9

2. Read the following description
• I am from Seattle, Washington. Seattle is a city in the
United States. It is near the border of Canada in the
northwest corner of the USA. I live in a town called
Olympia which is on the Puget Sound. I live in a house in
a street in the countryside. The street is called "Bear
Street" and the house is old - more than 100 years old! I
am an English teacher at a school in the center of the
town. I like books and taking photographs. I usually have
lunch at school. I usually go home by car. We have all
kinds of food in Olympia. I like Italian food very much.
Sometimes, I go to an Italian restaurant in Seattle. The
restaurant is called "Luigi's". Italian food is great!

3. A, AN, THE Pictures:
The Rules of General or Specific Uses
• When to use them :
• THE should be used for SPECIFIC nouns,
when your reader knows exactly which
one you are referring to, or for nouns of
which there is only one (the world).
• A / AN should be used for GENERAL
nouns, or when your reader does not
know exactly which one you are referring
to.

4. In the following pictures, you can see the difference
between a specific noun, a general noun, and a noun of
which there is only one (the universe).
"Dear Brother,
Do you ever think about the dog we had when we were
children?"

5. In the above picture, both brothers know which dog the
writer is referring to, which means that the writer can
use THE, instead of A.

6. "Dear Mr. Mayor,
I have never met you, but I want to ask you for some advice. Should I
buy a dog for my children?"
In this situation, the reader does not know which dog the writer is
referring to. Therefore, the writer should use A, instead of THE.

7. "Dear Mr. Mayor,
I have never met you, but I want to tell you something. The world is a
beautiful place to live."
In this situation, there is only ONE world, so the writer can use THE
instead of A, and the reader will still know exactly which world he is
talking about -- the ONLY world.

8. Articles consists of :
1. "A, An : Indefinite articles
2. “The” : definite articles

9. Indefinite articles
• a = indefinite article (not a specific object,
one of a number of the same objects) with
consonants
She has a dog.
I work in a factory.
• an = indefinite article (not a specific object,
one of a number of the same objects) with
vowels (a,e,i,o,u)
Can I have an apple?
She is an English teacher.

10. Definite article
• (a specific object that both the person
speaking and the listener know)
The car over there is fast.
The teacher is very good, isn't he?
• The first time you speak of something use
"a or an", the next time you repeat that
object use "the".
I live in a house. The house is quite old
and has four bedrooms.
• I ate in a Japanese restaurant. The
restaurant was very good.

11. • DO NOT use an article with countries,
states, counties or provinces, lakes and
mountains except when the country is a
collection of states such as "The United
States".
He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
They live in northern British Columbia.

12. • Use an article with bodies of water,
oceans and seas -
My country borders on the Pacific Ocean
• DO NOT use an article when you are
speaking about things in general
I like Russian tea.
She likes reading books.

13. • DO NOT use an article when you are
speaking about meals, places, and
transport
He has breakfast at home.
I go to university.
He comes to work by taxi.

14. Exercise 1
1. I want __ laptop computer.
2. Because __ laptop computers can be useful.
3. __ laptops can do word processing, keep records, and
compute numbers.
4. __ laptops can also be used to send email and search
the internet.
5. People who own __ laptops say that they can save a lot
of time.

15. Jane met __ 1. boy yesterday. __ 2. boy
was very cute but __ 3. boy had __ 4. big
pimple right on his nose. __ 5. pimple was
very gross. She told __ 6. boy to see ___ 7.
doctor, and maybe __ 8. doctor could help
him. Then she saw he had __ 9. pimple
right on his ear! She told __ 10. boy to get
lost.
Later, she talked to ___ 11. different
boy at dinner and he looked much better to
her.

16. Exercise 2
Joe felt ___ 1. strange vibration. He was
confused until he opened his eyes. Oh. ____ 2.
vibration was from his alarm clock. It was time to
wake up.
Joe shut off ____ 3. alarm and got out of
____ 4. bed. It was 7 a.m. "No one should have
to get up at 7 a.m.!" Joe said to himself. But he
had ____ 5. class at 8 a.m. He had no choice but
to wake up. He got dressed and ate at ____ 6.
Gallaudet cafeteria. Then he went back to his
dorm room. He picked up ___ 7. homework he
had done last night. He wondered if his Spanish
teacher would give him ___ 8. new homework
assignment today.

17. • Joe started walking to ___ 9. class. On the
way, he saw ___ 10. friend. He waved to get
___ 11. friend's attention. "Hi Melissa," he
said. "Did you move into your new apartment
yet?"
"Yes," Melissa said. "I am so glad I got
___ 12. apartment off campus. I like having
my own kitchen. ___ 13. apartment that I
have is nice."
"I'm glad you like it," Joe said. "Maybe
I should get ___ 14. apartment too. ___ 15.
Apartments let you be more independent."

18. • "Yes," Melissa said. "My only problem now is that it
is ___ 16. long walk to campus."
"Maybe you should get ___ 17. bicycle," Joe
suggested. " ____ 18. bicycle could get you to
campus faster. ___ 19. Bicycles are also good
exercise."
"That's ___ 20. good idea," Mary said. "I'll try
that."
"I know, I am full of ___ 21. good ideas! Oh,
maybe I can take you to ___ 22. store called "Two
Wheels." ____ 23. bicycles there are very good."
"Okay, let's go there Saturday," Melissa said.
"Bye, see you after ____ 24. class."
Melissa and Joe said goodbye and went to
their ____ 25. classes.