Upper-intermediate/advanced articles exercises
by Viv Quarry (vivquarry.com)
1. Fill the gaps with 'a', 'an',
'the' or 'X' (no article)
Frank Crawford is ______ American citizen. He is also ______ FBI agent (and has ______ ID card to prove it) whose qualifications include ______ M.A. and ______ Ph.D. - and he has ______ I.Q. of 160. Because his father was ______ M.P. in ______ England and his mother, ______ Italian, worked as ______ G.P. there, Frank often sees things from ______ European perspective. He strongly supports ______ idea of ______ united Europe. He was recently in London for ______ one-day conference on ______ organised crime, and he gave ______ speech which lasted ______ hour. (You can get ______ copy of his speech by sending ______ s.a.e. to ______ address below.) When in London he always stays at ______ hotel in ______ Holland Park, near ______ Oxford Street, where he always eats ______ onion sandwich for ______ breakfast. When Frank inherited ______ fortune from ______ uncle recently, he used it to found ______ university and buy ______ x-ray machine for ______ hospital.
Note: for help with some of the abbreviations and acronyms see Viv's abbreviations and acronyms worksheet.
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.
My aunt lived on ______ ground floor of ______ old house on ______ River Thames. She was very much afraid of ______ burglars and always locked ______ house before she went to ______ bed. She also took ______ precaution of looking under ______ bed to see if ______ burglar was hiding there.
2. Five of the following sentences
are correct, some need 'the'. Either put √ or indicate where the definite
article (the) should go.
a) Martina is learning to play violin. ______
b) Jennifer is learning to play chess. ______
c)'Is this Oxford road?' said lorry driver. ______
d) John works in a shop in Park Lane. ______
e) This book consists of quotations from great philosophers. ______
f) We reached our destination at sunset. ______
g) Terry spent summer climbing in Alps. ______
h) After they had completed their work in prison, bricklayers moved to another site. ______
i) Mr. Watt refused even to visit home his relatives wanted to put him in. ______
j) History was his favourite subject at school. ______
3. Put 'a', 'an', 'the', 'my', 'his',
'her', 'our', 'your' or 'their' in the gaps if necessary.
a) Ask ______ woman in front of you to take off ______ hat.
b) Someone threw ______ egg which struck ______ speaker on ______ shoulder.
c) He fell down ______ flight of steps and broke ______ leg.
d)You'll strain ______ eyes if you read in ______ bad light.
e) He was ______ very tall man with ______ dark hair and ______ small beard, but I couldn't see ______ eyes because he was wearing ______ dark glasses.
(adapted
from The Nelson Proficiency workbook by Susan Morris and Alan Stanton (Nelson)
and A practical English grammar exercises 1 (third edition) by A.J. Thomson and
A.V. Martinet (Oxford English).