1. I had dinner in the house of my friend.

2. The theatres in Moscow are the best in the world.

3. Exports from Britain to the United States have fallen recently.

4. I always buy newspapers in the evening. I like to read them.

Ex. 8. (B) Use the information to complete the sentences.

Example: I started cleaning my house at 9 o'clock and finished at 12 o'clock. So it's about three hours' work.

1. I need two days to do the work.

It is _______________________________________________________________ .

2. She had a rest from two to three.

So she had_________________________________________________________ .

3. If I leave my house at 8.50 and walk to work, I get to work at 9 o'clock.

So it's only___________________________________ walk from my house to work.

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5. TESTS

i

1. Сын моей сестры хорошо учится.

2. Мне нравится квартира Марии.

3. Она много пишет сестрам Анны.

4. Вчера нас навестили дети наших друзей.

5. Комната Бесс большая и светлая.

6. Учитель вернул тетради студентов.

7. Я не помню имени сестры моего друга.

8. Друзья моего брата хорошо говорят по-немецк1

9. Это книги коллег моего сына.

10. Вам нравится новая книга этого писателя?

II

1. Где ключ от машины?

2. Мальчишки взяли велосипед почтальона.

3. Он сломал кончик (nib) пера.

4. Ручка чемодана была неудобной.

5. Дверь гаража была закрыта.

6. Мы выучили слова десятого урока вчера.

7. Поверхность дороги была скользкой.

8. Я не знаю результат вчерашнего матча.

THE ARTICLE

The article is a structural part of speech used with nouns. The use of articles depends on the type of noun, context or situation, it is sometimes influenced by the syntactic relations in which the noun occurs (see pp. 169-170).

There are two types of articles in modern English: the indefinite (a/an) and the definite article (the). The absence of articles also has its grammatical significance: it shows that the nouns are used in a general sense.

1. THE USE OF ARTICLES WITH COMMON NOUNS

1.1 THE USE OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE (A/AN)4

The indefinite article is used :

1. When the speaker presents the object (expressed by the noun) as belonging to a certain
class. In this case it has the meaning of " какой - нибудь ", " какой - то , один ", " некий ".
In the plural no article is used in this case.

□ It happened in a small town in Siberia.

□ He bought a book yesterday.

2. When a person or a thing is introduced for the first time. That shows that the reader
(listener) doesn't know what we are referring to. After this first reference we use "the".

□ I watched a car as it came up our road. The car stopped outside our house and
a man got out. The man was carrying a case in his hand. With the case, the man
looked like a salesman.

3. With a predicative noun, then we say that the object belongs to a certain class. Usually
such nouns denote a profession or characteristic.

□ He is a doctor.

□ She works as (a) chemist.

□ Miss Sharp's father was an artist.

□ Your brother is a nice man.

4. When the noun is used in a general sense and has the meaning of "every" ( любой ,
всякий , каждый ).

A drowning man catches at a straw.

A child can understand it.

5. A/an preserves its old original meaning of "one".

□ He had hardly spoken a word since we left the house. With nouns denoting time, measure, weight, frequency:

□ A week or two passed.

□ I'll be back in a minute.

It is 80 p a kilo.

□ The car makes 120 km an hour.

□ I go to the library twice a week (once a month).

But: We don't use a/an + noun and one + noun in the same way.

It is used only with countable nouns in the singular.

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a/an + noun means "anyone"

□ I'd like a coffee, please.

one + noun when we are counting

□ It was one coffee I ordered, not two.
We use a/an or one with:

a) whole numbers and fractions: a/one hundred, thousand; a/one half, quarter;

b) money: a/one pound/dollar;

c) weights, measures: a/one kilo/foot;

We use one with day, morning, evening when telling a story:

One day when I was staying at the Hilton I received a strange telephone call.

6. We use a/an in some grammatical structures:

a) It is a book. This is a picture.

b) She has a cat.

c) There is a book on the table.

d) What a clever man! What a fine building!

But: What nice weather we are having today! (Mind uncountable nouns)

e) She saw a wonderful flower.