GRAMMAR PRACTICE: ARTICLES (with key)

Articles: a/an, the

Insert a, an or the if necessary.
1. There was . . . knock on . . . door. I opened it and found . . . small dark man in . . . blue
overcoat and . . . woollen cap.
2. He said he was . . . employee of . . . gas company and had come to read . . . meter.
3. But I had . . . suspicion that he wasn't speaking . . . truth because . . . meter readers usually
wear . . . peaked caps.
4. However, I took him to . . . meter, which is in . . . dark corner under . . . stairs
(. . . meters are usually in . . . dark corners under . . . stairs).
5. I asked if he had . . . torch; he said he disliked torches and always read . . . meters by . . . light
of . . . match.
6. I remarked that if there was . . . leak in . . . gaspipe there might be . . . explosion while he was
reading . . . meter.
7. He said, 'As . . . matter of . . . fact, there was . . . explosion in . . . last house I visited; and Mr
Smith, . . . owner of . . . house, was burnt in . . . face.'
8. 'Mr Smith was holding . . . lighted match at . . . time of . . . explosion.'
9. To prevent . . . possible repetition of this accident, I lent him . . . torch.
10. He switched on . . . torch, read . . . meter and wrote . . . reading down on . . . back of . . .
envelope.
11. I said in . . . surprise that . . . meter readers usually put . . . readings down in . . . book.
12. He said that he had had . . . book but that it had been burnt in . . . fire in . . . Mr Smith's
house.
13. By this time I had come to . . . conclusion that he wasn't . . . genuine meter reader; and . . .
moment he left . . . house I rang . . . police.
14. Are John and Mary . . . cousins? ~
No, they aren't . . . cousins; they are . . . brother and . . . sister.
15. . . . fog was so thick that we couldn't see . . . side of . . . road. We followed . . . car in front of
us and hoped that we were going . . . right way.
16. I can't remember . . . exact date 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.
17. Peter thinks that this is quite . . . cheap restaurant.
18. There's been . . . murder here. ~
Where's . . . body?~
There isn't . . . body. ~
Then how do you know there's been . . . murder?
19. Number . . . hundred and two, - . . house next door to us, is for sale.
It's quite . - . nice house with . . . big rooms. . . . back windows look out on . . . park.
20. I don't know what . . . price . . . owners are asking. But Dry and Rot are . . . agents. You
could give them . . . ring and make them . . . offer.
21. . . . postman's little boy says that he'd rather be . . . dentist than . . . doctor, because . . .
dentists don't get called out at . . . night.
22. Just as . . . air hostess (there was only one on the plane) was handing me . . . cup of . . . coffee
. . . plane gave . . . lurch and . . . coffee went all over . . . person on . . . other side of . . .
gangway.
23. There was . . . collision between . . . car and . . . cyclist at . . . crossroads near . . . my house
early in . . . morning. . . . cyclist was taken to . . . hospital with . . . concussion. . . . driver of . . .
car was treated for . . . shock. . . . witnesses say that . . . car was going at . . . seventy miles . . .
hour.
24. Professor Jones, . . . man who discovered . . . new drug that everyone is talking about,
refused to give . . . press conference.
25. Peter Piper, . . . student in . . . professor's college, asked him why he refused to talk
to . . . press.
26. We're going to . . . tea with . . . Smiths today, aren't we? Shall we take . . . car? ~
We can go by . . . car if you wash . . . car first. We can't go to . . . Mrs Smith's in . . .
car all covered with . . . mud.
27. He got . . . job in . . . south and spent . . . next two years doing . . . work he really enjoyed.
28. It is . . . pleasure to do . . . business with such . . . efficient organization.
29. . . . day after . . . day passed without . . . news, and we began to lose ... hope.
30. Would you like to hear . . . story about . . . Englishman, . . . Irishman and . . . Scotsman? ~
No. I've heard . . . stories about . . . Englishmen, . . . Irishmen and . . . Scotsmen before
and they are all . . . same.
31. But 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.
32. My aunt lived on . . . ground floor of . . . old house on . . . River Thames. She was very much
afraid of . . . burglars and always locked up . . . house very carefully before she went to . . . bed.
She also took . . . 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.
34. One morning she rang her daughter in . . . triumph. 1 found . . . burglar under . . . bed . . . last
night,' she said, 'and he was quite . . . young man.'
35. . . . apples are sold by . . . pound. These are forty pence . . . pound.
36. It was . . . windy morning but they hired . . . boat and went for . . . sail along . . . coast. In . . -
afternoon . . . wind increased and they soon found themselves in . . . difficulties.
KEY. (Two words separated by an oblique, e.g. the/his, indicate that either is a possible answer.
The first word is normally the preferred answer.)
1. a, the; a, a
2. an, the, the
3. a, the,-,-
4. the, a, the,-.-.(the)
5. a,-,the, a
6. a, a/the, an, the
7. a,-, an, the, the, the, the
8. a, the, the
9. a, a
10. the, the, the, the, an
11. -.-.(the), a
12. a, the,
13. the, a, the, the, the
14. -;-,-,-
15. The, the, the; the, the
16. the, the, a,-: (the), the, the,-
17. a
18. a; the; a: a
19. a, the: a, -; The, the
20. -,the; the; a, an
21. The, a, a,-,-
22. the, a, - , the, a, the, the, the, the
23. a, a, a, the, -, the; The, -, -; The, the, -; -, the,-, an
24. the, the, a
25. a, the, the
26. -,the; the;-,the;-,a, -
27. a, the, the,-
28. a,-, an
29. -,-, -,-
30. a, an, an, a:-, -, -, -, the
31. a; the, the, the: a, -
32. the, an, the; -, the, -: the, the, a
33. -,-; the
34. -; a, the, -,a
35. -, the; a
36. a, a, a, the; the, the, -