Articles – Free Exercise

display incorrect answers

Exercises

Type in the correct indefinite article. Decide whether you need to use a or an.

  1. Jane would like to have (a/an)  pony.If the following word begins with a consonant sound, we use the indefinite article a.
  2. Could you give me (a/an)  example?If the following word begins with a vowel sound, we use a instead of an to make it sound better.
  3. John found (a/an)  lucky penny today.If the following word begins with a consonant sound, we use the indefinite article a.
  4. Doctors recommend at least (a/an)  hour of exercise, three times a week.If the following word begins with a vowel sound ['aʊə], we use a instead of an to make it sound better.
  5. At home, we have (a/an)  huge television.If the following word begins with a consonant sound [hju:dʒ], we use the indefinite article a.

Type in the correct article. Decide whether you need to use the or a.

  1. James always wants to have (the/a)  biggest portion.The portion is specified (the biggest portion), so we use the definite article the.
  2. Sally is looking for (the/a)  job.It’s unspecified what job she’s looking for, so we use the indefinite article a.
  3. Lisa’s maths teacher asked her if she had (the/a)  right answer to the equation.When we’re talking about one particular thing, we use the definite article the.
  4. John has two brothers. (the/a)  older one is called Harry.We’re talking about one particular brother (the older one), so we use the definite article the.
  5. On the train, there was (the/a)  man who was snoring very loudly.It was just some unspecified man, so we use the indefinite article a.

Choose the correct article.

  1. Yesterday, Katy found lost kitten.It’s an unspecified kitten, so we use the indefinite article a.
  2. Tom’s mum sent him to local supermarket to buy some milk.When we’re talking about something in particular, we use the definite article the.
  3. On his way to school today, Jim saw accident on the road.It was some unspecified accident, so we use the indefinite article. If the following word begins with a vowel sound, we use an instead of a to make it sound better.
  4. Sarah wants to go to cinema on Friday.If we’re talking about one particular thing, we use the definite article the.
  5. In order to get good mark on the English test, Marc has to do all his homework.If we’re talking about something unspecified (after all, there’s more than one possible mark he could get), we use the indefinite article a.