Unit 8: Travel
Articles - a, an, the
Select a unit
- 1 Nice to meet you!
- 2 What to wear
- 3 Like this, like that
- 4 The daily grind
- 5 Christmas every day
- 6 Great achievers
- 7 The Titanic
- 8 Travel
- 9 The big wedding
- 10 Sunny's job hunt
- 11 The bucket list
- 12 Moving and migration
- 13 Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
- 14 New Year, New Project
- 15 From Handel to Hendrix
- 16 What's the weather like?
- 17 The Digital Revolution
- 18 A detective story
- 19 A place to live
- 20 The Cult of Celebrity
- 21 Welcome to your new job
- 22 Beyond the planets
- 23 Great expectations!
- 24 Eco-tourism
- 25 Moving house
- 26 It must be love
- 27 Job hunting success... and failure
- 28 Speeding into the future
- 29 Lost arts
- 30 Tales of survival
Session 2
Most of us love to talk about our holidays and travels – and in English, that means using articles. So, when and how should we use them? In this session, Emma hears some more travellers' tales as we explore the rules of the articles a, an and the.
Activity 1
Learn the language: articles
A virtual postcard
It's good to keep in touch with friends when they go abroad - but not when they're bragging about their holiday. Rob sent Emma a message from a very exciting location. Take a look - and listen out for the articles a and an.
Watch the video and complete the activity
Hello again. My friends are so lucky - they always seem to have the time and money to go on holiday to some really nice places. Rob's just put a message on Facebook...
"Hi! I'm in Sydney, Australia. Wow, what a great place this is. I've been to a concert at the famous Opera House. I went to Bondi Beach but I couldn't go in the sea because a lifeguard said he'd seen a shark. I went on an amazing trip to the Blue Mountains - it's only an hour away on the bus - and I got to stroke a koala bear. The trip's cost an arm and a leg but it's well worth it."
An arm and a leg? That sounds painful! Oh I'd love to go to Australia. How about you - where would you like to go to?
Did you notice the articles Rob used in his virtual postcard? Here is an explanation of how and when to use a and an. Have a read, and try the activity to test your understanding.
Articles 'a' and 'an': meaning and use
a or an means one person or thing.
We use a or an:
1) before singular nouns: I've been to a concert. We had a great day and we saw an elephant.
2) before the name of a job: My sister wants to be an engineer.
Articles and adjectives
Adjectives go between a or an and the noun: What a great place this is! I went on an amazing trip.
A or an?
Use a before consonant sounds: a chair, a horse, a laptop
This includes letters u or eu when they are pronounced y (/j/): a university, a euro
Use an before vowel sounds. These words usually start with a, e, i, o, u: an architect, an idea, an umbrella
Also use an with words that start with the letter h when the h is not pronounced: an hour, an honour
To do
Now check your understanding with this activity. Look at the notes if you need help.
Download
Click here to download the video (size: 15.2MB).
‘a’ and ‘an’
7 Questions
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Use ‘a’ before a noun; use ‘an’ before a noun beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or before the letter ‘h’ when the ‘h’ is silent. But use ‘a’ before the letters ‘u’ or ‘eu’ when they are pronounced ‘y' (/j/)Question 1 of 7
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Adjectives go between articles and nouns. The rules for using 'a' and 'an' before adjective-noun combinations are the same as for nouns.Question 2 of 7
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Use ‘a’ before a noun; use ‘an’ before a noun beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or before the letter ‘h’ when the ‘h’ is silent. But use ‘a’ before the letters ‘u’ or ‘eu’ when they are pronounced ‘y’ (/j/)Question 3 of 7
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Use ‘a’ before a noun; use ‘an’ before a noun beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or before the letter ‘h’ when the ‘h’ is silent. But use ‘a’ before the letters ‘u’ or ‘eu’ when they are pronounced ‘y’ (/j/)Question 4 of 7
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Adjectives go between articles and nouns. The rules for using 'a' and 'an' before adjective-noun combinations are the same as for nouns.Question 5 of 7
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Use ‘an’ before a noun beginning with the letter ‘h’ when the ‘h’ is silent.Question 6 of 7
Help
Activity
Choose the correct article to fill each gap
Hint
Use ‘an’ before a noun beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)Question 7 of 7
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Next
How was that? Easy? Well there are more rules about articles to learn on the next page. Prepare to hear more travel stories and learn about using articles with place names.
Session Vocabulary
bragging
telling everyone that something you have or did was very good, often making them feel jealouslifeguard
someone whose job is to watch over a swimming pool or part of the sea where people swim, to make sure they are safecost an arm and a leg
be very expensivevirtual postcard
a message you send over the internet to tell someone about a place that you are visiting, usually as a holiday