Unit 9 Articles

9.1 When are articles used?

9.2 a or an?
9.3 The definite article the
9.4 Other points to remember
9.5 Useful expressions
Grammar Practice
Part A Part B Part C
Language Practice
Part D Part E Part F

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Unit 9 Articles
9.1 When are articles used?
The indefinite article a or an is used when:
• a singular countable noun is mentioned for the first time
in a passage

I saw a car parked in front of our school.

• the listener doesn’t know which person or thing the

speaker is referring to

Please pass me a ruler, Amy.

Compare: Pass me the ruler on the desk just
there.
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• we have to define something

An encyclopedia is a book containing information

about different subjects.

• we talk about a universal example that applies to someone

or something (meaning any)

A child can do this trick.

Compare: Mrs Chan loves children.

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Unit 9 Articles
9.2 a or an?
The choice of a or an is determined by the pronunciation
of the word immediately following the article. We use a
when the word following starts with a consonant sound.
When the following word begins with a vowel sound, we
use an (even if the letter is a consonant).

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Unit 9 Articles

a cup an apple an egg

an item an orange
an umbrella

a house an hour
a hotel an honest man
a horse an HSBC branch

a unit an urgent message

a university
a uniform

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Unit 9 Articles

a European an event
a ewe

a one-way ticket an organ

a once popular song

a T-shirt an FBI agent

a VIP an 18-year-old girl

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Unit 9 Articles
! Caution!

 Did you take any umbrella with you to work today?

 Did you take an umbrella with you to work today?

 The hotel is situated right next to a MTR exit.

 The hotel is situated right next to an MTR exit.

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Unit 9 Articles
9.3 The definite article the
The is used:
• when the thing mentioned is known to both the speaker
and the listener
It’s cold here. Please close the window. (= the
window of this room)
• when there is only one of something
It was a fine day. The sun was shining brightly.
More and more people are relying on the
Internet for information.

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Unit 9 Articles

• when nouns such as the following are used to express a

general meaning

army atmosphere climate

countryside east
environment future government ground
mountain
north past piano police
public
radio sea sky south
telephone
treasury violin weather west
wind

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Unit 9 Articles

The sky has cleared.

Compare: A gentle breeze is blowing from
the north.
Can you play the guitar?
Compare: Derek bought a guitar yesterday.

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Unit 9 Articles

• before same
Shelly and I live in the same building.
• with adjectives that refer to a specific group of people,
e.g. the poor, the rich, the old, the young, the blind, the
deaf, etc.
A medical nurse looks after the sick.

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Unit 9 Articles

• before a superlative adjective or adverb (the longest, the

most exciting trip, etc.)
This is the most user-friendly software I’ve ever
used.
• to refer to people of a particular nationality or origin
The Chinese are often seen as hard-working
people.

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Unit 9 Articles
9.4 Other points to remember
• We can talk about something in general (a type of plant,
animal, etc.) in two ways:

 Elephants are the largest mammals that live

on land.
 The elephant is the largest mammal that
lives on land.
 The elephants are the largest mammals on
land.
Compare: The elephants in the zoo we visited
were old.
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Unit 9 Articles

• We do not use the before nouns such as school,

college, university, church, hospital, town, prison, bed,
etc. when these places are used or visited for their main
purpose.
They go to church on Sundays.
Compare: They went there to take a
photograph of the church.

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Unit 9 Articles
9.5 Sometimes the use of articles is not governed by any
grammatical rules. It is just a matter of common usage. Look
at the table below:

We say … But we say:

go to school/ go to the office/cinema/theatre/

church/hospital/ country
town

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Unit 9 Articles

have cancer/asthma get a headache/cough/fever

get the flu* [*Note: not a flu]
get (a) toothache/stomachache/
backache

We do not usually use the article

a/an when we talk about the general
characteristics or progress of these
illnesses.
Toothache is unbearable.
Compare:I
Compare: couldn’t sleep last night.
I had (a) toothache.
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Unit 9 Articles

at home, leave
in the house
home

at dawn/noon/
in the morning/afternoon/evening
midnight, by day

at first/last in the beginning/end

at present at the moment

in haste in a hurry

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Unit 9 Articles

at half price at a discount

in darkness in the dark

in case of in the event of

in order to with a view to

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Unit 9 Articles
Grammar Practice
Add a, an or the to the sentences where necessary. Put a
cross () in the blank if no article is needed. The first one
has been done for you as an example.

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Unit 9 Articles

1 the
Have you finished _________ book I lent you last week?

2 a
He’s gone to buy _________ newspaper. He’ll be back in
a
_________ minute.

3 the
Did _________ police find the person who stole your car?

4 a
Would you like to go for _________ swim?

5 a
The farmers claimed that they saw _________ UFO when they
the
were working in _________ fields.

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Unit 9 Articles

6 the
I went to _________ hospital to visit my uncle who had

been admitted for _________ acute appendicitis.

7 The
My sister got married last week. _________ marriage

ceremony, which was held at _________ City Hall, was

attended by _________ friends and relatives.

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Unit 9 Articles

8 the
As I was walking along _________ street on my way to

_________ a
school, I saw _________ 500-dollar note lying
the
on _________ pavement.

9 an
Kate’s brother, who is _________ electrical engineer, had
an
_________ accident yesterday.

the
10 Heavy rainfall in _________ 
southeast during _________
the
late February and _________ first week of March brought

_________ the
badly needed water to _________ region, which

is suffering from its worst drought in _________ 50 years.
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Unit 9 Articles

Complete the sentences using a suitable noun, and

an article when necessary. The first one has been done for
you as an example.

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Unit 9 Articles

1 a taxi
It’s very late. You’d better take _______________home.

2 My uncle lives in Kowloon but his office is in Central. He

the MTR/a ferry/a bus to get to work.
has to take ______________________

3 I’ve finished writing the letter. Would you pass me

an envelope , please?
______________

4 Our plane was delayed. As a result, we had to wait at

the airport
________________ for more than two hours.

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Unit 9 Articles

5 an
She was due for a check up, so she made _______________
appointment
____________________ with her dentist for the following
Tuesday.

6 the supermarket
She had to go to _______________________ because she
had run out of sugar.
a cigarette/
7 a cigar
As I don’t smoke, I refused his offer of _______________ .

8 a rest/a break under a tree

Feeling tired, we took ________________
before we continued.

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Unit 9 Articles

9 meat
She’s a vegetarian, so she doesn’t eat ________________ .

a job
10 Andy is out of work. He’s looking for _______________ .

11 We spent our holiday in Spain. I’ll show you

the photos/videos we took next time
_____________________
I see you.

breakfast
12 I didn’t have time to have _________________________
this morning. I just showered, brushed my teeth and
a bus
then caught ________________ to school.
(Note: accept all reasonable answers)
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Unit 9 Articles

Circle the correct words to complete the sentences. The first

one has been done for you as an example.

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Unit 9 Articles

1 Who invented a telephone / the telephone?

2 Mr Chan is out of town / the town. He won’t be back until

a day / the day after tomorrow.

3 The Lees have bought a house near a sea / the sea.

4 China / The China has launched a rocket carrying a weather

satellite / weather satellite.

5 She enjoys long walks in country / the country.

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Unit 9 Articles

6 ‘Life / The life is hard,’ said the man, who had been out of
a work / work for months.

7 They say the actress died of heart attack / a heart

attack.

8 I have an allergy / the allergy to seafood / the seafood.

9 We’d better wait until snow / the snow stops.

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Unit 9 Articles

10 50 flights due to take off from London Heathrow Airport / the

London Heathrow Airport have been cancelled because of a
bad weather / bad weather.

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Unit 9 Articles
Language Practice
Complete the news report using the correct article. Put a
cross () in the blank if no article is needed. The first two
have been done for you as examples.

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Unit 9 Articles

Sai Wan Swimming Shed

the
Located on (1) _________ western edge of Kennedy Town

near (2) _________ 
Mount Davis, (3) _________ Sai Wan
a
Swimming Shed used to be (4) _________ popular place for

(5) _________ the
swimmers. It was built next to (6) _________
an
sea in (7) _________ era when there were not as many
swimming pools as now. In those days there were about ten

swimming sheds like (8) _________ this in Hong Kong.

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Unit 9 Articles


Many people went to these swimming sheds in (9) ________
summer as they were convenient.

With more public swimming pools being built and (10)

the
_________ harbour getting more polluted, many swimming
sheds have closed and (11) _________
 Sai Wan Swimming
Shed is now (12) _________
the only operating swimming shed
in Hong Kong.

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Unit 9 Articles

The
(13) _________ a
shed has (14) _________ bridge and (15)
a
_________ the
ladder that leads into (16) _________ sea. It also
a
has (17) _________ bathroom and some lockers for
a
swimmers, but you have to be (18) _________ member of
the
(19) _________ the
swimming club operating (20) _________
shed in order to use these facilities, which open from 5 am
to a
1 pm. You do not have to be (21) _________ member to
swim, though.

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Unit 9 Articles

the
Now, (22) _________ a
shed is more of (23) _________ place
for photographers than for swimmers. Lots of photographers
the
go there in (24) _________ late afternoon to capture (25)
the
_________ a
stunning sunset view. It is also (26) _________
popular spot for taking wedding photos.

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Unit 9 Articles

Correct the sentences. No line has more than one mistake

and some lines are correct. Your corrections should
be done as follows:

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Unit 9 Articles

incorrect word/form - underline the incorrect word, then

write the correct form of the word
above it
missing word - mark the position of the missing
word with a ‘^’ sign, then write the
missing word above it
extra word - put a cross () on the word you wish
to remove
no mistake - put a tick () at the end of the
sentence

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Unit 9 Articles

The first two have been done for you as examples.

a
(1) Drug abuse has been an prevalent phenomenon around the world, especially for the
a
(2) younger generation. Adventurous and curious, adolescents who lack sense of self
the ^
(3) discipline could be led astray easily. Attracted by huge market of teen
^
(4) drug users, drug dealers often employ a young people to help them sell

(5) and distribute drugs. These young pushers will target their friends, trying 

(6) to get them to try drugs. Unable to distinguish a right from wrong, many
their
(7) take its irrevocable first step simply out of curiosity and peer pressure.

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Unit 9 Articles
a
(8) Although many scientific studies and medical reports have indicated series
a ^
(9) of disorders that drug abuse could possibly contribute to, the lot of teenagers
a
(10) still choose to turn deaf ear to what they are told. According to a recent survey
the ^
(11) conducted in United States, 43.7% of the interviewed students aged from 14 to 21
^
(12) admitted that they had tried illegal drugs at least once; more than half of the 
were
(13) interviewees said that they was willing to experiment with drugs if given such
The
(14) chance. A result is astonishing, and should be perceived as a wake up call for

(15) the wider community. 

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Unit 9 Articles
minutes
(16) A wrong step takes just a few minute to make; turning back often requires
much
(17) many strength. In the effort to promote a healthy attitude towards life among

(18) young people, the responsibility falls to the government, parents and 
the
(19) schools to educate and guide them back to right path. On the other hand,
teenager ^
(20) every teenagers ought to learn to be more responsible for taking charge of

(21) his or her life, being strong, and not succumbing to a peer pressure.

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Unit 9 Articles

Read the newspaper report. Then, fill in each blank in

Sally’s diary with a suitable word. Put a cross () in the
blank if no word is needed. Make sure your answers are
grammatically correct. The first one has been done for you
as an example.

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Unit 9 Articles

More than 400 people puffed and panted in the Walk Up

Jardine House event yesterday, raising over $1.5 million for
young people with mental illness.
It was the 20th anniversary of the event, which sees entrants
run up 947 stairs to the top of the 49-storey building.
Yesterday’s programme involved team races, individual races
and the school relay. Runners were also encouraged to wear
costumes to compete for the Fancy Dress Award.

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Unit 9 Articles

Taking place today, Walk Up Jardine House is

(1) annual event that sees participants climbing an
(1) ____________

up stairs to (2) top of the building. Though I had the

(2) ____________

practised climbing (3) stairs for weeks, I was (3) ____________


still (4) bit nervous. a
(4) ____________

NEWSPAPER
NEWSPAPER REPORT
REPORT P.93
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Unit 9 Articles

Everybody, myself included, (5) extremely was

(5) ___________

excited before the race officially started. The

section that I took part in (6) the individual was
(6) ___________

race. Most of (7) participants, much to my the

(7) ___________

surprise, (8) a lot slower than me! I managed were

(8) _____________

to finish in 4 minutes and 32 seconds. Peter’s

and Marie’s scores (9) almost (10) same – were
(9) ___________

5 minutes, 11 seconds. For the school relay, the

(10) ___________

(11) finish time (12) 3 minutes, 19 seconds.

the
(11) _____________
was
(12) _____________
NEWSPAPER
NEWSPAPER REPORT
REPORT P.93
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Unit 9 Articles

While we (13) not interested in the Fancy Dress were

(13) ____________

Award, other participants (14) quite enthusiastic were

(14) ____________

about it. Some even came up with (15) idea of the

(15) ____________

wearing Qing Dynasty costumes.

We were so happy that over $1.5 million (16) (16) ____________

was
raised today. The sum will be donated to (17) a
(17) ____________

charity that helps youths with mental illness. I

the
(18) _______________
think (18) result was quite encouraging!
(Note: accept all reasonable answers)

NEWSPAPER
NEWSPAPER REPORT
REPORT P.93
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