a/an and the a Study this example (‘hada sandwich anden pele) 7 Joe says‘a sandwich, ‘an apple’ because thisis es | thefst time he talks about them, ‘The sandwich wasn'tvery good, 7 Joe now says ‘the sandwich, ‘the apple’ {but the apple was rice ) because we know which sandwich and ‘which apple he means - the sandwich and € / | the apple he had for lunch, Tr Compare a and the in these examples: Aman and a woman wore sitting opposite me. The man was American, but think the woman vias British When we were on holiday, we stayed at a hotel. Sometimes we ate at the hotel and sometimes we went to a restaurant. We use the when we are thinking ofa specific thing, Compare a/an and the: © Timsat down on a chair. (maybe one of many chaits in the room) Timsat dawn on the chair nearest the door. (aspecific chat) © Doyou havea car? (nota specific car I cleaned the car yesterday. (= my car) We use a/an when wesay what kind of thing or person we mean. Compare: ~) Westayed ata very cheap hotel. (a type of hotel) ‘The hotel where we stayed was very cheap. (aspeclic hotel) We use'the when its clear which thing or person we mean. For example, ina room we talk about the light the floor / the ceiling / the door / the carpet etc: © Canyouturn offthe light, please? (=the lightin this room) © Itooka taxito the station. (=the station in that town) fina shop) ti liketo speak to the manager, please. (=the manager ofthis shop) \We also say"(goto) the bank / the post office’ “Ihave to go tothe bank and then 'm goingto the post office. (Thespeakeris usually thinking of a specific bank or post office) and (go to) the doctor / the dentist’ <' Claretsn't well. She gone to the doctor. © Idon't like going to the dentist. Compare the and a: ) thave to go to the bank taday. Istherea bank near here? © Idon'tlike going to the dentist. Mysisterisa dentist. We say oncea week /throe timos a day / £1.50 kilo’ tc. <) Igptothecinema about oncea month. © ‘Howmuch are those potatoes?” ‘€1.50a kilo” Helen works eighthoursa day, sixdaysa week.EER] rutin afanor the. 1 This morning | bought........book and, but I can't remember where | put 2 Isaw accident this morning, driver of... 3 There are two cars parked outside: ‘one belongs to my neighbours. | don't know who... 4 My friends live IP none nnse 01d house in. garden behind ERY Putin a/anorthe. 1 a Thishouse is very nice. Does it have It’s a beautiful day. Let'ssit in... ike living in this house, but it's a shame that onan Good restaurant? very nice restaurant. best restaurant in town. Can you recommend We had dinner in We had dinner in What's ... My neighbour has. Did Paula get... It’s not easy to get. Do you enjoy your work? ts it... “Are you going away next week? ''m going away for [EER] puttin ofan or the where necessary. 1 Would you like apple? How often do you go to dentist? Can you close door, please? Ihave problem. | need your help. How faris it from here to station? {'m going to post office. | won't be long Paul plays tennis. He's very good player. There isn't airport near where | live. Nearest airport is 70 miles away. 10 There were no chairs, so we sat on floor. 11 Have you finished with book I lent you? 12. Chris has just got job in bank in Zurich, 13 Welive in small apartment in city centre. 14 There's shop at end of street | live in. warg9T awn car wasn't hurt, but house. | would like to have ‘No, week in September. Gary has a parttime job. He works three mornings magazine. magazine Caf Crashed into... tree, car was badly damaged _.. grey one. OWN OF _small village, The? 15 .nven garden like that. _..book is in my bag, blue one and. blue grey oneis, beautiful garden? garden. garden is so small b c a b c a _--hame of that man we met yesterday? b We stayed at a very nice hotel - I can't remember c a b c a b c name now. French name, but in fact she's English, not French, job she applied for? job at the moment. interesting job? week after next” week.= 1 the 1 ‘We use the when there is only one of something: ~ Haveyou ever crossed the equator? {there is only one equator) ur apartmentis on the tenth floor. Buenos ites is the capital of Argentina, ‘'m going away at the end of this month We use the + superlative (best, oldest ct.) What’ the longest river in Europe? ‘Compare the and a/an (see also Units 11-12} © Thesunisastar. (-one of many stars) The hotel where wo stayed wasa very old hotel, \Welivein an apartment on the tenth floor. What’ the best way to lear a language? necqace—e| We say ‘the same’ ‘our sweaters the same colour asmine, (notissame colour) ‘Are these keysthe same?’ ‘No, they/te different Wesay: theworld the universe the sun. themoon the earth the sky the sea the ground the country (=nota town) © love tolook atthe starsin the sky. (notin sky) Doyou live ina town orin the country? The earth goes round the sun, and the moon goes round the earth. We also use Earth (without the) when we think of its planet in space (like Mars, Jupiter etc). Which is the planet nearest Earth? We say space (without the) when we mean ‘space in the universe. Compare: There are millions of starsin space. (notin the space) | tried to park my car, but the space was too small. We say: (go to) the cinema, the theatre © |go tothe cinema a ot, but haven't been to the theatre for ages. TV /television (without the), but the radio watch TV a lt, but I don't listen to the radio much but Canyoutum off the television, please? (the television =the TV set) the internet The internet has changed the way we lve We usually say breakfast/lunch dinner (without the} What cid you have for breakfast? We had lunch in a very nice restaurant Butive saya big lunch’ ‘a wonderful dinner ‘an early breakiast’etc. Wehad a very nice lunch. (rat We had very nice lunch) We say: size 43, platform 5 etc. (without the) — Ourtrain eaves from platform 5. (not the platform 5) Doyou have these shoes in size 43? (notthe size 43) Inthe sameway, wesay: room 126, page 29, vitamin A, section B etcPut in the or a where necessary. If no word is necessary, leave the space empty. 1 & Ourapartmentison...... tenth floor. 8: Isit? Ihope there's. ti. 2. Did you have... ..nennice holiday? B: YOS, EWS... en Dost holiday I've ever had. 3 & Where's nearest shop? &: There's one at... 0nd of this street. 4 wits lovely day, isn't it? 8: YOS, tHeIe ISM ener CLOUM IN annem SKY. 5 &: Wespentall our money because we stayed at.............. most expensive hotel in town. &: Why didn't you stay at cheaper hotel? 6 A: Would you like to travel in... space? &: Yes, Id loveto go to moon. 7 # What did you think of.......movie last night? a: Itwas OX, but | thought............ending was a bit strange. 8 a What's Jupiter? Isit........-.Star? 8: NO, it’s... planet. It's.. ... largest planet in...........Solar system. Which is right? (For the, see also Unit 72.) 1 | haven't been to cinema-/ the cinema for ages. (the cinema is correct) 2 Sarah spends most of her free time watching TV / the TV. 3 Doyou ever listen to radio / the radio? 4 Television / The television was on, but nobody was watching it. 5 Have you had dinner / the dinner yet? 6 It’s confusing when two people have same name / the same name. 7 What do you want for breakfast / forthe breakfast? 8 Fruit is an important source of vitamin C/ the vitamin C. 9 This computer is not connected to internet / the internet. 10 | lay down on ground / the ground and looked up at sky/ the sky. 11 Next train / The next train to London leaves from platform 3 / the platform 3. Put in the ora where necessary. (Fora and the see also Units 71-72.) 1 Sum is star. rsceun 2. Tm fed up with doing same thing every day. 3 Room 25 is on second floor... 4 twas very hot day. Itwas hottest day of year 5 werhad lunch in nice restaurant by sea. 6 What's on at cinema this week? 7 had bigbreakfast this moming, evens 8 You'll find information you need at top of page 15.the 3 (children / the children) ‘when we aro talking about things or people in general, we do notuse the: © Fmatraid of dogs. (not the dogs) (dogs = dogsin genoral, nota Specific group of dogs) Doctors are usually paid more than teachers. Do you know anybody who collects stamps? Life has changed a lotin the last thirty years. Do you lke classical music / Chinese food /fast cars? My favouritesportsfootball/skiing/athletics. © My favouritesubjectat school was history/physics/English. ‘We say most people / most shops / most big cities’ etc (notthe most. Most shops accept credit cards, (not The most shops) ‘Weuse the when we mean specific things or people. Compare: Ingeneral (without the) ‘Specific people or things (with the} (©. Children learn from playing. > We took the children to the 200. Cchildren in general) a specific group, perhaps the speaker’ children) The film wasn't very good, but liked © I couldn’ttive without music. the music, (=themusicin the film) (©. Allears have wheels, © Allthe ears in this car park belong to people who work here. ‘Sugar ist't very good for you. > Can you pass the sugar, please? the sugaron the table) (English people drink lot of tea © The English people | know drink a lot nglish people in general) oftea. (only the English people! know, not English people in general) ea ‘The difference between ‘something in general’ and something specific’ isnot always very clear. Compare: Ingeneral without the) ‘Specific people or things (with the) © Iike working with people. (people in general) ) like working with people who say what they think (not.all people, but‘people who say ‘what they think is still a general idea) ) Doyou like coffee? (coffee in general) Doyou like strong black coffee? ‘The coffee we had after dinner (notall coffee, but strong black coffee’ is wasn't very good. (= specific coffee) sila general idea) | likethe people | work with ‘a specific group of people)Which is right? 1 a Apples / The apples are good for you. (Apples is correct) b Look at apples /the apples on that tree. They're very big. 2 a Whoare people / the people in this picture? b Itannoys me when people / the people throw rubbish on the ground. 2 a Mymemory isn’t good. I'm not good at remembering names / the names. b What were names / the names of those people we met last night? 4 a First World War / The First World War began in 1914 and ended in 1918. b Apacifstis somebody who is against war / the war. 5 a He'slazy. He doesn't like hard work / the hard work. b Did you finish work / the work you were doing yesterday? TEE] complete the sentences using the following. Use the where necessary. ‘tho}basketball (the) grass__{the) patience (the) people (the) questions (the) meat {the}information- (the) hotels (the) biology (the) water (the) spiders (the)lies 1 My favourite sport is... 2 we were given wasn't correct. 2. Some people are afraid of. 4 Avegetarian is somebody who doesn't eat . 5 The test wasn’t hard. | answered without difficulty. 6 Doyou know ‘who liven the flat next to yours? 7 is the study of plants and animals. 8 It's better to tell the truth. Telling often causes problems. 9 We couldn't find anywhere to stay in the town. ‘were all full. 10 Don't swim in this pool. doesn't look very clean 11 Don'tsit on. It’s wet after the rain. 12 Youneed ‘to teach young children.