Complete the sentences with a, an, the, or -.
1) There is ____ elephant in the zoo. ____ elephant is nearly ____ years old.
2) John is ____ teacher.
3) ____ millions of people speak Chinese.
4) He plays ____ piano very well, so his parents want to buy him ____ piano for his birthday.
5) ____ Sahara Desert is huge.
6) In ____ 80s ____ Jacques Cousteau became famous for his expedition.
7) ____ moon is round and it orbits ____ Earth.
8) I saw ____ octopus in the sea. ____ octopus had eight 'arms'.
9) Everyone should try to help ____ poor.
10) There is ____ article in ____ Times about ____ Alps.
11) I love ____ music, but ____ music I don't like at all is ____ jazz.
Answer (1)
To complete the sentences accurately, we need to understand when to use the articles 'a', 'an', 'the', or no article at all (represented as '-'). Here's how to complete the sentences:
There is an elephant in the zoo. The elephant is nearly - years old.
'An' is used before singular words starting with a vowel sound, and 'the' is used to refer to something specific that has been mentioned before.
John is a teacher.
'A' is used before singular words starting with a consonant sound.
- Millions of people speak Chinese.
No article is needed here because we are speaking generally about a large number of people.
He plays the piano very well, so his parents want to buy him a piano for his birthday.
'The' is used for instruments since it refers to them generally as a category, and 'a' is used for any one piano, not a specific one.
The Sahara Desert is huge.
'The' is used before names of deserts.
In the 80s - Jacques Cousteau became famous for his expedition.
'The' is used for decades, and no article is needed before a person's name when introducing it.
The moon is round and it orbits the Earth.
'The' is used for celestial bodies like the moon and Earth.
I saw an octopus in the sea. The octopus had eight 'arms'.
'An' is used for singular nouns starting with a vowel sound, and 'the' is used for specific octopuses mentioned again.
Everyone should try to help the poor.
'The' is used to talk about groups of people as a class.
There is an article in the Times about the Alps.
* 'An' is used before 'article' due to the vowel sound, and 'the' is used for proper nouns like 'Times' and 'Alps'.
I love - music, but the music I don't like at all is - jazz.
* No article is needed for music in general, but 'the' is used when specifying a particular style that is disliked.
