Ling Liang Church M H Lau Secondary School

S1 Summer Foundation Course – English Grammar Exercise

Name: __________________ Class: ____________ Class No.:_________

Lesson 2: Articles (a, an, the)

Articles Use Examples

 before a singular noun beginning  a book
with a consonant sound a sandwich
a

 for countable and singular nouns  a bottle

 before a singular noun beginning  an apple

with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u)  an orange
an  for countable and singular nouns 

an egg
 an hour, an honest boy
 to talk about specific things  I watched a film last night. The film
 for uncountable or plural nouns was interesting.
 for unique objects (i.e. only one in ( We have talked about the film.)
this world)

the  The book is on the desk.

( We know which book and desk we
are talking about.)

 We should protect the earth,

( “Earth” is unique.)

We DO NOT use any articles with…

 I have never been to Japan
1. names of people, countries, cities…  My idol is Andy Lau.

 Final exam is in June.

2. dates , days and months  My birthday is on Sunday.
 I like travelling by bus/ airplane/ train.
5. means of transportation with “by”
 Let’s go home.
some words:  It’s time to go to bed.
6.  I go to school every day.
bed, home, school, TV / television
 I like watching TV.

P. 1
Exercise 1
Fill in the blank with ‘a’ or ‘an’. (10 marks)

1. an airport 2. a new airport 3. a uniform

4. a horse 5. an hour 6. an organisation

7. a school 8. a taxi driver 9. an old book

10. an honest girl 11. a water bottle 12. a cup

Exercise 2
Fill in the blank with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’.
1. We enjoyed our trip. The hotel was very nice.

2. Eve is an interesting person. You should meet her.

3. A: Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the city centre?

B: Yes, go straight on and then take the next turning left.

4. Peter and Mary have got two children, a boy and a girl.

The boy is seven years old, and the girl is three.

5. Can I have a cup of coffee, please?

6. Can you open the door, please?

Exercise 3
Fill in the blank with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’. Put a ‘X’ if no article is needed.
1. I watch X TV a lot.

2. We live in the same street.

3. The sky is blue and the sun is shining.

4. We went to X Ocean Park by X MTR.

5. What do you think of the police? Do they do a good job?

6. Are you free on X Sunday?

7. Did you have a holiday last summer?

8. Christmas is in X December.
P. 2
9. Do you use the Internet much?

10. I went to X bed late last night.

Exercise 4
Fill in the blank with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’. Put a ‘X’ if no article is needed. (10 marks)
1. This is a one-way street. Cars going to the opposite direction have to go to another street.

2. My brother is listening to X music in his room.

3. It was raining yesterday but Jack didn’t have an umbrella.

4. Who is the girl wearing glasses sitting next to John? She is pretty and nice.

5. She looks smart and tidy when she wears a uniform.

6. Karen doesn’t eat X meat. She’s a vegetarian.

7. My pencil is left at X home. Can you give me a pencil, please?

8. He said he had seen an UFO, but nobody believed him.

9. Tourists from X different countries like to go to Hawaii on X holiday.

10. It’s raining. Please close the window.

11. Look! The sun is rising. What a beautiful moment!

12. Let’s go X hiking this weekend. I’m sure we will have a lot of fun!

P. 3
Exercise 5
Megan is writing a diary entry. Complete the diary entry with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’. Write an ‘X’ if no
article is needed.

16 July, 2018 Sunny

(1) The sun is no longer hiding behind clouds. The heavy rain in (2) X Canada has

stopped. (3) The sky is blue and clear. Hurray! Mum and I went to (4) X Butchart Gardens by

bus today. There is (5) a wonderful rose garden in the Garden. It is the best time to go there

now because (6) X roses are usually in full blossom in summer. There are over fifty species of

roses. This is the first time I have seen so many species! In the afternoon, we joined (7) a tour,

which lasted for (8) an hour. (9) The/ A gardener introduced some plant species to us. We

learnt a lot!

I hope that Dad can join us next time.

P. 4