Complete First Unit 5 Complete First: Articles (a/an/the)

Put a /an /the/or nothing (X) in the spaces

1. I have ……… car. …………. car is blue.
2. My mother is ………. teacher.
3. I have just written you ………….. email.
4. Cambridge is ……………. university in England.
5. Sarah is …………. honest friend.
6. ……… love makes the world go round.
7. I love ……… music. I listen to all kinds.
8. ……….. teachers are not paid enough in Spain.
9. I hate …………… music my sister listens to.
10. ………….. rich are becoming richer and ……….. poor are becoming poorer.
11. Messi is …………….. best football player in the world and is ………….. first to score
a goal when he plays a match.
12. ……………… world is becoming more and more polluted.
13. I go to ……….... bed at 11.00 p.m.

Homework exercise

Each of the sentences below contains one mistake with a, an or the.

Find and correct the mistake.

1 Sam is doing a research into alternative energy sources.

2 I hope we’ll find a solution to the problem of the global warming soon.

3 There’s a huge variety of the different species in the jungle.

4 Do you know how many different kinds of birds there are in a world?

5 I read recently that Brazilian government is trying to give more to the poor.

6 There’s the fantastic nature programme on tonight.

7 The cars are responsible for most of the pollution in cities.

8 I remember seeing a whale for first time – it was a fantastic experience.

9 The explorers survived on a food they found in the jungle.

10 Jo studied environmental science at the university before getting a job in Canada.

Grammar Explanation

1. We use a or an with singular nouns when we mention singular countable nouns

for the first time. We use the with things we have mentioned before.

2. To talk about jobs we use a or an

3. We use an with before words that begin with a vowel sound.

4. We don’t use an when the letters ‘u’ or ‘e’ produce a ‘y’ sound.

5. When ‘h’ is silent use an

6. We don’t use the with abstract nouns (an aspect, concept, idea, experience,
state of being, quality, feeling, or other entity that cannot be experienced with
the five senses.)

7. We don’t use the when referring to things in general.

8. We don’t use the when referring to things in general.

9. We use the when referring to specific things.

10. We use the with adjectives to express groups.

11. Use the with superlative adjectives and ordinals.

12. We use the with things that are unique. The moon, the sun, the world, the
British government

13. Don’t use an article with many common expressions:

 In bed/hospital/prison/school
 At home/ university/ work
 Go to bed/ hospital/university/work