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time. 
 PHẦN 3: Articles: a/an, the 
Insert a, an or the if necessary. 
EXERCISE 1 
1 There was . . . knock on . . . door. I opened it and found . . . small dark man in . . . blue 
overcoat and . . . woollen cap. 
2 He said he was . . . employee of . . . gas company and had come to read . . . meter. 
3 But I had . . . suspicion that he wasn't speaking . . . truth because . . . meter readers usually 
wear . . . peaked caps. 
4 However, I took him to . . . meter, which is in . . . dark corner under . . . stairs 
 (. . . meters are usually in . . . dark corners under . . . stairs). 
5 I asked if he had . . . torch; he said he disliked torches and always read . . . meters by . . . 
light of . . . match. 
6 I remarked that if there was . . . leak in . . . gaspipe there might be . . . explosion while he 
was reading . . . meter. 
7 He said, 'As . . . matter of . . . fact, there was . . . explosion in . . . last house I visited; and 
Mr Smith, . . . owner of . . . house, was burnt in . . . face.' 
8 'Mr Smith was holding . . . lighted match at . . . time of . . . explosion.' 
9 To prevent . . . possible repetition of this accident, I lent him . . . torch. 
EXERCISE 2 
10 He switched on . . . torch, read . . . meter and wrote . . . reading down on . . . back of . . . 
envelope. 
11 I said in . . . surprise that . . . meter readers usually put . . . readings down in . . . book. 
12 He said that he had had . . . book but that it had been burnt in . . . fire in . . . Mr Smith's 
house. 
13 By this time I had come to . . . conclusion that he wasn't . . . genuine meter reader; and . . . 
moment he left . . . house I rang . . . police. 
14 Are John and Mary . . . cousins? ~No, they aren't . . . cousins; they are . . . brother and . . . 
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sister. 
15 . . . fog was so thick that we couldn't see . . . side of . . . road. We followed . . . car in front 
of us and hoped that we were going . . . right way. 
16 I can't remember . . . exact date of . . . storm, but I know it was . . . Sunday because 
everybody was at . . . church. On . . . Monday . . . post didn't come because . . . roads were 
blocked by . . . fallen trees. 
17 Peter thinks that this is quite . . . cheap restaurant. 
18 There's been . . . murder here. ~Where's . . . body?~There isn't . . . body. ~Then how do 
you know there's been . . . murder? 
19 Number . . . hundred and two, - . . house next door to us, is for sale. 
It's quite . - . nice house with . . . big rooms. . . . back windows look out on . . . park. 
20 I don't know what . . . price . . . owners are asking. But Dry and Rot are . . . agents. You 
could give them . . . ring and make them . . . offer. 
EXERCISE 3 
21 . . . postman's little boy says that he'd rather be . . . dentist than . . . doctor, because . . . 
dentists don't get called out at . . . night. 
22 Just as . . . air hostess (there was only one on the plane) was handing me . . . cup of . . . 
coffee . . . plane gave . . . lurch and . . . coffee went all over . . . person on . . . other side of 
. . . gangway. 
23 There was . . . collision between . . . car and . . . cyclist at . . . crossroads near . . . my house 
early in . . . morning. . . . cyclist was taken to . . . hospital with . . . concussion. . . . driver 
of . . . car was treated for . . . shock. . . . witnesses say that . . . car was going at . . . 
seventy miles . . . hour. 
24 Professor Jones, . . . man who discovered . . . new drug that everyone is talking about, 
refused to give . . . press conference. 
25 Peter Piper, . . . student in . . . professor's college, asked him why he refused to talk 
 to . . . press. 
26 We're going to . . . tea with . . . Smiths today, aren't we? Shall we take . . . car? ~ 
 We can go by . . . car if you wash . . . car first. We can't go to . . . Mrs Smith's in . . . 
 car all covered with . . . mud. 
27 He got . . . job in . . . south and spent . . . next two years doing . . . work he really enjoyed. 
28 It is . . . pleasure to do . . . business with such . . . efficient organization. 
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29 . . . day after . . . day passed without . . . news, and we began to lose ... hope. 
30 Would you like to hear . . . story about . . . Englishman, . . . Irishman and . . . Scotsman? ~ 
 No. I've heard . . . stories about . . . Englishmen, . . . Irishmen and . . . Scotsmen before 
 and they are all . . . same. 
EXERCISE 4 
31 But mine is not . . . typical story. In my story . . . Scotsman is generous, . . . Irishman is 
logical and . . . Englishman is romantic. ~Oh, if it's . . . fantastic story I'll listen with . . . 
pleasure. 
32 My aunt lived on . . . ground floor of . . . old house on . . . River Thames. She was very 
much afraid of . . . burglars and always locked up . . . house very carefully before she went 
to . . . bed. She also took . . . precaution of looking under . . . bed to see if . . .burglar was 
hiding there. 
33 '. . . modern burglars don't hide under . . . beds,' said her daughter. 
I'll go on looking just . . . same,' said my aunt. 
34 One morning she rang her daughter in . . . triumph. 1 found . . . burglar under . . . bed . . . 
last night,' she said, 'and he was quite . . . young man.' 
35 . . . apples are sold by . . . pound. These are forty pence . . . pound. 
36 It was . . . windy morning but they hired . . . boat and went for . . . sail along . . . coast. 
In . .  afternoon . . . wind increased and they soon found themselves in . . . difficulties. 
EXERCISE 5. Complete the story about the theft of a river barge. Put in a, an, one or 
the. 
This is a true story about (1) ................... man who chose (2) .....................worst possible time 
for his crime. It happened in London in (3) ................ summer of 1972. (4) .............. man stole 
a barge on (5)... .. River Thames (in case you don't know, (6).. barge is a river 
boat used for carrying goods). (7).................... owner of (8).. .. barge soon discovered 
that it was missing and immediately informed (9) .................... police so that they could look 
for it. Normally (10) river is quite (11).................... busy place, and it would be 
difficult to find what you were looking for. On this day, however, there was(12)..................... 
dock strike, and so there was only (13). barge on (14) ................... river. (15) 
..................... thief was quickly found and arrested. 
Keys to Practical Exercises 
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Phần 1. Articles: a/ an 
Exercise 1 (note that '-' indicates that no article is required.) 
l a, - 2 -, -, -, a 3 a, a 4 a, -; a; a, - 5 A, -, - 6 -, a, an 
7 A, -, a, a, -
, a 
8 -, -; a, - 9 A, - 10 a, a, a, an 11 -, a, a, -, a, 
-,a 
12 -, an, an, 
- 
13 a, a, a, a, 
a 
14 -, an 15 A, a, a, a, a 16 an, a, -, an, 
-, a, a 
17 a, -, a,- 18 -, a 
19 a; a, - 20 a, a; a; - 21 A; a, an; a 22 -,a, an, a 23 -,a, an 24 a,-; a 
25 a, a, a 26 a, a, - 27 an, a,-,- 28 -;- 29 a, a,-,- 30 an; a, a, -
, a, - 
31 a, a; an, a 32 a, a, a, a 33 -,a, a 34 a, a 35 a, a 36 -,a 
Phần 2. Articles: THE 
Exercise 1 (As before '-' indicates that no article is required, '(the)' 
indicates that the article is optional.) 
1 The, -, the, - 2 the, the, the 3 -, -, -, the 4 -, - 5 the, the, the, - 
6 - , -, -, the, the, 
-, the 
7 the, the, -, - 8 -, -, the 9 -, -, - 10 the, the, the 
Exercise 2 
11 - , -, the, the, 
the 
12 the, the, the, 
the, - 
13 -, -, - 14 -, -, -, - 15 -, -, the 
16 -, -, -, the 17 -, the, the, - 18 -, - 19 -, -, -, -, - 20 the, the, the 
Exercise 3 
21 the, -; -,the 22 The, -; the;-,- 23-; the, the, the 24-;-; the 25-, the,-, the 
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,- 
26-, -,-, -, the; 
The,-,the; the, 
the, the, the, -, 
the, the 
27 -, the, the; - 28 the, the; The, 
the, the, the 
29 -, -, the, the, -
,- 
30-,-,-;-,- 
Exercise 4 
31 -,-, the, - 32 The, -;-,-,the 33 -, (the), the, the, the 
34 (the), (the); -,-,-,-, the 35 -, - 36 the, the, the, the, the, the 
Phần 3.Articles: A/ AN/ THE 
Exercise 1 (Two words separated by an oblique, e.g. the/his, indicate that either is a possible 
answer. The first word is normally the preferred answer.) 
1 a, the; a, a 2 an, the, the 3 a, the,-,- 4 the, a, the,-.-.(the) 
5 a,-,the, a 6 a, a/the, an, the 7 a,-, an, the, the, the, the 
8 a, the, the 9 a, a 10 the, the, the, the, an 
Exercise 2 
11-.-.(the), a 12 a, the 13 the, a, the, the, the 
14-;-,-,- 15 The, the, the; the, the 
16 the, the, a,-: (the), the, the,- 17 a 18 a; the; a: a 
19 a, the: a, -; The, the 20-,the; the; a, an 
Exercise 3 
21 The, a, a,-,- 22 the, a, - , the, a, the, the, the, the 
23 a, a, a, the, -, the; The, -, -; The, the, -; -, the,-, an 24 the, the, a 
25 a, the, the 26-,the; the;-,the;-,a, - 27 a, the, the,- 28 a,-, an 
29-,-, -,- 30 a, an, an, a:-, -, -, -, the 
Exercise 4 
31 a; the, the, the: a, - 32 the, an, the; -, the, -: the, the, a 
33-,-; the 34-; a, the, -,a 35-, the; a 36 a, a, a, the; the, the, - 
Exercise 5 
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This is a true story about a man who chose the worst possible time for his 
crime. It happened in London in the summer of 1972. the man stole a barge on 
the River Thames (in case you don't know, a barge is a river boat used for 
carrying goods). the owner of the barge soon discovered that it was missing and 
immediately informed the police so that they could look for it. Normally the river 
is quite a busy place, and it would be difficult to find what you were looking for. On this day, 
however, there was a dock strike, and so there was only one barge on 
the river. The thief was quickly found and arrested.