4 Practice A
Students often have difficulty deciding if a noun phrase is specific or not. Compare:
Climate change is a serious threat for many countries.(not specific)
The Russian climate is characterised by long cold winters.(specific) In the following sentences, decide if the words and phrases in bold are specific or not,
and whether ‘the’ should be added.
Example:
inflationwas a serious concern for Brazilian government.
Inflation was a serious concern for theBrazilian government.
(a) electrical engineeringis the main industry in northern region.
(b) energy firmshave made record profits in financial year 2012–2013.
(c) global warmingis partly caused by fossil fuels.
(d) company’s CEOhas been arrested on fraud charges.
(e) theftis costing banking businessmillions of dollars a year.
(f) tourismis world’sbiggest industry.
(g) forests of Scandinaviaproduce most of Britain’s paper.
(h) Thai currencyis baht.
(i) computer crimehas grown by 200% in last decade.
(j) main causesof Industrial Revolutionare still debated.
(k) Already 3% of working populationare employed in call centres.
(l) latest forecastpredicts rising unemploymentfor two years.
(m) Research on housing marketis being conducted in business school.
(n) best definitionis often simplest.
2.5:Definite Articles 111