Articles

ARTICLES

A / AN; THE & ZERO ARTICLE (Ø)

1. ZERO ARTICLE (Ø)
- before the names of people and their titles (E.g. Dr. David Young) - before countable plural nouns in a general sense (Cats have claws) - before parts of the day (at dawn, at night) - before meals (breakfast, lunch) - before many place names (Africa, Madrid, Mount Fuji, Oxford Street, Lake Como, Primrose Hill, Easter Island)
2. A / AN
- before professions (He’s a doctor.) - to introduce a person or thing for the first time. This shows that the listener or reader doesn’t know that person or thing yet. After this first introduction, we use THE. (I saw a bird. The bird had a red tail. The red tail was beautiful). - for price (5,000 VND a kilo), distance (40km an hour) and frequency (twice a week) - with illnesses (a cold, a headache, a sore throat…)
3. THE
- before a noun that has been previously mentioned or is clear (We stopped at a small village. The village was very antique.) - in superlative expressions (the most luxury hotels) - THE + NOUN + OF (The life of Mrs. Dậu was very stormy) -before a noun identified by a phrase or clause that follows. (It’s the hotel that Miss Universe stayed in last summer.)  - before the nouns of objects we regard as UNIQUE: the earth, the sea, the sun, the moon… - with decades, or groups of years (She grew up in the seventies) - with some place names  *Oceans and seas: the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea * Rivers: the River Danube, the River Thames * Mountain ranges: The Alps, the Himalayas * Countries which are republics or unions: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States… PRACTICE: Fill in the blanks with “a/an” or “the” or “Ø”
What does he do? – He’s ______ taxi driver.
I’m going to _______bed. I’ve got ____ headache.
I take these pills twice ______ day.
I watched ______ car as it came up our road. ______ car stop outside our house and _____ man got out. ______man was carrying ____case in his hands; ______ man looked like _____ salesman.
There was ____ knock on _____ door. I opened it and found ____ small dark man in _____ woolen cap.
He said he was _____ employee of ____ gas company and had come to read ______ meter.
But I had _____ suspicion that he wasn’t speaking _____ truth because _____ meter readers usually wear ____ peaked caps.
However, I took him to the meter, which is in ____ dark corner under ____ stairs (____ meters are usually in _____ dark corners under ____ stairs).
I asked if he had ____ torch; he said he disliked _______ torches and always read ______ meters by ____ light of _____ match.
I remarked that if there was _____ leak in _____ gas pipe there might be _____ explosion while he was reading ____ meter.
He said, ‘As ____ matter of _____ fact, there was ____ explosion in ____ last house I visited; and Mr. Smith, ___ owner of ____ house, was burnt in ______ face.’
‘Mr. Smith was holding ____ lighted match at _____ time of ____ explosion.’
To prevent ____ possible repetition of this accident, I lent him a torch.
He switched on _____ torch, read ____ meter and wrote _____ reading down on ____ back of ____ envelope.
I said in ____ surprise that _____ meter readers usually put ____ readings down in ____ book.
He said that he had had ____ book but that it had been burnt in ______ fire in ____ Mr. Smith’s house.
By this time I had come to ____ conclusion that he wasn’t ____ genuine meter reader; and _____ moment he left ____ house I rang ____ police.
It was ____ windy morning but they hired ____ boat and went for _____ sail along ____ coast. In ______ afternoon _____wind increased and they soon found themselves in ______ difficulties.
My aunt lived on ____ ground floor of _____ old house on ___ River Thames. She was very much afraid of _____ burglars and always locked up ____ house very carefully before she went to ____ bed. She also took ____ precaution of looking under ____ bed to see if _____ burglar was hiding there.
‘____modern burglars don’t hide under _____ beds,’ said the daughter. ‘I’ll go on looking just _____ same,’ said my aunt.
One morning she rang her daughter in ______ triumph. ‘I found ____burglar under _____ bed ____ last night,’ she said, ‘and he was quite _____ young man.’
____ Titanic was crossing ____ Atlantic she struck an