A COURSE OF ENGLISH

A COURSE OF ENGLISH
BY BY TRUNG TRUC
The indefinite article
Use of A/AN
1. Before a singular noun which is mentioned for the first time and represents no particular person or thing:
We need a knife.
They live in a small house.
He bought an ice-cream.
2.An example of a class of things:
A car must be insured (all cars/any car must be insured)
A child needs love. ( All children need/ any child needs love)
3.Names of professions or introduction of thing in singular.
I am a teacher. You are an engineer.
It is a cat. This is not an apple.
4. In certain expressions of quantity:



A lot of - a great deal of – a couple – a dozen – a few – a little- a piece of – a kilo of – a drop of- a grain of- a pane of
5. With certain numbers : a hundred – a thousand – a million….
Before HALF when HALF follows a whole number
1½ kilos = one and a half kilos or a kilo and a half
A third , a quarter………….
6. In expressions of price, speed, ratio……..
5p a kilo , $1 a metre , sixty kilometres an hour, four times a day ( here a/an = per)
7. In exclamations before singular, countable nouns:
Such a long queue! What a pretty girl!

Uncountable nouns with A/AN
Her hair is black. Whenever she finds a grey hair she pulls it out.
Some abstract nouns can be used in a particular sense with A/AN , but in the singular only.
A help: My children are a great help to me. A good map would be a help.
A relief : It was a relief to sit down.
A knowledge of : He had a good knowledge of mathematics.
A dislike/dread/hatred/horror/love + love:
A love of music, a hatred of violence
It’s a pity/mercy/shame/wonder + clause
It’s a pity you weren’t here.
It’s a shame he wasn’t paid.
There is a fear/a hope/ a suspicion that + clause
There is a fear that he has been murdered.
Omission of A/AN:
1. Before plural nouns
2. Before uncountable nouns
3. Before names of meals, except when these are preceded by an adjective
We have breakfast at 7.00. She gave me a good breakfast.
THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
Unique object:
The earth, the sea, the sky…….
2. Noun mentioned a second time:
His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on the tree.
3. Before a noun made definite by the addition of a phrase or clause :
The girl in blue, the man with the banner, the boy that I met
4. Definite by the speaker and listener:
Peter is in the garden.
Please pass the ruler.
5. Before superlatives and ordinal numbers
The first day, the best student, the only way
6. The + adjective represents a class of persons:
The old = old people in general, the poor, the rich…
7. Before certain proper names of seas, rivers, groups of islands, chains of mountains, plural names of countries, deserts, regions:
The Thames, The Pacific ocean, The Alps, The USA……
8. Before names of musical instruments ; after PLAY
Play the guitar, play the drums…………..


Omission of THE
Before proper names
After a noun in the possessive case
The boy’s uncle, my cat’s tail………..
3. Before names of games : He plays golf.
4. Possessive adj. or pronouns this/ that/ these/those
5. In some specific cases
At home , in bed, go home,
Go to bed to sleep, to church to pray, to court as litigants, to hospital as patients, to prison as prisoners, to school/ college/university to study
Go to sea as sailors, To be at sea = to be on a voyage( as passengers or crew)
But directions : go to the sea, be at the sea, live by/ near at the sea.
Work : (= place of work )
He’s at work. (He’s working). He isn’t back from work yet.
He’s on his way to work.
Office (place of work ) needs THE :He is at/in the office.
To be in office (without the) means to hold an official position.
To be out of office =to be no longer in power.
Town
THE can be omitted when speaking of the subject’s or speaker’s own town:
We go to town sometimes to buy clothes.
We were in town last Monday.
I/ Put in A, THE or nothing, if necessary
1. ...sand 2. ...problem 3. .. book 4. .. advice 5..wool 6. ... idea 7. ..furniture 8. ..information 9. ..news 10. ...trouble 11. ..remark 12. ..hatred 13... job 14...water 15. .trip 16. ..dog 17.....music 18. ...anger 19. ..shopping 20..umbrella
II/ Put in A(N), THE or nothing, if necessary
1.There`s.......... fly in my lemonade.
2.Tom is.......... good student.
3.Close.......... door, please.
4.Can you show me .......... way to .......... station?
5.When did you go to bed.......... last night?
6.Will you come to the club .......... next Saturday?
7.Jack likes sitting in.......... sun.
8.We`ll take.......... next bus.
9.The biggest problem at the moment is .......... pollution; it is destroying our world.
10........... only thing I don`t like about this town is.......... pollution.
11.Please turn off.......... lights when you leave.......... room.

12.Please close that...window.
13.(At the dinner table) Would you pass me.......... bottle, please?
(In an off-licence) Would you pass me.......... bottle, please?
14.(At a shop) Have you got.......... hair dryer?
(At home) Have you got.......... hairdryer?
15.Did you like these films, then ?
Most of them, but I didn`t like.......... violent films.
16.Let`s watch `Kill the Kid` on TV tonight. No, I don`t like ...violent films.
17.I like .......... peace and quiet.
18.I like.......... peace and quiet here.
19.Look at.......... sharks.
20. .......... sharks are.......... fish, but.......... whales aren`t.
III/ Put in A,THE
One day (1).......... young prince arrived at the castle of King Ottar and fell in love with the king`s youngest daughter, who was very beautiful. "You can only marry my daughter," said (2) .......... king, "if you can recognize her, and you must marry the woman you choose" "That`s
easy," said (3) .......... prince, and King Ottar put all his daughters behind (4).......... wall that had (5) .......... space at (6).......... bottom, so (7) .......... prince could only see seven pairs of feet, and the feet all looked (8) .......... same. Suddenly, one of (9) .......... feet moved and so (10)..........prince said "That`s (11).......... woman I loved."Unfortunately, it was not; it was King Ottar`s eldest daughter who was not at all beautiful, but (12) .......... prince had to marry her. In fact, she was extremely intelligent and had a good sense of humour, so that very soon (13) .......... prince did fall in love with her and they lived happily ever after.
IV. Choose the right one.
1. (A language/Language) is unique to humans.
2. We are looking for people with (an experience/experience).
3. To press clothes you need (an iron/iron).
4. (A play/Play) is more natural for children than adults.
5. He kept his money in (a tin/ tin) under the bed.




She has been looking for (a work/work) for ages.
(A charity/ Charity) begins at home.
8. In her youth she was (a beauty/beauty).
9. You should study (a law/law) at university.
10. Everybody called for him to make (a speech/speech).
V. Answer these questions
A: I bought a pencil and a book. What did I read?
B: The book
1. I bought a pen and a comb. What did I write with?
John bought a pen and an orange. What did he eat.
Tom bought a newspaper and a watch. What did he read?
Do the same. Make the questions and answer them
John / a knife / a book. What / cut / orange / with?
Mrs Alien/a chair/a key. What/sit/on?
David/chair/car. What/drive?
Bob/pen/spoon. What / eat ice-cream with?
Paul/shirt/cassette. What/wear?
9. George/toothbrush/some milk. What/drink?

VI. Put in THE or nothing
Alan Broome is a world-famous actor. Fifty years ago he was an unhappy
child. He didn`t do well at (1) .......... school, and he never went to (2) .......... university. His greatest pleasure was to go to (3).......... cinema. His family lived in an unattractive town. Their home was next to (4).......... railway station. Alan`s father was a sailor, and he spent months at (5) .......... sea. He was seldom at (6) .......... home. When he was, he didn`t do much. Sometimes he used to spend all day in (7).......... bed. His wife had to get up at 5 o`clock to go to (8) .......... work. Mr Bloome lost his job in (9) .......... navy and then went to (10) .......... prison for stealing.

VII. Put in A, AN or THE .
(1) ........... man walked into (2) ........... bank in America and handed (3)........... note to one of the cashiers, (4) ........... young woman. (5).......... woman read (6) ........... note, which told her to give (7) ........... man some money. Afraid that he might have (8) ........... gun, she followed (9) ........... instruction. (10) ........... man then walked out of (11) ........... building, leaving (12) ........... note behind. However, it was not (13)........... successful crime. (14) ........... man had no time to spend (15) ........... money because he was arrested (16) ........... same day. He had made (17) ........... stupid mistake. He had written (18) ........... note on (19) ........... back of (20) ........... envelope. On (21) ........... other side of (22) ........... envelope were (23) ........... man`s name and address. This information was quite enough for (24) .......... police to get him.

VIII. Put in A , THE or nothing.
Once a famous boxer went to (1) ......... restaurant to have (2) ........... dinner. He took off his coat at (3) ........... door, but he was afraid that somebody would take it. So he took out (4) ........... piece of paper and wrote on it: "This coat belongs to Tom Brown, (5)........ most famous boxer in (6) ........... world; he will come back in(7) ...........few minutes" He fastened (8) ........... paper to (9) ........... coat and went into (10)......... restaurant to have his dinner. When he returned, however, his coat was not there, but he found another piece of paper which said: "Your coat has been taken by Rick Strong, (11) ........... fastest runner in (12) ........... world, who will never come back at all."

IX. Put in A, THE or nothing
As (1) ......... writer, I seem to spend (2) ......... most of (3) ......... time working in my office and at (4)......... home, sitting alone in front of (5..).........computer. In fact, (6)......... only people I see regularly are (7)......... members of my family when they get home from (8) ......... work or (9) ......... school. Otherwise, I don`t have much contact with (10)......... people, and I`m sorry that I haven`t kept in (11) ......... touch with (12) ......... friends I made at (13) ......... college. I often get (14) ......... letters and (15) ......... phone calls from (16)......... people at (17) ......... publisher`s, though, I try to get out of (18) ......... house at least once (19)......... day. From (20) ......... time to time I give (21) ......... lectures or teach (22) ......... courses at (23) ......... conferences in (24) ......... North America or abroad. But if I ever run out of (25) ......... ideas or I start suffering from (26) ......... loneliness, I`ll give up (27) ......... writing (28) ......... books. Then maybe I`ll start (29) ......... new career where I work with lots of (30) ......... people and I can have (31)......... conversation whenever I feel like (32)......... one!


Subject-verb agreement
1. Singular verb
A. uncountable subject
Tea is made from a kind of plant.
B. gerund subject
Swimming is very useful to our health.
C. Clause subject
What you`ve told me is interesting.
D. School subjects, sports, diseases
Physics is my favourite subject.
Measles is an infectious disease.
E. The number of + Np
The number of students attending universities is increasing.





F. More than one + Ns
More than one person has known the news.
More than one proposal was brought in at the meeting.
G.N1 + of + N2 verb agrees with N1
The picture of the soldier brings back many memories.
The effects of smoking are extremely harmful.
H. The subject followed by along with, as well as, accompanied by needs the verb suiting it.
Mr Brown, along with his children, is coming to the party tonight.
Her parents, as well as her brother, are coming to the party tonight.
A large number of + Np + V
A large number of people have come to the meeting.