Exercise 2. Explain the articles in the following sentences

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. A personal water bottle helps to save a kilo of plastic waste a month.

2. He gave me a message for you.

3. She is the laziest woman in the village.

4. The injured man does not understand Spanish. We need to find an English doctor.

5. The road past the church was quiet.

6. We returned to the empty house.

7. I live in the same old house, walk the same stairs, and sleep in the same room.

8. You’ve never bought a car before, right?

9. I don’t know how to talk to children.

10. It’s just a mile to the post office.

11. We sat round the table in the kitchen.

12. “We are a curious people,” he said to the passenger.

13. He soon bought a deserted farm eight miles away from the city.

14. He bought the deserted farm he saw when he first came to Yorkshire.

15. She put down the cup and got up.

16. When we were eating the turkey, the last guest arrived.

17. There was not a cloud in the sky.

18. She answered a soft knock at the door, and a maid came in with a tray.

19. The unemployed occupied the park for a peaceful demonstration.

20. Most of the people in the house heard the sound of a shot in the garden.

EXERCISE 3. Fill in the gaps and explain your choice.

1. Let me introduce our next guest. Janet is __ full-time teacher and ___ mother of two.

2. ___ identical twins, who share ___ same genes, are often asked to take part in research.

3. ___ couple are unable to have ___ children of their own, so they are planning to adopt __ orphan.

4. The state will inherit all of Mr. Lard’s property. No-one was able to locate even ___ distant relative of his. ___ only close relative of his passed away three years earlier.

5. Who is ___ lady downstairs? Ah, I see. She is ___ distant cousin who arrived from Belgium.

6. Do you know ___ family next door?

7. ___ cat family includes lions and tigers.

8. ___ nephews and nieces were all gathered around ____ table chattering happily over their food.

9. _____ old countess was determined to marry all of her sons to __ rich women.

10. This roller-coaster is 15 meters high. Children under 14 should be accompanied by __ parent.

11. Dad, we have news for you. You are going to become __ grandfather. I’m sure you will make ___ fantastic grandfather. Probably, ___ best grandfather in ___ world!

12. And now to criminal news. ___ elderly widow was attacked and robbed in Orchard Street this afternoon. ___ widow, Mrs. Angela Barns, contacted ___ police immediately.

13. Paul claims to be __ descendant of King Charles I.

14. Welcome to the team! Everybody here is like __ big extended family, so don’t pay attention to their jokes.

15. I learned my sense of propriety from my grandmother, ___ matriarch of the family.

16. ___ ancestor is ___ member of your family who lived a long time ago. For example, my ancestors were Cuban.

17. The two stepbrothers were completely different. William was shy; Louis was bold. Where ___ former brother agreed, __ latter one always argued.

18. Many of ___ relatives arrived for the wedding early.

19. She's ___ famous New York divorce lawyer.

20. We enjoyed visiting the family regularly. ___ mother was always hospitable, ___ father had a refreshingly dark sense of humor, and ___ children were charming.

EXERCISE 4. Explain the difference between these pairs of sentences.

1. I’ve found a key.

I’ve found the key.

2. This is a local library.

This is the local library.

3. A stout man came up and shook hands.

The stout man came up and shook hands.

4. She was sitting by the fire and reading a book.

She was sitting by the fire and reading the book.

5. The first-year could not answer the question.

The first-year could not answer a question.

6. The electrical telegraph was first commercialised in 1839 and later was improved into the telephone.