LONGMAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE

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3.1 The indefinite article: 'a/an' (1)

3.1 С Describing people and things with 'a/an' + noun: 'He's a doctor'
[> LEG 3.9.3-4, App 49]

Write:

Study:


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We use some words as adjectives or nouns when we want to describe people.
When we use them as countable nouns, we always put a/an in front of them [> 2.3A], e.g.


  • nationality: She's American, (adjective) or: She's an American, (noun) [> 3.3C]

  • religion: She's Anglican, (adjective) or: She's an Anglican, (noun)

  • politics: He's Conservative, (adjective) or: He's a Conservative, (noun)


We use some words only as countable nouns (people and things) and we always put a/an in
front of them: He's a doctor. (Not *He's doctor. *) It's a tree. (Not 'It's tree. *)
We can also use adjective + noun: She's a good girl. (Not 'She's good girl. *)

We can use a/an in front of proper nouns (names spelt with a capital letter) for:
-members of a family: He's a Forsyte. (= a member of the Forsyte family)
-literature and art: It's a Dickens novel. It's a Brecht play. Sometimes we can use the name
on its own. We can say It's a Rembrandt painting or It's a Rembrandt.

Write sentences using He's ..., She's..., It's ... + noun for each of the following.

1 What does he do? He drives a taxi.
2 What's her religion? She's Catholic
3 Where does he come from? He comes from England.
4 What's that? (ant)
5 What's that? (kind of insect)
6 What political party does she belong to? She's socialist.
7 What does she do? She teaches children
8 What does she do? (architect)
9 Whal is it? (sonnet by Shakespeare)
10 What is it? (painting by Picasso)

3.1 D Context


Write: Put in a, some, any or '-'. Alternatives are possible.

AT YOUR SERVICE, SIR!

(^1) тт. robots are common in industry and perhaps they will soon be common in the home.
(^2) robot working in the home must be able to behave like (^3) human. You could
ask It to make breakfast for you. 'I'd like^4 pot of coffee, please and^5 boiled
eggs.' 'How many, sir?' 'Two please.' You wouldn't have to worry about bringing friends home to
dinner. 'I've brought^6 friends for dinner,' you would say, 'please prepare^7 meal
for six.' Your robot would be^8 cook,^9 servant and^10 cleaner, and
perhaps it could even do the shopping. 'We haven't got^11 tomatoes,' you would say. 'Be
(^12) good robot and get some from the supermarket.' (^13) robots would never need
to sleep, and would never complain. But I wouldn't want them wandering round the house at night!
Ask it to make breakfast for you.

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