-door?
7.______________ is the study of the past.
8.George always tells the truth. He never tells ____________.
9.We couldn’t find anywhere to stay in the town. All ____________were full.
10.___________ in the pool didn’t look very clean, so we didn’t go for a swim.
11.Don’t sit on _____________. It’s wet after the rain.
12. You need _______________ to teach young children.
Complete the sentences using a preposition (to / at / in etc.) + one of the
following words. You can use the words more than once: bed, home,
hospital, prison, school, university, work
Two people were injured in the accident and were taken ____________.
In Britain, children from the age of five have to go ____________.
Mark didn’t go out last night. He stayed ____________.
I’ll have to hurry. I don’t want to be late ____________.
There is a lot of traffic in the morning when everybody is going _________.
Kathy’s mother has just had an operation. She is still ____________.
When Julia leaves school, she wants to study economics ____________.
Bill never gets up before 9 o’clock. It’s 8.30 now, so he is still __________.
If you commit a serious crime, you could be sent ____________.
A. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
1. Subject pronouns
The subject pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they.
 Notice how to use subject pronouns
We use a subject pronoun before a verb. (E.g. has, cost...)
E.g. Tony isn’t at home. He’s been to Australia.
Computers aren’t cheap. They cost more than $1000.
2. Object pronouns
The object pronouns are : me, you, him, her, us, it , them.
 Notice how we use object pronouns
We use an object pronoun after a verb (E.g. help, see) and after a preposition
(at).
E.g. Where’s Joe? Do you see him?
My brother is doing the garden. I’m helping him.
The children are teasing the dog. Look at them!
Who likes whom?

I like Jeff, but he doesn't like me.

Possessive adjectives
The possessive adjectives are: my, your, his her, its, our, their
Notice how we use possessive adjectives
E.g. What’s your name?
This is our house .
 We use a possessive adjective before a noun (E.g. name, house) to
say who the noun belongs to.

 Possessive adjective + OWN

E.g. Ben’s got his own room now. He doesn’t share with Dick
anymore.
Why don’t you buy your own newspapers?
• Possessive pronouns
• The possessive pronouns are: mine, yours, hers, his; ours,
yours, theirs
• Notice how we use possessive pronouns
E.g. Whose shirt is it? It’s mine (= my shirt). We went on
holiday with some friends of ours.(=our friends)

• Whose + noun? = to ask who something belongs to or relate to

E.g. Whose car is that?
• Whose as pronoun
E.g. Whose is that car? (who does this car belong to?)
Reflexive pronouns
The reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself (singular);
ourselves, yourselves, themselves (plural)
 We use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and the object are the same.
E.g. Romeo and Juliet
killed themselves I saw myself on TV last
night.

 By myself, by yourself, (= alone or without help

E.g. He doesn’t live with his parents . He lives by himself.
Did anybody help you paint the door? Or did you paint it by yourself?
 We can use reflexive pronouns for emphasis: E.g.
He mended the roof himself. (Nobody else mended it
 OF + possessive pronoun: E.g.
Cora is a colleague of mine.( = one of my colleagues) I’ve
got some records of hers.(= some of her records)
 Study the difference between -selves and each other.
E.g. Tom and Ann stood in front of the mirror and looked at
themselves. (Tom and Ann looked at Tom and Ann)
but Tom looked at Ann ; Ann looked at Tom. They looked at each
other.
We can use one another instead of each other.
E.g. How long have you and Bill known one another?
 ONE / ONES
 We use one for a singular noun and ones for a plural noun.
* We use one and ones to avoid repeating a noun when it is clear from the context
what we mean.
* We cannot use one or ones with a mass noun. (E.g. water)
E.g. There was no hot water. I had to wash in cold

 Patterns with one / ones

* one / ones after this, that, these, and those ; after each or another; after which
; or after a superlative.
E.g. What about this (one) here? Or that (one) there?
I have six tickets. Each (one) has a number.
We have all these cars. Which (one) would you like? The first test
is the easiest (one).
* one / ones after an adjective, the or every:
E.g. The train took ages. It was the slow one.
The play wasn’t as good as the one we saw last week.
We’ve seen plenty of coats. You’ve looked at
every one in the shop.
I tried all the phones. Every one was out of order.
I need a tube of toothpaste. A small one, please.
 a + adjective + one and one
We can say a small one, a red one, etc but not a one. When there is no
adjective, we say one, like this:
E.g. I’ve been looking for a coat, but I haven’t found one. (= a coat)
We took a taxi. There was one waiting. (= a taxi)

One and some / any are indefinite (like a). It and they / them refer to
something definite (like the).
E.g. I haven’t got a phone, but I’ll need one. (one = a phone)
I haven’t got any cards, but I’ll need some. (some = some cards)
I’ve got my application form. They sent it last week. (it = the
form)
EVERY, EACH, ANY
 We use EVERY to talk about what the speaker sees as a large indefinite number
of people or things.
Every person = all the people
E.g. There is a prize giving every year.
Every pupil has to be here.
 We use EACH to talk about the individual people or things in a group. The group
has a definite and small number.
E.g. One pupil from each class has a prize.
Each prize winner can choose a book.
 We use ANY to talk about one person or thing ( but it doesn’t matter which one)
from a large indefinite number.
E.g. You can choose any book you like.
Anyone can enter the competition.
ALL, MOST, BOTH, EITHER, NEITHER, EACH, HALF, NO/NONE
 All =every
All + noun (without the) has a general meaning.
E.g. All parties = every party in the world
All the + noun and all of the + noun have a more limited meaning.
E.g. All (of) the guests = every guest at the party
 Most = more than half
Most + noun (without the) has a general meaning.
E.g. Most people = most people in the world
Most of the + noun has a more limited meaning.
E.g. Most of the guests = most of the guests at this party
 We use both to talk about two things or two people
We can say both + noun , both the + noun or both of the + noun
E.g. Both windows / both of the windows / both the windows are
open.
 We can use either and neither to talk about two things or two
people
Either = the one or the other
Neither has a negative meaning
Either/neither + singular noun
Either of the/neither of the + plural noun
 We use each to talk about the individual things or people in a group
We say each + singular noun or each of the + plural noun.
Some and any
What's left after the party?
Begin: There's some ...
There isn't any ..., There's hardly any ...
There aren't any ... There are hardly any ...
It + be + adjective
1. It +be +adjective+ infinitive with to
It is hard to accept Tom’s proposal.
2. It +be+ adjective +for someone +infinitive with to
It is hard for us to accept Tom’s proposal.
3. It +be +adjective +that clause
It is strange that Tom has proposed such a thing.
Find +it+ adjective
4. Find +it +adjective +infinitive with to
We find it hard to accept Tom’s proposal.
5. Find +it +adjective +that clause
We find it strange that Tom has proposed such a thing.
6. Find +object +adjective
We find Tom’s proposal unacceptable.

It +be + relative clause

It is Tom who has proposed such a thing. (Tom, not anyone else-
emphasis)
1. There +be+ singular/plural noun
2. There +modal
3. There +be+ noun participle
4. There +be(plural) +number +of +pronoun
What
1. What +verb
What surprised me most was his strange proposal.

2. What+ subject+ verb

What I was surprised most was his strange proposal.
1. Not worth = waste of time
It +be not +worth +doing: It’s not worth seeing that film
Subject +be not+ worth+ doing: That film is not worth seeing.

2. Worth = not waste of time

It +be +worth +sth/doing: Is it worth reading the book?
Subject +be + worth+ doing: The book is worth reading.

3. There+ be+ no point+ in +doing:

There is no point in starting a fight.
4. What’s the point + in + doing?:
What’s the point in starting a fight?
5. It +be +no use/pointless/useless/no good + doing

6. There’s no sense +in +doing

7. What’s/where’s the sense +in +doing?

8. There’s no harm+ in +doing:

There ‘s no harm in sitting and negotiating.
1. Get away with Do sth bad and not be punished

2. Get someone down Make so unhappy

3. Get on with sth Make progress, concentrate on

4. Get on well with so Have a good relationship

5. Get over Recover from

6. Get sth over with Do or finish sth unpleasant as quickly as possible

7. Get round to doing Find the time to do
8. Get to Arrive at/reach
9. Set about Start doing a difficult task
10. Set off/out Start a journey
11. Set out to do Intend from the beginning
12. Set up Start an organization, a company