Nouns and articles MODULE Before you start 11. Read the guidebook page. Look at the highlighted grammar examples. greatest art collections. The Hermitage was builtin bout in (HBR days it wasn't an art gallery, it was a royal palace. it palace was used by the Tsars until the revolution of 1917. The building is now which contains = many different CSUBREES, tout mainly from Italy and France. Lots of ATE available from the website: wawwi-hermitagemuseum.org AISIA 01 $39¥1 For phone numbers and opening times turn to 2. Now read the sentences and choose the correct words in italics. The Highlighted grammar examples will help you. 1 Most museums encourage familys / families to visit them. > Unit 1 2 Did you visit any interesting museums in asia / Asia? > Unit 1 3 ‘The tourist office gave me lots of advice.’ ‘Really? Was it / Were they useful?” > Unit 1 4 Which kind of art / the art do you prefer — paintings or sculpture? > Unit 2 5 ‘We bought a sculpture and a painting from that gallery. A / The painting is in our living room. > Unit 2 6 It’s. a beautiful / beautiful picture. > Unit 3 7 There's a new exhibition at National Gallery / the National Gallery. > Unit 4 8 The picture was painted in sixteenth / the sixteenth century. > Unit 4 9 The best paintings are in room: / the room 18. > Unit 4 10 In those / these days the royal family lived in the palace > Unit § 3 Check your answers below. Then go to the unit for more information and practice. asoun OL woos 6 WuadixIs ayy g Aia[IeD feUOHEN aI Injpneaqe 9 auL S ue F USeM E PISV Z some T1 Nouns “Tourists enjoy shopping at the British Museum. There are lots of postcards and books for sale. 1 Types of noun Nouns are the words we use for « people, things and places: a tourist, a postcard, a museum «¢ activities, ideas and feelings: shopping, information, love When nouns are names of people, places, dates, events, languages, religions and books, plays or films, they begin with a capital letter: Professor Grey, the British Museum, Glasgow, Africa, Monday, April, May Day, Russian, Spanish, Islam, “The Lord of the Rings’, ‘War and Peace’, ‘Avatar’ ‘Compound nouns, e.g. bookshop, washing machine > Unit 98.1 2. Singular and plural nouns ‘Most nouns have a singular and plural form. To make plural forms ¢ add -s to most nouns: books, postcards, days, houses @ add -es to nouns ending in ~s, $5, -si, ch, -0, -x anid -2: buses, dishes, watches, potatoes, boxes (BUT videos, pianos) ‘» for nouns ending in consonant + -y: country — countries for most nouns ending in -for -fe: life + lives thief — thieves Spelling rules > page 350 ‘A few plural forms are irregular, and some nouns do not change: SINGULAR man woman child person foot tooth PLURAL men women children people feet _ teeth SINGULAR ANU FLURAL aircraft series fish sheep ®D Pronunci 3 Noun +verb Some nouns end in -s but are singular, so we use a singular verb: athletics economics gymnastics politics maths physics news ‘Athletics is an Olympic sport. Today's news isn’t very exciting. ‘Some nouns describe things with two parts, so they are plural: jeans pants pyjamas shorts tights trousers glasses scissors ‘These jeans are too tight. My glasses are broken. ‘To talk about one or more of these things we can use pair(s) of: I need a pair of trousers and three pairs of shorts. jion > 1.02Some nouns (e.g. company, family, government, team) describe groups of people, We use a singular OR plural verb when we are talking about the people in the group: ‘The Spanish team is/are playing brilliantly. (all the Spanish players) But we only use the singular verb when we are talking about the group as one thing: XA football tean-have-eleven-players. J A football team has eleven players. British and American English > page 352 A The group noun police is ALWAYS plural: x The police-has-arrested the-thieves. / The police have arrested the thieves. 4 Countable and uncountable nouns Countable nouns are things we can count: How many museums are there in Paris? There are 10,000 paintings in the Louvre. Uncountable nouns are things we can’t count. food and drink: bread, butter, meat, tea, coffee, milk, oil, pasta, salt, rice materials: water, oil, air, oxygen, metal, cotton, wood, plastic, paper school subjects and languages: geography, art, music, English, Spanish ideas and feelings: education, work, advice, beauty, love, knowledge, fun activities: shopping, cycling, swimming ‘groups of similar things: furniture, luggage, money have a singular and a plural form: don’t normally have a plural form: eeeee ‘one shop ~ two shops petrol X twe-petrols / some petrol We use a singular or plural verb: ‘We only use a singular verb: That painting is beautiful ‘Swimming is a popular sport Those paintings were expensive, That petrol was expensive. We use a/an, the or this/that before a We don’t use a/an before an uncountable singular noun: ‘noun. We can use some or thisithat: 's there @ museum here? X Thistable is made of aplastic: Where's the museum? This table is made of plastic. This museum is enormous! K€anyorgve me erredvice? We use words like some, the, these/those ¥ Can you give me some advice? before a plural noun: This rice isn't cooked! I'd like some apples, please. Those books look interesting. 5 Nouns that can be countable or uncountable We keep six chickens in our garden. (animals) A coffee and two teas, please. (cups of tea) id you get a paper today? (a newspaper) Those were easy exercises. (tasks) 1 had some interesting experiences on holiday. {things that happened to me) The gallery has two works by Goya. (paintings) 6 Ways of counting uncountable nouns Do you like chicken and rice? (food) ‘Sam prefers lemon tea. (drink) Iineed some writing paper. (material) Do you do much exercise? (physical activity) Experience is more important than qualifications. (earning by doing something) ‘My work is really interesting. (job) We use different expressions to ‘count’ some uncountable nouns. © units: a bar of soap, a bit of information/fun, an item of news, a loaf of bread, a piece of furniture/luggage/paper, a sheet of paper, a slice of bread/cake/meat © containers: a bottle of water, a can/tin of soup, a carton of milk, a cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice, a jar of jam, a packet of sugar, a tub of butter/margarine, a tube of toothpaste © measurements: half a kilo of meat, a litre of petrol, two metres of silk1 nouns Practice 1 Find twelve more capital letters missing from the invitation. | ——_— eae 8 ‘You are invited to a reception at the fritish museum at 7.30 p.m. on friday, 20° april, ‘There will be a talk by profesor ernest brand, author of ‘tribal Art’, to introduce our new exhibition of art from new guinea, ‘Drinks will be served. ‘Please reply to Ms helena summers on 02243 77689 before 28 march. 2. Write the plural form of the nouns. car child eountey family house life loaf person potato series sheep watch +s +25 ties ves nochange | irregular countries Listen and check. © I can’t read his writing. I think I need new glass 1 How often do you brush your tooth / teeth ? 2 I think physics is / are the most difficult subject at college. 3 How many alrcrafts / aircraft does British Airways own? 4 Was / Were the news interesting yesterday? 5 The police is / are trying to find the missing girl. 6 There are three women / womans and two men in the new medical team. 7 like your new jeans. Was it / Were they expensive? 8 Do you have a pair of / a scissors in your kitchen? 9 Some farms in New Zealand have a million sheep / sheeps. (0 Our neighbours have six childs / children. 4 match sentences 1 and 2 with A and B in each pair. 0 1 I'd like some ees And could I have two coffees, please? I'd like a tea. Could I have two packets of sugar, too? Can you get me some paper? Twant to write a letter. Can you get me a paper? I want something to read. Do you have any chicken? ‘There isn’t any on the menu. Do you have any chickens? 1 2 11 2 1 2 Or do you have only cows on your farm? 3 1 You should try a skiing holiday. 2 1 2 1 2 2 It will give you lots of experience. You should take that job. You will have a great experience. Ineed to do some exercise. I want to improve my grammar. I need to do some exercises. I want to get fit. I don’t have a lot of work today. I'm not busy. I don’t have many of his works. I'm not very keen on his books. SP E> eres aeas‘Underground. My)... hea 50 it reed t take ta Te hotels OK. The fu (2).......... @ bit cheap, it's all made of (3) ..........; but the room is clean. You know | love history and (4) ........... Well, yesterday | went to the British Museum — it was amazing! | loved the Egyptian stone statues. They are huge and the stone (5).......... @ beautiful red colour. The museum is fantastic! There's no charge to get in, so you don’t need to spend a lot of (6)... ‘There's a nice café there and | had some coffee and two (7) Now | need (8) .......... from you about my camera A Flight B Some flight (C)The flight ‘A luggages weren’t B luggage wasn’t C luggage weren't Ais B are C were A plastic B aplastic C the plastic A an archaeology B archaeology C the archaeology A are B were C is A money B moneys C the money A sandwichs B sandwichies C sandwiches A anadvice B some advice C advices eI KARE RHO 6 Complete the descriptions with the words from the box. abar abottle acan eearten ajar apacket apiece aslice a tub 0 .a.cacton..... of milk seosesses OF SOUP. canna! Water 3) of soap ose OF jam .. of furniture 6 of meat z of butter 8 conn OF rice1° aoran? the /a/ or the fix? ‘A, an and the are articles. We use a before consonant sounds (b, d, k, t, 5, etc.): 4 café, a tourist, a museum © AND before 1 or eu when they sound like /j/ (as in you): @ uniform, a European city We use an before vowel sounds (a, ¢, i, 0, ): an interesting book, an unusual job « AND before words that begin with a silent it: an hour /an ava! ‘We pronounce the with /a/ before consonant sounds: the book, the tourist Before vowel sounds we pronounce the with /is/: the art gallery, the English teacher Pronunciation > 1.03, General or particular meaning? We use a/an or no article when we are talking about things in general: Is there a café here? Sandwiches aren't expensive. I don’t like music. {any kind of café) (sandwiches in general, all sandwiches) (music in general, all music) We use the to talk about something particular: “the + SINGULAR NOUN the + PLURALNOUN: : ‘the + UNCOUNTABLE NOUN Yes, the cafés on the Did you get the sandwiches? I don’t like the music on that CD. ‘ground floor (there is (we know which sandwiches) {only the music on the CD, not ‘only one café here) music in general) & We don’t use the when we are talking about things in general: A is-there-the-cash-machine-nearhere2 Is there a cash machine near here? XE profer-the-films-to-the-books / I prefer films to books. 3 New information or known information? We use a/an or no article when we mention something for the first time. We use the when we mention it again: I've just bought a new suit. It’s the grey suit we saw in the shop window last week. ‘Carla asked her teacher for advice.’ Really? Was the advice useful?” ‘Have they filled in entry forms?’ ‘Yes, I've got the forms here.’ We use the when the listener knows which particular person or thing the speaker is talking about: It was a great holiday. Have you seen the photos yet? (the photos of the holiday)Practice 1 Complete the sentences with a or an. Listen and check. 0 My teacher went to .#..... American university. It’s quite 4....... famous one, I think. 1 Excuse me, Dr Taylor. There's urgent message for you. It’s from patient. 2 Ihere’s bus stop on the corner. But you'll have to wait hour tor the next bus, 3 She's got young son. He has unusual name, 4 My parents have elderly friend who owns small cottage by the sea. 5 Detectives don’t wear uniform, But they always carry badge. 6 We can find you... European holiday at excellent price, 2 Complete the notices with a, an, the or - (no article). a £ i. We REGRET THAT Please do not smoke accept | OFFICE IS in the... credit cards. | ae 160TH: foritems | ioe ae under £10. | Please note Visitors may park e Fane CF ak at the back of the hotel. ‘the cupboard. 3 Find nine more mistakes in the conversation and correct them. Listen and check. jenny Hello, Karl. How are the things? Have you found J job yet? xan. Hi, Jenny. Yes, Ihave. jenny Great! Is a job near here? kari Yes. It’s at a hotel in a city centre. jevny That's very convenient. Which hotel is it? kan It’s hotel opposite bus station: The Regent. senny Oh, yes. I know it. By the way, how is Maria? Kak She's OK now, but she’s been quite sick. She had operation last month, sexy Oh dear. Was an operation serious? kart No, don't worry ~ nothing serious. She's better now. sevwy_ I'm glad to hear it - the health is so important, isn’t it? kan Yes. It was shock when she became ill. n imagine. Has she got the good doctor? kant. Yes. The doctor's very helpful senny IMichelle a student at art school. She's in the museum copying a bea Jobs and descriptions ‘We use a/an with the names of jobs: Michelle's a student. I want to be an engineer. ‘We also use a/an to describe a person or thing, usually with an adjective: She's copying a beautiful painting. He's a nice person. That was an interesting exhibition. Institutions: purpose or building? institution schoo! college university prison hospital When we think of the purpose of these institutions we don’t use the. But when we think of the building, we use the or a/an. Michelle is a student at art school, _The art school is in North Street. My brother's sick in hospital. Excuse me, where's the hospital? The murderer was sent to prison. _The prison has stone wails, The media We use the with the names of most newspapers, but most magazines have no article: newspapers the Daily News the Sun the New York Times most magazines Vogue Newsweek Time Hello ‘Did you see her photo in Vogue?’ ‘No, it was in the Sun.’ We say the cinema, the theatre and the radio. We don't normally use the with television or TV when we are talking about the programmes: In the mornings I like listening to the radio but in the evenings I prefer watching TV. But we use a or the if we are talking about the machine: There's something wrong with the television in my bedroom. the + adjective for groups and nationalities the young the old the elderly the rich the poor the sick the homeless the disabled the unemployed the blind the deaf the injured the dead Some adjectives can be used as nouns if they describe a particular group, e.g. all the people who are rich = the rich, We use a plural verb: The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We can use nationality adjectives that end in -chy-sh/-ese in the same way, e.g. French, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese (> Unit 95.2): The French have elected a new president. (all the French people) The Irish are voting on the new European Union tomorrow. (all the Irish people) We can’t use other nationality words in this way: X Phe Brazilian are-used-to-hot-weather, J Brazilians are used to hot weather.Practice (GEMINI There are ten more places in the letter where a or an is missing. Write a or an in the correct places. (ENE Listen and check. T come from felose Family. U’ve got buso sisters and a brokher. Emily's the eldest sister, She's dentist and she’s lovely person. Covokine is student. She's studying French ok university. She isn’e good skudent; she prefers Lo spend her Lime enjoying herself! my brother has gol interesting jobs he’s ovchibecl. He designed beautiful news house for my uncle. T live with my parents in old house in small village. Te’s gpiek place so I'm glad Ive got lots of friends on the Internet! Match the sentences 1-7 with the questions A-H. Derek's at university. A Isheon holiday? MrRogen is going to theschool > Is he studying to be a doctor? My brother is in hospital. Ishe the famous murderer? Ali visited the university. D Did he see the new physics building? James isn't at school today. E Ishe going to see the school play? He’s working at the hospital. FIs he visiting a prisoner? Derek Sutcliffe isin prison, G [shea doctor? Karl's going to the prison today. H Is he having an operation? Naunwrnre Complete the information with the or ~ (no article). (DERH Listen and check. PRINT MEDIA FACTSHEET IE) Y y fig ELLE EEG / / Y OMS SSAA SE SME * The most widely read English language newspaper in the world is USA Today. The most popular magazine is (0) ..=..... AARP Magazine. It is an American magazine for (1) .. elderly. © (2) .......... Japanese are the world’s most enthusiastic newspaper readers. Yomiuri Shimbun sells more than 14 million copies every day. © The most popular daily newspaper in Britain is (3) ........ Sun, which sells over 3 million copies. © One of the most unusual magazines is The Big Issue, which is sold by (4) homeless on the streets of London and other towns in the UK. © (5) vnc Variety is an international magazine that specialises in news about (6) cinema. © In many countries magazines that give information about (7) television are very popular. Americans buy several million copies of @) TV Guide each week.4 Article or no article? 1 Z 10 No article We don't usually use a/an or the with: people’s names and titles named shops and companies Cities, towns, states and regions most countries and continents mountains, hills and lakes most roads, streets, squares and parks named airports and stations ‘schools, universities, etc. ‘times, days and months languages, school subjects and sports means of transport and communication meals nouns + numbers David Mr Brown Professor Smith Uncle John Harrods Tesco Microsoft United Airines London Sydney Madrid Florida Tuscany Russia Japan Turkey Australia Asia Europe Africa Mount Vesuvius Box Hill Lake Placid Park Lane Oxford Street Trafalgar Square Times Square Central Park (BUT the M25. the high street) ‘Miami Airport Birmingham Bus Station Victoria Station Bradford Gratsunar Suivut Yale University at three o’clock at midday on Monday in December English Polish history basketball tennis football by train by bus by email’ by phone (BUT on foot and in person) What time is dinner? Let’s meet after lunch. (BUT a snack) Go to check-in 3A. 'm in Room 334. Look at page 98. ‘We don't use an article for: at home, at work, in bed, at school the ‘We usually use the with: names of oceans, seas, rivers, mountain ranges countries with plural names, Republic, Kingdom, etc. ‘organisations names of museums, cinemas, theatres, hotels places in a town, types of shops locations parts of a building times of the day historical periods musical instruments @ritish English) noun + of alan ‘We use a/an to mean the Atlantic Ocean the Black Sea the Seine the Nile the Himalayas. the Alps the United States the Netherlands ‘the Republic of Ireland the United Kingdom The international Monetary Fund the World Bank the Getty Museum the Odeon Cinema ‘the National Theatre the Ritz Hotel the bank the hospital the post office the station the supermarket. the chemist’s ‘on the leftiright in the middle on the coast/border in the eastinorth/southiwest the ground floor the fifth floor the exit the entrance in the morning in the afternoon in the evening (BUT at night) the nineteenth century the 19505. the Middle Ages Does she play the guitar? Can you play the violin? the House of Commons the University of London The isle of Man one with fractions and large numbers: half a kilometre, one and a half, a thousand # each for frequency (how often) and measurements: once a day, twice a month (BUT every hour), six euros a kilo, 100 kilometres an hourPractice Match the two parts of the sentences. 0 I won't be able to see you in A ayear. 1 It can be quite cold here at ss! the left. 2. The heart of a healthy adult beats 70 times C_ the afternoon. 43. We go on holiday three times D a minute. 4 The speed of light is 300 million metres E night. 5. Our house is the one on F asecond. Read the conversation and choose the correct word: Listen and check. MaNacer What's my diary like for next week? asssTANT Pretty busy. You're travelling to (0) the Manchester (Manchester)on (1) the Monday / Monday. MANAGER From (2) the Euston / Euston Station? assistant Yes. The train leaves at 8.15 in (3) the morning / morning. You have an appointment with (4) the Mr / Mr Grey at 11.30. He’s our manager for (5) the United / United Kingdom. MANAGER Where am I meeting him? assistant At (6) the Carlton / Carlton Hotel, in (7) the centre / centre of Manchester. It’s in (8) the St Peter's / St Peter's Square. He said he would wait for you near (9) the entrance / entrance of the hotel. He wants to talk to you about the contract. manaceR The one that begins in (10) the December / December ? assistant Yes, and I’ve made an appointment for you in (11) the afternoon / afternoon at (12) the bank / bank. italics. Complete the information with a, an, the or - (no article). Listen and check. Newman’s Tours lights Day 1 * When you get to (0) ....=..... Stansted Airport check in at (1) ....csene 8:45 a.m. and go to Qu. Gate 56 for (3) flight EZ1221. ur tour guide, Katrina, will be there to greet you. © Arrive at our hotel ~ all our rooms are on @ third floor with great views of 6) River lagus. * n@ afternoon we will visit (7) Gulbenkian Museum. The museum has an amazing collection of art from all periods, especially ® eighteenth century. We will take you back to your hotel at 6.00 p.m. and you will have (9) ...... hour and (10) half to relax before (11) dinner. © Later in (12)... evening you will be free to explore (33) . centre OF (14) nnn Lisbon on (15) foot. nine 7 "