We use a and the
before nouns. Here is the
car.
Here is a car.
We use them before adjectives and nouns. Here
is the blue car.
Here is a blue car.
the
We use the if there is more than one thing. Look at the cars.
STEVE Well,
the kangaroos are just over there.
We say the car if we know something about
it: Here is the car we
saw before.
We use the for definite things. Some things
are always definite. the
Sydney Opera House the Yangtze River
We use the when there is only one of something. She is the boss.
a
We can only use a for singular things. Here is a car.
STEVE Two,
please. And a bag of food.
We use a for something that is not definite. Here’s a car I haven’t
seen before.
ANNE I
really want to hold a koala. Is there a
koala here?
We use a for one thing out of a number of
things. There’s a
red car over there. (but there are other red cars in the world)
STEVE There’s
a café just over there.
We use a when saying general things about
something. He is a man
My cat is a Siamese.
2. A & AN
We use an instead of a
before words that start with a vowel sound.
These are the short vowel sounds.
a anapple e anegg i anigloo o anostrich u anumbrella
These are the long vowel sounds. A analien E aneagle I anisland O anopal U is a consonant sound. auniversity a European
And note: anapple
But ared
apple
We pronounce a with a long vowel sound when we want
to emphasise something. This is a fantastic website.
pronouncing 'the'
We pronounce it 'thee'
with words that start with a vowel sound. a the ant A
the apricots e
the eggs E
the eagle i
the issue I
the ice-cream O
the open door o
the otters u
the ugly truth
We pronounce it 'the'
with words that start with a consonant sound. the
university the government the police the TV the show
We sometimes use the ‘thee’ pronunciation for emphasis. This is the best steak I’ve
ever had.
3. IS THERE / ARE THERE
We say are or is
before there in questions.
We use is there for asking about single things. Is there an elephant? Is there enough food?
ANNE Is
there somewhere to have lunch?
We use are there for asking about more then
one thing. Are there tigers here? Are there enough cars to take us all?
ANNE Are
there some kangaroos?
4. SEQUENCE WORDS
These are some words we use for the order in which we do things.
We start with first.
And then we can use words such as next
then
after
followed by
We finish with finally.
Here’s
how to make a sandwich. First,
get two slices of bread and spread butter on them. Then
add a piece of lettuce, followed by a slice of cheese.
After that you close the sandwich. Finally,
you eat it.
Watch Living English and get to know the characters of our drama 'Sisters and Brothers' as you learn and revise your basic English skills.
Here’s
how to make a sandwich.