A

~ ~ , ..
· Articles
Read this extract from a website.
a Which nouns are used with articles? j

· ;,,,..-.,b- Which nouns are used with no article? Busi ness .gov is t he official business lin k to the US Government . m
..,Seetlnlt 33 (Countability and number) .
..,.,
It is managed by the US Small Bus iness Admi nistration . It provides
an access point to government services and information to he lp lI

the natio n's bu siness es w ith t heir operations.

. /,

mThe indefinite article: a/an • when the listener or reader knows what we are talking
about. This may be something you have already
Al You can use a/an: mentioned in the conversation or text or something
• to talk about something for the first time. you both know about already.
Sam met an interesting contact at the conference. We have an outlet in Paris and one in Lyon. We've decided to
(Sam did not know this person before the conference) close the store in Paris to cut costs. (mentioned before)
• before someone's job and type of workplace (but not Where's the meeting today? (we know which meeting)
to describe their area of business). • with superlative adjectives.
My wife's a consultant. She works for a large consultancy UBS is the biggest bank in Switzerland
in Bristol. She works in marketing. (not in a marketing)
• with groups, categories and nationalities.
• to say when something is one of many I a group. the rich/the laptop (a category of computer) /the French
They're looking for a new supplier. (there are many
possible new suppliers) • with some institutions.
the UN I the World Bank
• in measurements or frequency expressions (per can
often also be used). • with some countries (e.g. with Republic, Kingdom,
We produce 3,000 units a/per day States), place names and geographical features.
the UK I the Atlantic I the Middle East I the White House
A You can only use a/an with singular countable nouns.
• with points of the compass.
I'd like some information about your courses. (not eA We're based in the north/south/east/west.
information)
• with some time expressions.
Al Use a when the word after it begins with a consonant the past I the present I at the moment
sound.
@ The is more than twice as frequent as a/an.
a business I a computer/ a retailer I a successful business
A Some written vowels have a consonant sound when
you say them.
[i No article
a uniform I a US company I a European company When we talk about plural or uncountable nouns in a
general way, we do not use an article.
A3 Use an when the word after it begins with a vowel sound.
Lawyers often work very long hours. (lawyers in general)
an opportunity I an American I an MBA (pronounced em) The lawyers we use are very expensive. (specific lawyers)
A Sometimes the first written consonant is silent. We do not use an article for:
an hour I an honest woman • most company names.
He works for BP/Microsoft/Sony.

11] The definite article: the • days, months, years and some festivals.
on Tuesday I in May I in 2010 I at Christmas
You can use the:
• means of transport.
• when there is only one of something. by plane/car/bus, on foot
The finance director is giving a presentation tomorrow
• some types of buildings.
He's in hospital/prison/court. (but the office)
~ A2-3 D Underline the correct words in italics.

1 All our staff wear g/an uniform - a black jacket

and grey trousers or skirt.
2 A/An government report says that we spent
$320bn doing paperwork last year.
3 You need a/an university degree to work here,
but a/an MBA would be better.

4 Can you start your presentation now? I have

a/an meeting in a/an hour and I mustn't be late.
5 I think she's a/an successful sales person
because she has such a/an honest face.

6 It's a/an Australian company, but it employs

a/an European advertising agency.

~ A,B El Complete these sentences using a, an or the.

1 Apart from saving money,.. o..n ... unexpected result of ..#1~. .. job cuts we made was that ... .#1.e...
productivity rate actually rose.
2 Staff will receive ............ big bonus this year. We will shortly announce how big ..... bonus will be.

3 Is it true that ....... .. .. . new general manager is .. ...... . .. friend of yours?

4 I'm glad to tell you that we plan to open.. . . .. branch office in Moscow and there will be ..
opportunity for some of you to transfer there. If you are interested in working in ......... . new branch, send
me .. ... ....... email.

5 .. ........ ... new packing machine that I told you about processes 3,000 units ....... .... . hour.
6 With ....... ..... record turnover of $40m, last year was ..... ..... .. most profitable in ........ ..... company's history.
7 Pete? He's retraining as .... ..... .. IT consultant. He's always wanted ...... ....... job in computers.

8 Sales in ..... ....... Italian market continue to rise, but ............ French are turning more to domestic
producers.

9 There has been ........ ..... 27% increase in people who said they had ......... ... skills to start ... .. business .
10 'Shareholders have rejected ........ ..... takeover offer; ... .. SG spokesman said.
/
-41 8,C II For each pair of sentences, write the in one gap and - (no article) in the other gap.

A: It took ages to get .. ..#1~ .... photocopier repaired .

B: I know. We're trying to cut .. ... . maintenance costs and that means delays.

2 A: Sorry I'm late. I had to finish ..... marketing report you asked for.
B: That's OK. I had loads of ............ emails to deal with.

3 A: What's.. ... ..... best time to discuss your plans for tomorrow's presentation?
B: How about. .... Tuesday at 3 o'clock?

4 A: I've just spoken to Parkers and $60 is ............ lowest price they'll give us.
B: Well, ..... ... .... prices are going up everywhere. I can't say I'm surprised .

5 A: I need .. .. help with finding our delivery schedule. Where can I find it on the system?
B: Didn't you receive ... ..... ... information I emailed you yesterday?

0 34.1 Listen and check your answers.

 ..... A-C IJ Complete this presentation using a, an, the or - (no article).

My name is Dr Francis Li and I'm 1 .. ... ii-: .... consultant psychiatrist at 2 .... ........ Brookfield Hospital in London.
Today, I'm going to be talking about how 3 ... .......... motivation affects our lives. I'm going to talk briefly about
4 ............. subject, and then I'm going to show you 5 ............ film of me playing in 6 ............ chess tournament
with 7 ............. £ 10,000 prize, where I was one of 8 ............. last four people in quite 9 ........ .... large competition.
I'll be using this experience to illustrate some of my ideas about motivation psychology.
I believe that 10 ............. motivation is 11 ............. most important factor in your success in 12 .... ........ life,
whether that means being happily married, or being 13 .. ..... big success in your career. Psychology has
ignored this feature of 14 ............. personality and focused on other things that I believe are less important. It is
often claimed that 15 ............. intelligence is 16 .. ........... main reason for being successful. I think that 17 ..
motivation has much more of 18 ... .......... effect than intelligence.

I:) Underline the correct words in italics in this business news story (- means no article).

-
ltrd~ »

I I I • - I .
!le !, ;ii~ • . ' ' . l,j1 111i!'. '.': l! ; .01!1 . j!
1 AIT.i]!! John Lewis Group is to relaunch its website on 2 a/---Wednesday, offering 3 a/the much wider
range of 4 the/- fashion and 5 an/- hqme tecA°)nology products on line. .
, • "' . 1 ,;fll 1 ''!l 1 !i ti . 1· ill , h. . '!!I , 1
Some 19,000 products will be adtled to 6 the/- 22,000 items stocked at 7 tliela moment.
'We want to shift from being 8 a/an e-commerce website to 9 the/a retail experience,' they said.
10 'A/- JohnLewis.com' ha~ grown rap!iijly.
Last year, at 11 the!-__Christmas,
12 altbe website too~!more
" > it,
cash in
13 the/a single week than 14 the/a
group's' flagship department,store
...: in
l 5 the/- Oxford Street.
16 A/The company said it was not
risking its winning formula: 'We are not
changing our model; we just want to give
our customers 17 the/a better experience
in 18 the/a future .'

Make it personal
Write a short news story about your company or a company that has been in the news recently.
As you write, check that you are using articles correctly.

llllfJI Articles
l3 Complete these sentences using the or - (no article).
1 I was very interested in what you wrote in ....#1.~... second paragraph.
2 For a fuller explanation see ............. paragraph 8 below.
3 You forgot to insert ............. page number on ............. page 42.
4 A copy of the plans for the new building can be found in ............. Appendix 2.
5 That issue is covered in ............. section D of this report.
6 There was something about the takeover in ............. business section of The New York Times.

IJ Complete this conversation using a, an, the, or - (no article).

RAJ: So, we've nearly finished our new brochure. I just have a couple of queries. On 1 .... #1~.... first page ...
LYNN: Sorry, do you mean 2 ............ page 1, or 3 ............. introduction page, which isn't numbered?
RAJ: Er... 4 ............ introduction page. In 5 ....... ...... paragraph 3 -you know, 6 ............. section about 7 ............ .
design team - it needs amending to include Max Janssen. His work was.really important on this project.
LY_NN: OK, I'll change it. Anything else?
RAJ: Yes, can you turn to 8 ....... .. .... fourth page? What do you see on 9 ............. opposite page?
LYNN: Nothing ... Oh, hang on. 10 ............. page 4 again. I'll change that too.
RAJ: Thanks. I think that's it.
11 ............. good'idea to include l2 ............ .
LYNN: Actually, I'd jµst like to mention something. Wouldn't it be
extra section of photos of team members, our factory and so on. They could go on 13 ............. last page with
14 ...... ....... part about contact details
RAJ: Good idea. 15 ............. page won't look so empty.

Make it personal
Does your language have articles or use articles in the same way as English? Look back at some of the
examples on page 172. Would these sentences use articles in the same way in your language?

,-P:'. m ..._4 w
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