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Exercise 3.2: Determiners
Choose the correct determiners in the following sentences.
1. There are _______ envelopes on my desk.
a) much
b) some
c) any
d) a little
2. There isn’t _________ money in my pocket.
a) no
b) some
c) any of
d) any
3. Have you got _______ good computer games?
a) any
b) any of
c) a lot
d) many of
4. Do you like Madonna? Have you got ________ her records?
a) some
b) every of
c) any
d) all
5. There isn’t _______ time before our flight leaves.
a) much
b) many
c) some
d) no
6. I’ve got _______ idea where Mike is.
a) none
b) none of
c) no
d) any
7. Do you know ______ people living in England?
a) much
b) many
c) much of
d) many of
8. You’ve had ____ interesting experiences.
a) any
b) a lot
c) much
d) a lot of
9. Would you like _____ more mil?
a) little
b) a little
c) few
d) a few
10. ____ my friends want to see the concert.
a) no
b) any of
c) none
d) none of
· A and an: A or an can precede only singular count nouns; they mean one. They can be used in a general statement or to introduce a subject which has not been previously mentioned:
A baseball is round. (general - means all baseballs)
I saw a boy in the street. (We don’t know which boy)
An is used before words that begin with a vowel sound. A is used before words that begin with a consonant sound:
a book, an apple.
Some words can be confusing because the spelling does not indicate the pronunciation:
a house (begins with a consonant sound)
an hour (begins with a vowel sound)
a university (begins with a consonant sound)
an umbrella (begins with a vowel sound)
The following words begin with a consonant sound and thus must always be preceded by a:
| house uniform | home university | heavy universal | half union |
The following words begin with a vowel sound and thus must always be preceded by an:
| uncle | umbrella | hour | heir |
The initial sound of the word that immediately follows the indefinite article will determine whether it should be a or an:
| an umbrella an hour | a white umbrella a whole hour |
· The : The is used to indicate something that we already know about or something that is common knowledge:
The in the corner is my friend. (The speaker and the listener know which boy)
The earth is round. (There is only one earth)
With non-count nouns, one uses the article the if speaking in specific terms, but uses no article if speaking in general:
Sugar is sweet. (general - all sugar)
The sugar on the table is from Cuba. (specific -the sugar that is on the table)
Normally, plural count nouns, when they mean everything within a certain class, are not preceded by the:
Oranges are green until they ripen. (all oranges)
Athletes should follow a well-balanced diet. (all athletes)
Normally a proper noun is not preceded by an article unless there are several people or things with the same name and speaker is specifying one of them:
There are three Susan Parkers in the telephone directory.
The Susan Parker that I know lives on First Avenue.
Normally words such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, school, church, home, and college do not use any article unless to restrict the meaning:
We ate breakfast at eight o’clock this morning.
We went to school yesterday.
Use the following generalizations as a guide for the use of the article the.
| Use the with | don’t use the with |
| oceans, rivers, seas, gulfs, plural lakes | singular lakes |
| the Red Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Great Lakes | Lake Geneva, Lake Erie |
| mountains | mounts |
| The Rocky Mountains, the Andes | Mount Vesuvius, Mount McKinley |
| earth, moon | planet, constellations |
| the earth, the moon | Venus, Mars, Orion |
| schools, colleges, universities when the phrase begins with school, etc. | schools, colleges, universities when the phrase begins with a proper noun |
| The University of Florida, the College of Arts and Sciences | Santa Fe Community College, Cooper’s Art School, Stetson University |
| ordinal numbers before nouns | cardinal numbers after nouns |
| the First World War, the third chapter | World War One, chapter three |
| wars (except world wars) | |
| the Crimean War, the Korean War | |
| countries with more than one word (except Great Britain) | countries with one word |
| the United States, the Central African Republic | China, Venezuela, France |
| continents | |
| Europe, Africa, South America | |
| states | |
| Florida, Ohio, California | |
| historical documents | |
| the Constitution, the Magna Carta | |
| ethnic groups | |
| the Indians, the Aztecs | |
| sports | |
| baseball, basketball | |
| abstract nouns | |
| freedom, happiness | |
| general areas of subject matter | |
| mathematics, sociology | |
| holidays | |
| Christmas, Thanksgiving | |
Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1279
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| Exercise 1: Subject, Verb, Complement, one Modifier | | | Exercise 4.2: Articles |