Page 56 - Viva Real English 4 : Ebook

We use the when there is no doubt about what we are talking about. The signals

that a specific thing is being talked about.
My mother called from the balcony.

(There is only one balcony in the house.)

The egg was quite big.
(It is clear which egg we are talking about.)

The chicks followed their mother.

(We know that these are the chicks that just hatched out from the peahen’s
eggs.)
In day-to-day conversation the situation or the context makes clear the reference

of the noun following the.

The keys are in the kitchen.
They are staying in the hostel.

The teacher is in a good mood today.

In these sentences the speaker and the listener know which keys, which kitchen,
which hostel and which teacher they are talking about.

C1. In the following sentences some indefi nite ar cles (a/an) are used
incorrectly. Replace them with the defi nite ar cle the.

1. Mother bought a cleaning brush from the shop. But a brush had no
handle!
2. Don’t go to a basement. There is a snake there.

3. A father thrashed the boy cruelly for breaking a jar.

4. The red light at a traffic signal asks you to stop and a green light, to go.

5. Mother said, ‘There is an orange, a bunch of grapes and a pineapple in a
fridge.’

6. There is an old shed behind a school.

C2. Write the where necessary. Write ‘zero’ 0 if no ar cle is required.

1. salesman described features of computer, but did not
mention price.

2. What will weather here be like in October?

3. time and tide wait for no man.
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