8.

Articles: first and second

mention
When do we use a/an, some and the?
We use a/an or some the first time we mention something.
We use the the second time we mention something.

He goes to a school in London. The school’s

name is St Peter’s.

I’ve got an orange and some bananas, but I

don’t want the bananas. They’re all brown!

There’s a language called Esperanto, but they

don’t teach the language at my school.

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 Which article, a, an, some or the, comes before
these words the first time they appear? Which
comes the second time?
a) books b) map c) island d) cross e) gold

My grandfather has got some old books, and one of the books
has got a map in it. The map shows an island. In the centre of
the island, there’s a big red cross ✗. The cross shows the
location of some gold in a box under the ground. I want to find
the gold!

a) some, the b) a, the c) an, the

d) a, the e) some, the

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How do we use articles?
First mention Second mention
Countable There’s a lake near our town. We go swimming in the lake.
singular
There’s an island in the lake. You can swim to the island.
nouns
Plural and There are some trees on the island. The trees are very old.
uncountable There’s some fruit on the trees. The fruit is delicious.
nouns

We use an instead of a
before a noun that starts
with a vowel sound.

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 Practice Time
Order the sentences to make a text about Edinburgh.

a. 6 The bridge is about 130 years old.

b. 1 In the east of Scotland, there’s an amazing city – Edinburgh.

c. 5 There’s a railway bridge over the river.

d. 2 The city has some ancient buildings.

e. 4 From the castle, there’s a great view of a river – the Forth.

f. 3 One of the buildings is a famous castle.

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