The indefinite article: a/an

We use alanin the following ways:

1 before unspecified singular countable nouns.
She works in an office.
2 with the names of professions.
She's an executive and he's a manager.
3 in expressions of measurement.
We charge $500an hour.
It sel/s at €1.75 a litre.
4 before a noun to mean all things of the
same type.
A 1055 leader is an article that a store sel/s
at a law price to tempt customers to buy
other goods.
The definite article: the
We use the:
1 when it is clear from the context what
particular thing or place is meant.
/'1/ meet you in the reception area.
2 before a noun that we have mentioned
before.
They had a villa in Cannes and a chalet in
Innsbruck, but they sold the viI/a.
3 before adjectives to specify a category of
people or things.
therich, the poor, the French, the
unemployed, the World Wide Web
Zero article: (m
We do not use an article before:
1 mass nouns used in general statements.
(ii)iMoney is the root of 01/ (ii)ievil.
2 the names of places and people.
(ii)i Poland, (ii)i Japan, (ii)iDr Spock,
(ii)i President Obama

a/an• We use a or an before singular countable nouns.

apUblicity stunt
• We use ao r an to introduce new information.
They are building up to a traditional 30·second advertising campaign
• We often use a or anto refer to people's jobs.
She's an accountant
• We use a before consonants and an before vowel sounds

acommercial, an advert
the • We use the when we think our listener will know what we are talking about.
theInternet
• We use the when it is clear from the context what particular person,

thing or place is meant because it has been mentioned before.

The campaign is the latest attempt to ...
'zero article' We do not use an article before:
• uncountable nouns used in general statements.
Information is power.
• the names of most countries, companies and people.
Poland, Honda, Ian Armstrong
• A few countries require the:
thePhilippines, the United Kingdom, the United States
Tick the correct sentences. Add the where necessary in the other sentences.
You may need to add the more than once.
1 Knowledge of advertising code of practice is vital to those wishing to work in
advertising industry.
2 We want to film a TV commercial in Russia.
3 The 'Think small' Volkswagen Beetle advert was one of most successful advertising
campaigns of 20th century.
4 Four major brands AOL, Yahoo!, Freeserve and BT - all achieve awareness of over
-

40% amongst U K adult population.

S Next year, I am going to work for an advertising agency in USA.

This text is about a television advertisement. Some of the articles are missing. Write in the missing articles - 0,
on or the where appropriate.
-

Ahnostas soon as the 'gorilla' television commercial for Dairy Milk chocolate was first shown on3 1 August, people staned posting it all
YouTube. People also started asking questions. like did it feature real gorilla playing drums?

So whm role did the extraordimu), take-up of gorilla ad on Inlcmcl play ill Dairy Milk's success? And was success of the adven a lucky
break? For like Unilcvcrand Diageo, Cadbury has benefited from lhe free 'viral'

distribution of il􀒇adveltising on Intcmet as consllmcrsc-mail, post and create spoof versions of gorillacampaign. Gorilla commercial is most
viewedadvertisemcntso far this year on YouTube, the contentsharing website.

In each sentence of this text, one article is missing. Write a, an or the where appropriate.

Sweden has long history of rules and regulations aimed at guiding citizens on the right
path. A majority of Swedes seem content with the prohibitions they believe help keep their
country one of safest on Earth. As Sweden is extremely child·focused society, much of the
paternalistic protection is directed towards children. For example, all television advertising
aimed at children under age of 12 - from junk food to toys to video games - has been
banned on terrestrial channels before 9 p.m. since 1991. Although it has many admirers,
ban is not entirely successful because the satellite television stations that broadcast
from outside Sweden are free to target children as much as they like. Despite this, health
professionals say the relatively low incidence of children's advertising has been big factor
in the exceptionally low levels of overweight children in Sweden.