Articles: a/an, the

Insert a, an or the if necessary.

1 There was . . . knock on . . . door. I opened it and found . . . small dark man in . . . blue overcoat and . . . woollen cap.

2 He said he was . . . employee of . . . gas company and had come to read . . . meter.

3 But I had . . . suspicion that he wasn't speaking . . . truth because . . . meter readers usually wear . . . peaked caps.

4 However, I took him to . . . meter, which is in . . . dark corner under . . . stairs

   (. . . meters are usually in . . . dark corners under . . . stairs).

5 I asked if he had . . . torch; he said he disliked torches and always read . . . meters by . . . light of . . . match.

6 I remarked that if there was . . . leak in . . . gaspipe there might be . . . explosion while he was reading . . . meter.

7 He said, 'As . . . matter of . . . fact, there was . . . explosion in . . . last house I visited; and Mr Smith, . . . owner of . . . house, was burnt in . . . face.'

8 'Mr Smith was holding . . . lighted match at . . . time of . . . explosion.'

9 To prevent . . . possible repetition of this accident, I lent him . . . torch.

10 He switched on . . . torch, read . . . meter and wrote . . . reading down on . . . back of . . . envelope.

11 I said in . . . surprise that . . . meter readers usually put . . . readings down in . . . book.

12 He said that he had had . . . book but that it had been burnt in . . . fire in . . . Mr Smith's house.

13 By this time I had come to . . . conclusion that he wasn't . . . genuine meter reader; and . . . moment he left . . . house I rang . . . police.

14 Are John and Mary . . . cousins? ~
No, they aren't . . . cousins; they are . . . brother and . . . sister.

15 . . . fog was so thick that we couldn't see . . . side of . . . road. We followed . . . car in front of us and hoped that we were going . . . right way.

16 I can't remember . . . exact date of . . . storm, but I know it was . . . Sunday because everybody was at . . . church. On . . . Monday . . . post didn't come because . . . roads were blocked by . . . fallen trees.

17 Peter thinks that this is quite . . . cheap restaurant.

18 There's been . . . murder here. ~
Where's . . . body?~
There isn't . . . body. ~
Then how do you know there's been . . . murder?

19 Number . . . hundred and two, - . . house next door to us, is for sale.
It's quite . - . nice house with . . . big rooms. . . . back windows look out on . . . park.

20 I don't know what . . . price . . . owners are asking. But Dry and Rot are . . . agents. You could give them . . . ring and make them . . . offer.

21 . . . postman's little boy says that he'd rather be . . . dentist than . . . doctor, because . . . dentists don't get called out at . . . night.

22 Just as . . . air hostess (there was only one on the plane) was handing me . . . cup of . . . coffee . . . plane gave . . . lurch and . . . coffee went all over . . . person on . . . other side of . . . gangway.

23 There was . . . collision between . . . car and . . . cyclist at . . . crossroads near . . . my house early in . . . morning. . . . cyclist was taken to . . . hospital with . . . concussion. . . . driver of . . . car  was treated for . . . shock. . . . witnesses say that . . . car was going at . . . seventy miles . . . hour.

24 Professor Jones, . . . man who discovered . . . new drug that everyone is talking about, refused to give . . . press conference.

25 Peter Piper, . . . student in . . . professor's college, asked him why he refused to talk

     to . . . press.

26 We're going to . . . tea with . . . Smiths today, aren't we? Shall we take . . . car? ~

     We can go by . . . car if you wash . . . car first. We can't go to . . . Mrs Smith's in . . . 

     car all covered with . . . mud.

27 He got . . . job in . . . south and spent . . . next two years doing . . . work he really enjoyed.

28 It is . . . pleasure to do . . . business with such . . . efficient organization.

29 . . . day after . . . day passed without . . . news, and we began to lose ... hope.

30 Would you like to hear . . . story about . . . Englishman, . . . Irishman and . . . Scotsman? ~

    No. I've heard . . . stories about . . . Englishmen, . . . Irishmen and . . . Scotsmen before 

    and they are all . . . same.

31 But mine is not . . . typical story. In my story . . . Scotsman is generous, . . . Irishman is logical and . . . Englishman is romantic. ~
Oh, if it's . . . fantastic story I'll listen with . . . pleasure.

32 My aunt lived on . . . ground floor of . . . old house on . . . River Thames. She was very much afraid of . . . burglars and always locked up . . . house very carefully before she went to . . . bed. She also took . . . precaution of looking under . . . bed to see if . . .
burglar was hiding there.

33 '. . . modern burglars don't hide under . . . beds,' said her daughter.
I'll go on looking just . . . same,' said my aunt.

34 One morning she rang her daughter in . . . triumph. 1 found . . . burglar under . . . bed . . . last night,' she said, 'and he was quite . . . young man.'

35  . . . apples are sold by . . . pound. These are forty pence . . . pound.

36  It was . . . windy morning but they hired . . . boat and went for . . .    sail along . . . coast. In . . - afternoon . . . wind increased and they  soon found themselves in . . . difficulties.

ANSWER

Exercise 3 (Two words separated by an oblique, e.g. the/his, indicate that either is a possible answer. The first word is normally the preferred answer.)

1 a, the; a, a 2 an, the, the 3 a, the,-,- 4 the, a, the,-.-.(the) 5 a,-,the, a 6 a, a/the, an, the 7 a,-, an, the, the, the, the 8 a, the, the 9 a, a 10 the, the, the, the, an 11-.-.(the), a 12 a, the,

13 the, a, the, the, the 14-;-,-,- 15 The, the, the; the, the 16 the, the, a,-: (the), the, the,- 17 a 18 a; the; a: a 19 a, the: a, -; The, the 20-,the; the; a, an 21 The, a, a,-,- 22 the, a,

- , the, a, the, the, the, the 23 a, a, a, the, -, the; The, -, -; The, the, -; -, the,-, an 24 the, the, a 25 a, the, the 26-,the; the;-,the;-,a, - 27 a, the, the,- 28 a,-, an 29-,-, -,- 30 a, an, an, a:-, -, -, -, the 31 a; the, the, the: a, - 32 the, an, the; -, the, -: the, the, a 33-,-; the 34-; a, the, -,a 35-, the; a 36 a, a, a, the; the, the, -