Articles

Articles: a/an
PEG 1-4

Insert a or an if necessary.
1My neighbour is . . . photographer; let's ask him for . . . advice about colour films.
2We had . . . fish and . . . chips for . . . lunch. ~
That doesn't sound . . . very interesting lunch.
..
3I had . . . very bad night; I didn't sleep . wink.
meat at his house. He'll give you . . nut cutlet. ~Last time I had . .
4He is . . . vegetarian; you won't get . . .. . nut
cutlet I had . . . indigestion.
. . travel agent would give you
5. . . .information about . . . hotels.
6We'd better go by . . . taxi—ifwe can get .. . taxi at such . . . hour as 2 a.m.
claustrophobia . . dread of being confined in . .
7. . . person who suffers from . . .has . . small space, and would
always prefer . . stairs
. to . . . lift.
8Do you take . . . sugar in . . . coffee? ~
I used to, but now I'm
on . . . diet. I'm trying to lose . . . weight.
. . man suffering from . .
9. . shock should not be given anything to drink.
shock if you touch
10 You'll get . . . .. . live wire with that screwdriver.
Why don't you get . . . screwdriver with .. . insulated handle?
11 It costs fifty-fiveand . . . half pence and I've only got . . . fifty pence piece. ~
You can pay by . . . cheque here. ~
But can I write . . . cheque for .. . fifty-fiveand . . . half pence?
. . . Mr Smith is . .
12 . old customer and . ..honest man. ~
Why do you say that? Has he been accused of . .
. dishonesty?
13 I'm not . . . wage-earner;I'm . . . self-employedman. I have . . . business of my own. ~
worker; you're . .
Then you're not . . . . capitalist!
When he was charged with . .
14 . murder he said he had . . . alibi.
15 . . . friend of mine is expecting . . . baby. If it's . . . girl she's going to be called Etheldreda. ~
What . . . name to give . . . girl!
. . . half for lunch.
16 I have . . . hour and ~
I only have . . time for
. half . . . hour—barely . . . . . . smoke and... cup of coffee.
17 I hope you have . . . lovely time and . . . good weather. ~
But I'm not going for . . holiday; I'm going on . .
. . business.
 He looked at me with . .
18 . horror when I explained that I was . . .double agent.
I wouldn't climb .
19 . . mountain for Ј1,000! I have . . . horror of . . . heights.
. . headache and
20 I have . . . . sore throat. I think I've got . . . cold. ~
I think you're getting . . . flu.
. . . Mr Jones called while you were out (neither of us knows this man). He wants to make .
21 . . complaint
about . . . article in the paper. He was in .. . very bad temper.
If you go by . . . . comfortable journey, but make sure you get . .
22 . . train you can have quite . express, not . . .
train that stops at all the stations.
secret passage from this house to . .
23 . . . few people know (hardly anyone knows) that there is . . . . old
smugglers' cave in the cliffs.
few friends in to . .
24 I'm having . . . . coffee tomorrow evening.
Would you like to come? ~
I'd love to, but I'm afraid I'm going to
. . . concert.
. holiday. You haven't had . . day off for . .
25It's time you had . . . . month.
skiing accident. It's still in . .
26He broke ...leg in... . plaster.
assistant with . . knowledge of French and . .
27I want . . . . .experience of . . . office routine.
28I see that your house is built of . . .wood. Are you insured against ... fire?
smoke rising from
29The escaping prisoner camped in . . . wood but he didn't light . . . fire because . . . the
wood might attract
. . . attention.
amazing experience last night. I saw . .
30I had . . . . dinosaur eating .. . meat pie in . . . London park. ~
nightmare. Anyway, dinosaurs didn't eat . .
You mean you had . . . .meat.
I'll pay you . . . . . enormous salary but after all you are . . completely
31. hundred . . . week. It's not . unskilled
man.
glance whether you were making . .
32If you kept . . . graph you could see at . . . . profit or . . . loss.
. . . little (hardly anything) is known about the effect of this drug; yet . . chemist will sell it to you without
33. .
. . prescription.
little money left; let's have dinner in . .
34I have . . . . restaurant.
35Would it be . .. trouble to you to buy me . . . newspaper on your way home?
36. . . man is . . .reasoning animal.

Articles: the
PEG 6-8
Insert the if necessary.
. . . youngest boy has just started going eldest boy is
1 to . . . school; . . .at . . . college.
. wind blows, all . .
2 She lives on . . . top floor of an old house. When . . . windows rattle.
3 . . . darkness doesn't worry . . . cats; . . . cats can see in . .. dark.
My little boys say that they want to be
4. . .spacemen, but most of them will probably end up in . . . less
dramatic jobs.
Do you know .
5. . time? ~
Yes, . . . clock in
. . . hall has just struck nine. ~
Then it isn't . . . time to go yet.
. . six months for . .
6 He was sent to . . . prison for . . shop-lifting.
When . . . six months are over he'll be released; . . . difficulty then will be to find . . . work. ~
Do you go to . . . prison to visit him?
I went to . . headmistress. I persuaded her to let Ann give up . . gymnastics and take . .
7. . . school to talk to .. .
ballet lessons instead.
. . . ballet isn't much use for . . girls; it is much better to be able to play
8. . . . piano.
night duty. When you go to .
9 I am on... . . bed, I go to . . .work.
phone. There's a telephone box just round . .
10Peter's at . . . office but you could get him on . . . . corner
11He got... bronchitis and was taken to . . . hospital. I expect they'll send him home
at . . . end of . . . week. ~
Have you rung . . . hospital to ask how he is?
. . . road early in
12Ann's habit of riding a motorcycle up and down . . .morning annoyed . . . neighbours and
. . end they took her to .
in . . . court.
sea in a Swedish ship, so as well as learning . . navigation he had to learn
13He first went to . . . . . . . Swedish.
family hotels are .
14. . . . . hotels which welcome . . . parents and . . . children.
. . . Sundays my father stays in . . bed till ten o'clock, reading
15On . . .. Sunday papers.
16Then he gets up, puts on . . . old clothes, has . . . breakfast and starts . . . work in . . . garden.
morning, and in . .
17My mother goes to . . . church in . . . . afternoon goes to visit . . .friends.
18Like many women, she loves . . . tea parties and . . . gossip.
. supper, . . . winter and . .
19My parents have ... cold meat and . . . salad for . . . summer.
20During . . . meal he talks about . . . garden and she tells him . . . village gossip.
We have a very good train service from here to . work by train.
21. . city centre and most people go to . . . You
bus too, of course, but you can't get a season ticket on .
can go by . . . . . bus.
 help. We must concern ourselves houses
22 . . . dead no longer need . . . with. . . living. We must build . . .and
. . . schools and . . . playgrounds.
23 I'd like to see . . . Mr Smith please. ~
Do you mean . .
. Mr Smith who works in . . . box office or . . . other Mr Smith?
24 Did you come by. . . air? ~
No, I came Queen Elizabeth
by . . . sea. I had a lovely voyage on . . . II.
Irish aren't
25 . . . most of . . . stories that . . . people tell about . . . true.
. . . married couples with . . children often rent . .
26 . . cottages by . . .seaside for . . . summer holidays.
. . . men hire boats and go for . . coast;
. . . trips along . . . . children spend . . . day on . . . beach and . . . poor
mothers spend . . . most of . . . time doing . . . cooking and cleaning.
It's usually safe to walk on
27 . . . sand, but here, when .. . tide is coming in, . . . sand becomes dangerously
soft. . . . people have been swallowed up by it.
. . Titanic was crossing . . Atlantic she struck an iceberg which tore a huge hole in her bow.
28 When . . .. .
. passengers
captain ordered . . . crew to help . . into . . . boats.
Everywhere . . . . . forests in order to cultivate . . wood as . .
29 . man has cut down . ground, or to use . . . . fuel
or as . . . building material.
interference with . fertile
30 But . . . . . nature often brings . . . disaster. . . . tree-fellingsometimes turns . . . land
into a dustbowl.
31. . . people think that . . . lead is . . . heaviest metal, but . . . gold is heavier.
rack is only . . . light bottles must be put
32Our air hostess said, '. . . for articles. . . .heavy things such as . . . on
. . . floor.'
. . . windows are supposed to let windows of this house are so small that we have to
33in . . . light; but . . . have
. . . electric light on all .
. . time.
..
34There'11 always be a conflict between .. . old and . young.. . . young people want . . . change but . . . old
. . things to stay . .
people want . . same.
. . . power tends to corrupt and . .
35. absolute power corrupts absolutely.
You can fool some of . . time; but you cannot fool all . .
36. people all . . . time, and all . . . people some of . . . .
people all . . . time.

Articles: a/an, the

PEG 1-8
Insert a, an orthe if necessary.
 . . . small dark man . . . blue overcoat
1There was . . . knock on . . door. I opened it and found in
.
and ...
woollen cap.
2He said he was . . . employee of . . .gas company and had come to read . . . meter.
suspicion that he wasn't . truth meter readers usually wear . .
3But I had . . . speaking . . because ... .peaked
caps.
meter, which is in dark corner under
4However, I took him to . . . . ... . . stairs
meters are usually in .
(. . . . . dark corners under . . . stairs).
. torch; he said he disliked torches and always read . . meters by . . light of . .
5I asked if he had . . . . .match.
gaspipe there might be . .
6I remarked that if there was. . . leak in . . . . explosion while he was reading . . .
meter.
. fact, there was . . last house I visited; and Mr Smith, . . .
7He said, 'As . . . matter of . . . explosion in . . . owner
of . . . house, was burnt in . . . face.'
lighted match at . .
8'Mr Smith was holding . . . . time of . . . explosion.'
. possible repetition of this accident, I lent him .
9To prevent . . . . torch.
10 He switched on . reading down on
. . torch, read . . .meter and wrote . . . . . .back of . . . envelope.
. . . meter readers usually
11I said in . . . surprise that put . . .readings down in . . . book.
. . book but that it had been burnt in
12He said that he had had . . . . fire in . . . Mr Smith's house.
conclusion that he wasn't
13By this time I had come to . . . .
. . genuine meter reader; and . . . moment he left . .
. house I rang
. . . police.
14Are John and Mary . . . cousins? ~
No, they
aren't . . . cousins; they are . . . brother and . . . sister.
. . . fog was so thick that we couldn't . road. We
15see . . . side of . . followed . .. car in front of us and hoped
. . right
that we were going . way.
exact date
16I can't remember . . . 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.
17Peter thinks that this is quite . . . cheap restaurant.
18There's been . . . murder here. ~
Where's . . . body?~
There isn't . . . body. ~
Then how do you know there's been . . murder?
19Number . . . hundred and two, - . . house next door to us, is for sale.
It's quite . - .nice house with . . . big rooms. . . . back windows look out . .. park.
 on
owners are asking. But Dry and Rot are . .
20I don't know what . . . price . .. . agents. You could give them . . .
ring and make them . . . offer.
. . . postman's little boy says that he'd rather be . .
21. dentist than . . . doctor, because . . .dentists don't get
called out at .
. . night.
air hostess (there was only one on the plane)was handing me . plane
22Just as . . . . .cup of . . . coffee . . . gave
. . . lurch and . . . coffee went all over . . person on . . . other side of . . . gangway.
collision between . . . cyclist
23There was . . . . . car and . at . . . crossroads near . . . my house early in . . .
. . cyclist was taken to . concussion. .
morning. . . . hospital with . . . . . driver of . . . car was treated for . . .
. . . witnesses say that . car was going at
shock . . .. . . seventy miles . hour.
..

24Professor Jones, . . . man who discovered . . . new drug that everyone is talking about, refused to give . . .
press conference.
25Peter Piper, . . . student in . . . professor's college, asked him why he refused to talk
to . . . press.
Smiths today, aren't we? Shall we
26We're going to . .. tea with . . . take . . . car? ~
car if you wash . . car first. We can't go to . .
We can go by . . . . . Mrs Smith's in . . .
..
car all covered with . mud.
south and spent . next two years doing .
27He got . . . job in . . . . . . work he really enjoyed.
28It is . . . pleasure to do . . . business with such . . . efficient organization.
news, and we began to lose
29. . . day after . . . day passed without . . . ... hope.
. Englishman, . . . Irishman and .
30Would you like to hear . . . story about . . . Scotsman? ~
stories about Englishmen, . . . Irishmen and . . Scotsmen
No. I've heard . . . . .. . before
and they are all . . . same.
31But 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.
ground floor of . .
32My aunt lived on . . . . old house on . . .River Thames. She was very much afraid of . . .
burglars and always locked up house very carefully before she went . bed. She also took
. .. to . .. ..
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.
One morning she rang her daughter in . . . last night,' she
34. . triumph. 1 found . . . burglar under . . . bed . said,
 young
'and he was quite . . . man.'
. pound. These are forty pence . .
35. . . apples are sold by . . . pound.
windy morning but they hired . . coast. In . . - afternoon . .
36It was . . . . boat and went for . . .sail along . . . .
soon found themselves in . .
wind increased and they . difficulties.