LONGMAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE

3 Articles

3.3 The definite article: 'the' (1 )

3.3A Form and basic uses of 'the' [> LEG 3.16,3.18]

Write:

Study:

В

1 The never varies in form whether it refers to people or things, singular or plural:

a That's the man we met last night. d They're the men we met last night.

b That's the woman we met last night, e They're the women we met last night.

с That's the shirt I bought yesterday, f They're the shirts I bought yesterday.

2 We use the to refer to something that is known. [> 3.2A]

3 The can combine with singular countable nouns (the book), plural countable nouns (the books),

and uncountable nouns, which are always singular (the furniture).

'

Supply a or the in the following text.

We wanted to reach^1 & small village and knew we must be nea[. Then we saw^2

woman just ahead and some children playing. When we stopped to ask the way,^3 woman

said she was^4 stranger herself. We called out to^5 children, but they ignored us. Just

then two men came along and we asked them the way.^6 men didn't know, but at least they

were helpful. 'There's^7 signpost a mile along this road,' one of them said. We drove to

(^8) signpost eagerly. This is what it said: NORTH POLE 6,000 MILES.
3.3B
Study:
'A/an', 'the' and zero in front of abbreviations: 'the BBC'
[> LEG 3.7, 3.17, 3.24]
1 We make abbreviations with the first letters of the most important words. We then treat these
abbreviations like ordinary nouns and use them with a/an, the or zero [> 3.1 C]:
I've just bought an LP. (= a Long Playing record).
We use an + vowel sound (an LP) and a + consonant sound (a VW= a Volkswagen).
2 We use a/an and full stops with titles: She's an M.A. (= Master of Arts)
3 We use the in front of institutions when we can't say them as single words. We don't use full
stops: I listen to the news on the BBC. (= the British Broadcasting Corporation)
We are members of UNESCO. /ju:'neskau/
(= the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
4 We use no article (zero) with chemical symbols: C0 2 stands for Carbon Dioxide.
5 The first letters of some words are often used as normal words: e.g.
Planes use radar. (= RAdio Detection And Ranging)
Write: Supply a/an, the or '
1 Jim got B.Sc. (= Bachelor of Science) from Durham University in 1988.
2 Celia is sure she's seen UFO (= Unidentified Flying Object).
3 EC (= European Community) does a lot of trade with the rest of the world.
4 I don't know how much MP (= Member of Parliament) earns.
5 Which countries belong to NATO/neitau/? (= North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
6 H 20 is the chemical formula for water.
7 I've used my computer to learn BASIC (= Beginners' All-purpose Instruction Code).
8 NASA (= National Aeronautics and Space Administration) had a setback in 1986.