Articles and nouns

A, an or the
1 a or an We use the when we talk about musical
We use a before words that begin with a consonant
instruments:
(b, c, d, f, g, etc.):
Can you play the piano or the guitar?
a fast car a meeting a good friend
and before u, when u sounds like 'you':
a university (but an uncle) Grammar in action
and before eu: *0 We use a/an to describe people,
a European city places and things. Here, we're talking
We use an before words that begin with a vowel about a friend:
(a, e, i, o, u): My friend George is a teacher.
an old house an ice cream an apple He's got a black beard, andhe
lives in a small flat with a roof
and before words that begin with a silent h: garden in Cambridge.
an hour (but a holiday)
§ We use a/an to talk about numbers,
2 a/an or the prices and how often something o°
Look at this example: happens. We might talk about a
I've bought you a cake and a DVD. ~ Lovely! beach barbecue on holiday:
Can you put the cake in the fridge, please? There's a barbecue twice a week
When we talk about something for the first time, we here. Normally, there are a hundred
often use a/an ('a cake'), but when we know which people, andyou can buy beer or
one it is, we use the ('the cake'). We say the fridge in lemonade for a pound a litre.It's great!
this example, because we already know which one -
there's only one in the room! § We use the to talk about things we know about
already, and a/an to talk about 'new' things. Here,
If we say to someone 'I'm going to the supermarket', we're talking about our house:
we mean 'the supermarket that we both know - our Let's buy something for the house! Thekitchen and
normal supermarket.' We also say 'the Taj Mahal', 'the the bathroom are OK, but the living room is boring!
Thames', 'the sun', etc. because we know which one Shall we buy a painting or a new sofa?
they are.

A Describing people, places and things

.......
Laurent is writing about his home town, Saint-Paul-les-Dax, in south-west France.
Write a or an in the gaps.

Is 01 0
nice, small Frevich town, we don't have.
airport or 2
university, but we do have the normal
things lltee 3
Internet oaf6 avid 4 civÿtvwa avid
5
if you are visiting south-west France, and you want to
hairdresser's,

.....
see a typical small town, come to salnt-Pa ul-l£s-t>ax for afternoon or 6

even hour! And If you want to know more about this part of France,
7

there's .... useful website, http://www.dax-tourlsme.com. B>ut remember

to bring 9
umbrella - It rains a lot here!
...

78 | Articles, nouns, pronouns, and determiners

В Talking about numbers, prices and how often things happen
Anne and Sue are on a camping holiday in Germany. After the example, add a/an
fourteen more times.

UWE Welcome to our campsite! For small tents like yours, it's only twelve
я
euros / night.
ANNE Great! It's big site, isn't it? How many people are there?
GREG Well, there are hundred and eighty tents, so we have around six
hundred people, I suppose. There's small supermarket, and someone
comes once day to sell fresh fish.
SUE That's nice. Can we wash our clothes here?
GREG Sure. There's washing machine in every shower house. It costs euro
hour to use.
ANNE Is that farm next to the campsite?
GREG That's right. You can buy apples there for two euros kilo. We've got
little cinema as well. There's film three times week. Are you both
students?
SUE I'm student, but Anne is actor.
GREG Really? Well, I'll show you where to put your tent. Come on!

C New things, and things we know about already

LISA

RHYS
Rhys! I didn't hear you at a
want a / 0
. . . .. . .
Rhys has arrived home from college. His flatmate, Lisa, is in the kitchen. If you think
the underlined words are correct, put a tick. If you think they're wrong, cross them out
and write the correct word.
th<?
cup of tea?
Yes, please. I've just been to the
my account.
0
door. How's it going? Do you

i
bank, actually, for some advice on
1 When you keep
money at the
bank, you have
an account in
your name.
2 A competition
is a kind of game
with prizes (a
holiday or a car,
LISA I hope things are OK. By the way, there's the 2
letter for you in the for example) if
living room. you win.
RHYS Really? Thanks. What have you done today?
LISA I went for the 3
walk in the 4 park.
It's the first time I've
been at lunch time. I met Joe.
s
RHYS Joe? The guy who plays a . piano so well?
LISA That's right. We had the 6 interesting conversation about music.
RHYS That's nice. (Rhys goes to the living room.) Where's a 7
letter? I can't
find it.
LISA On a 8
television.
RHYS (A moment later) I don't believe it! I think I've won a 9
prize!
LISA (Entering the living room) How? Did you enter a competition?
RHYS Yes, and I've won a 10
tour of China!
LISA Fantastic! When does a 11
tour start?
RHYS In two months. The letter says I'll see a 12
Great Wall of China on my
second day and then the Forbidden City in Beijing!

Articles, nouns, pronouns, and determiners 79

 Articles and nouns
Plural nouns [trees; people)
3 Look at the plural nouns in this dialogue: 9 Some nouns have irregular plural forms:
What's on your shopping list? ~ A few things for
man — men woman — women
my dinner party tomorrow: some flowers, four
child— person — people
wine glasses, two new knives, some fish and some
foot — feet tooth — teeth fish — fish
tomatoes.
sheep— mouse—
4 We usually make plural nouns by adding -s:
10 Some nouns only have plural forms:
one ball— balls
one metre — three metres clothes trousers jeans
a car —ÿsome cars pyjamas glasses scissors
a question — any questions?
Team and family can be singular or plural:
5 With nouns that end in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, and -x, we add -es: My team is/are winning.
My family come/comes from Scotland.
bus— glass— dish—
beach — beaches box — boxes
Grammar in action
6 With nouns that end in a consonant (b, c, d, f etc.) + -y,
we change the -y to -ies: We can use plural nouns when we tell someone about
baby —babies family — families the actions we have completed. This might be at work:
city — cities country — countries Have you had a busy morning? ~ Yes - four visitors,
story — stories two meetings, fifteen emails and six phone calls!

but we don't change the у after a vowel (a, e, i, o, u): £5 We can use plural nouns when we talk about the
days, journeys, etc. things that we want to buy, or that we own. We might
talk about a shopping trip:
The plural form of penny is pennies, but we Ineed somenew clothes. ~ What do youneed? ~
normally use pence or p: Trousers for work, a pair ofjeans and some new
That's ten pence, please. Can you lendme 50p? pyjamas. ~ I'll come with you.Ineed to get three
Or, if we're talking about pounds and pence,
loaves of bread from the baker's and some tomatoes.
nothing: @ We can use plural nouns to describe
That's six pounds seventy. the number of people or things we
can see. This example is a radio ad:
7 With nouns that end in -f or -fe, we change the -f/-fe There are about five thousand
to -ves: people here. Men, women and
leaf— children are enjoying the sunshine
loaf— life—
and the music. Come to the Hyde
wife — wives knife — knives
Park Festival!
8 Most nouns that end in -o have -s: kilos, photos,
radios, etc. But three common nouns have -es:
potato — potatoes tomato — tomatoes
hero — heroes

80 | Articles, nouns, pronouns, and determiners

D A short advertisement
Cross out the noun plurals that are wrong in this radio advertisement for a large store,
and rewrite them.
0 men 2 4 6
l 3 5

Come to 'Lacey's'! We've got clothes for mans and womans. We've got toys for
children. We've got sofas for families! Persons come from all the citys in UK to
'Lacey's'. Are your foots uncomfortable? Have a look at our shoes. Are you always late
for work? Have a look at our watchs. At 'Lacey's' we make people's lifes better!

E Shopping
Josie and Juan are at Borough Market in London. Add plural forms of these words to
A fishmonger's sells
their conversation: fish, and haddock is
a popular type offish
sandwich potato pound piece tomato penny fish loaf person in the UK.

JUAN Is this the market, then? There are so many 0

here!
JOSIE It's very popular. Shall we get some bread first? Excuse me, could we have two
small brown ', please?
MAN Certainly, Madam.That's three 7, sixty, please. (Josie gives him
four pounds.) Thank you, and here's forty 3
change for you.
Don't spend it all today!
Г*7

1
JUAN I'm really hungry, Josie. Is that woman selling 4? f!
JOSIE Yes. I'm hungry too. Can you get me a chicken sandwich? (Josie goes to the
fishmonger's.) I'll buy some 5
for tonight.
WOMAN Morning, love. I've got some nice haddock today.

....................
JOSIE All right. Could I have two small 6
of haddock, please?
JUAN Here's your sandwich, Josie. Shall I get some 7 - we could
have chips with the fish tonight. ::::
JOSIE Good idea. There's a greengrocer's over there. Could you get some
8
at the same time? We could have a tomato salad.
WOMAN That's three pounds for the fish please, darling.
JOSIE Here you are. Thanks very much.

OVER TO YOU Now go to page 125.

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