Task 1: Read about the general use of the articles

A/An

We use a/an:
The first time you mention or refer to a noun
Example: I bought a new pair of shoes yesterday! (First mention). Can you believe the shoes were 50% off!! (Second mention – now it is clear which shoes: the shoes you bought yesterday.)

To name a member of a group
Jobs (I’m a teacher.)

Nationalities (He’s an American.)

Religions (She’s a Buddhist.)

When you also mean “one”
Example: I had an ( =one) apple at lunch.

Expressions that quantify

A little (bit) of

A lot of

A ton of

We use the:

With something already mentioned (see example for the first mention with a/an above)
When there is just one of something*

I took a walk in the forest. (There is only one forest where you live.)

When you define a specific person, object or place
 I loved the book my dad gave me for my birthday. (Not just any book, but specifically the books your dad gave you for your birthday.)

With things that are unique (there is only one)*
The sun

The President of the U.S.

The CEO of Apple

With ordinal numbers and superlatives
The first, the second, the third

The biggest, the best, the fastest, the ugliest

With some proper nouns:
Rivers (The Nile)

Mountains Ranges (The Rockies, The Alps)

Oceans (The Pacific Ocean)

Groups of Islands or Countries with Plural

The Hawaiian Islands

The Netherlands

 

*When there is just one of something or when something is unique, then the information is shared information. This means everyone already knows about the person/place/thing so we don’t have to explain it or define it. For example, everyone around the world knows about the sun. We don’t have to explain the sun, so we always use the sun (not a sun).

Ø (Zero Article)

We use ø:

 

Talk about things in general (all things everywhere)
I love watching whales! (All whales everywhere, not just one specific whale.)

I love Italy.

Countries
He’s from Germany.

Have you visited Algeria?

Languages
French

Japanese

Meals
Breakfast

People’s names and titles
With possessives
My coffee …

Her dog …

Uncountable nouns (unless referring to a specific example)
I love adding milk (uncountable) to my coffee (uncountable + possessive).

Specific mountains, lakes, and islands
Mt. Fuji

Most cities, towns, streets, and airports
Kiev

New York

Main Street

Task 2: fill in the gap with the article where it is necessary

If there is no article type X

If you don't have the answer, type XXX to continue the task

When I was younger, I had (1) _ real sense of adventure. I loved (2) __ vacations my family took every summer. We would go backpacking, camp in the woods, sleep in tents and spend (3) ____ evening next to the campfire. As a child, I remember trying to build (4) ___ fire from scratch by rubbing two sticks together. I think (5)____ my entire family laughed while I worked at it for an hour. Unfortunately, I never succeeded and my father had to start (6) __ fire.

But I do have such good (7) ___memories of camping and hiking with my family. Every (8) ___summer my parents would pack up the kids and the dog into the car. Then they would pack all (9) ___our outdoor gear on the roof of the car and fill coolers full of food. My mom would pack all (10) __ usual stuff: trail mix, fruit, marshmallows to roast over the fire, stuff to make sandwiches, etc. We’d take a road trip to (11) ___ Rocky Mountains in Colorado, find our spot to set up camp, and pitch our tents near a river. I loved listening to the sound of (12) ___ river at night!

But I haven’t camped for years! Neither David nor I can take that much (13) __time off of work. It makes me (14) ___ little sad that Sophie, our daughter, won’t have those same memories. But last (15) ___ year we did do something a little fun, a little different: we had a staycation. The two of us could only get 4 days off of work and we were on (16) ___ tight budget. We hadn’t enjoyed everything (17) __ city has to offer for ages so we decided to have our vacation at home. We visited (18) __ museums and went to the theatre. We even took (19) ___ day trip to the coast a few hours away for a day of sun, sand, and surf. We have some wonderful (20) ___photos of our picnic dinner watching the sunset on the beach.