Articles 1 Is a shark responsible for cutting Internet access to millions of people across China? It's possible explanation for how a $1.4 billion cable linking China to the western U.S. cut. Another possibility is that a fisherman may have cut the cable by mistake. (Yahoo Business News website) A Articles • A/an is called the indefinite article, and we use it to introduce new information. The is called the definite article, and we use it when the listener knows which person or thing we are talking about 'No article' is the noun by itself, without an article. We use no article when we want to speak generally. i> Compare: / read an interesting report last week, ('report' is mentioned for the first time) Have you read the report I gave you? (the listener knows which report) Reports are sent out four times a yesr. (speaking generally) B Alan We use a/an to introduce new information. The listener does not know which person or thing we are talking about. We use a/an to refer to something for the first time. We must have a meeting next week. I have an idea I'd like to discuss. ft We use a/an to refer to one of a group of things. Can you pass me a paper dip from that box by your side? We use a/an to describe someone's job, but not areas of business. Fiona used to be a teacher, hut now she's in management training ■ We use a/an to describe something. It's an interesting idea Cairo is a very big city. This is a better product. We use a/an in expressions of measurement. Per can also be used. twice a/per month 3,000 units an/per hour We charge £100 an /per hour ■:' A/an mean 'one', so we cannot use a/an with plurals or uncountable nouns. Can you give me some information? (NOT jn information) C A or an? » We use a in front of a consonant sound, and an in front of a vowel sound, consonant sounds: a manager, a job, a university, a one-way street, a European law vowel sounds: an idea, an employee an hour, an MBA In a similar way, the is pronounced /tto/ before a consonant sound and /or./ before a vowel sound. D The # We use the tor old information. It is clear which person or thing we are talking about. Six banks are interested in buying a stake in Pern's Banco Latino. Three are North American banks, one is a major Spanish institution, another is Ecuadorean and the oilier is Peruvian. The six have been invited to study Latino's books and bid by the end of March. (Business News Americas website) We often know which one because we mentioned it before, using a/an. We must have a meeting next week. The meeting should focus on the auditors' report. I went to an interesting show last week. It was the Paris Spring Collection. ® Sometimes we know which one because it is clear from the situation, or it is shared knowledge from the lives of the speaker and listener. Where's the newspaper? (we know which one from the situation) The meeting will begin at ten, (both the speaker and listener know which meeting) Note that in this case we can use the to refer to something for the first time. ^ We use the when there is only one of something. It is clear which one we are talking about. I'll speak to the boss when he gets back. • We use the with nationaiities and other groups. / really admire the Italians for their sense of design. The government is trying to do more to help the poor. unit 37 We use fne with superlatives. This is the best quality material we have in stock. E No article ■ No article is used when we are talking generally. The first issue of the Agency Magazine features an article called 'Health and safety at work — A question of costs and benefits?', (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work website) fe PLURAL NOONS Compare: / sent the emails this morning, (we know which emails) / usually reply to emails within 24 hours, (emails in general) 6 UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS Compare: The information in this report gives us the power to target our advertising. Information is power The insurance business is doing well Business is going well at the moment. The negotiating was a lot easier fast time. Negotiating with suppliers takes a lot of time. (we know which information and power) (information and power in general) (we know which business) (business in general) (we know which negotiating) {negotiating in general) A common mistake is to use the with plural nouns and uncountable nouns used in a general way, Small companies often grow faster. (NOT The email companies) For me, football is like life. (NOT For me, the football is like the life.) We use no article for most companies, countries, states and cities. / work for HBSC in Hong Kong. Los Angeles is in California. 34 Practice Exercise 1 A B D Underline the correct words. 1 Where's a/tfie fax they sent this morning? I can't find it. 2 1 have an/lhe appoinl merit al a/the hank. 3 I had a/the vi=ry good holiday. A/The weather was marvellous. 4 I've been working so hard that I need a/the break. 5 They are a/the largest manufacturer of light bulbs in si the world. 6 A/The presentation was a/the great success. 7 Can I give you a/the lift to the station? S I think I need a/the new pair of glasses. 9 We need to reach a/the decision as soon as possible. 10 There must be an Jthe answer to si the problem. 11 Mike is an/the accountant. He works on another/the other side of town. 12 His office is a/the biggest one in a/the building. 13 Where is a/the document that we were looking at just now? 14 The Portuguese I The Portuguese people are very good negotiators. Exercise 2 A B C E Put either alan or a dash (-) to show no article. 1 .....—.....money makes the world go round. 2 Sheila drives............. French car. 3 Rita works in............insurance agency in............Lisbon. 4 ............ health is the most important tiling in ............ life, 5 This is_____....... good time for............ sales of new cars. 6 This is the number to calf for ,........... information, 7 I've got............ colleague who is............systems analyst. S ............product knowledge is very important for............sales representative. 9 I le is —......, engineer. He studied ............ engineering at university. 10 We produce ....._______ full sales report four times......._____ year. Exercise 3 A B C D E Put either a/an, the or a dash (-) to show no article. 1 The... Italians have given us lot of business. 2 ........most people thought that it was........very good product. 3 I like to drink........glass of........wine in........evening. 4 I wish I could speak........ Lnglish like........ English. 5 As soon as........ Helen gets off ........ plane, ask her to give me....... call. 6 ........smoking is not permitted in this area. 7 There's........visitor at........reception desk. 8 When I arrived at........airport, I had........drink and waited for........flight. 9 I want........action, not........words. 10 -------- person with -------- MBA usually gets......., good job. 11 I'l! get you........coffee from ,....... machine. 12 Marie comes from........ France. Exercise 4 A E C D 40 Complete this article with either a/an, the or a dash (-} to show rio article HOW CLEAN IS THEIR MONEY? 'Money laundering* is (It .r/£fr£.... navrve given to □ne of (2) .............. world's biggest financial problems, moving money thai has been obtained illegally iftto (3).............. foreign bank accounts so that (4).............. people do not know where it has ton-re from. Putting (5)..............value on money laundering is of course very difficult, but the International Monetary Fund estimate trrat it tfi huge - perhaps § 1 IriJlioo (6).....+........year, equivalent to about 4% of gross world product. {7).............. problem has grown hand-in-hand with {%)........... globalisation, and particularly with (9) *............lifting of capital controls and (10).............. development of (11).............. international payment systems. These allow money to be moved in (17,).............. seconds between banks in different parts of the world who know very little aboui each other. (.13).............. internalional payment system is crucial to (14").............. stability of the worlds financial markets, but it also provides (15).............. opportunity for criminals to hide their money Privátů banking is (3 6).............. best-known laundering channel. Clients of these banks are wealthy people who want theiT affaire handled with discretion, especially because they want to minimise (17).............. amount of (IS).............. tax they pay. In these banks (here is (19)..............culture of 'don't a&k; don't ttj]\ And (20).............. biggest problem within (21).............. private banking is offshore banks. There are around 5,000 offshore banks controlling abom $5 trillion in assets, and some have no physical presence in any location Exercise 5 A B C D E Complete this interview between a journalist and the CEO of Biotec, a biotechnology company. Use either a/an, the or a dash (-) to show no article. jouunalist: Can you begin by telling me (1) little about (2) recent changes at (3) Btorec? ceo Wdl, a? you know, last year wc made (4) -.,.,„, decision to move our operations to (5)........Cambridge, because it's very important for (6) ......biotechnology companies to recruit (7)........scientists from [8)........best universities- Er, we're in (9)......wry competitive jobs market here in Cambridge, and we motivate our employees by offering them (10) ........attractive salaries and (11) ........excellent working conditions.We've built up (12) ......excellent team, and we're doing some very important research in (13)........field of (14)......gene therapy. journalist: Many people say that (15)........biotechnology promises more than it delivers. Is that true at Biotec? ceo: That may be true in general, but (16) +....... biotechnology that we do is already producing (17) ,+........results. Last year we made (18)........small profit for (1?) first time, and (20) ......revenue is increasing rapidly. Aho, weVe recently made (21) ._...... distribution, deal with (22)........large pharmaceutical company. They have the marketing skills that we lack, and (23) ........partnership is working well for both sides. Our aim next year is to enter (24) ...... American market, and were confident of (25)......success. A Place names and no article # In general, no article is used for continents, countries, states, islands, mountains, lakes, cities, parks, roads, streets, squares, palaces, castles, cathedrals, stations and airports. Europe/Asia France/China California ILazio Crete/Madeira Mont Blanc/Mount Everest Lake Lucerne/Lake Michigan Tokyo J Budapest Central Park/Hyde Park Fifth Avenue/Church Street Trafalgar Square/Times Square Buckingham Palace Windsor Castle Milan Cathedral Grand Central Station Or/y Airport B Place names and the -:-.: Note that all the following use the: Plurals: the Alps, the Bahamas, the Netherlands Adjective + place: the Red Sea, the Middle East, the West End (But NOT if the place is the name of a country or continent. France, South-East Asia) Phrases with 'of: the Houses of Parliament, the South of Prance Political constitutions: the Irish Republic, the United Kingdom (the UK), the US Rivers and canals: the Amazon, the Loire, the Suez Canal Oceans and seas: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean Roads with numbers: the M6 (motorway), the Al Theatres and galleries: the Globe (Theatre), the Uffizi (Gallery) Hotels: the Marriott (Hotel) Famous buildings: the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the White House C Special uses of the # We use the with: International institutions: The United Nations, The World Bank, The IMF Adjectives to refer to a group: The unemployed do not receive enough help. the ... of a/the ... : the end of an era, the start of the project Some time phrases: in the past, at the moment, in the future (but at present), the 1960s (decades), the 21st century (centuries) Points of the compass: in the north/east/south/west, in the south-west Playing instruments: / play the piano/guitar. Job titles and official titles: The Marketing Director, the Prime Minister said... (But NOT title + name: Prime Minister Tony Blair said...) City Snapshots: a monthly guide for the business traveler, (asia-inc magazine website) Hypo Alpe~Adria-Bank has been highly successful in Croatia over the past Jour years. According to Dr. Wolfgang Kulterer, the Chairman of the Board, this success is due to concentrating business activities on the Alpine-Adriatic market and choosing good business partners, (cebd website) D Special uses of 'no article' # We use no article with: Company names: / work for Accenture. Years, months, days: in 2001, in July, on Thursday Special times of the year: at Christmas/Easter Some parts of the day: at night/midnight/sunset (BUT the morning, the afternoon) Means of transport (in general): by car/taxi/train/bus, on foot (BUT on the train to Rome) Meals (in general): Dinner is at 7.30. (BUT There was a dinner at the conference) n Note the use of 'preposition + no article' with certain buildings, when the purpose of the building is more important than the place itself. Compare: I spent two days in hospital. (the speaker is not interested in which one) My company supplies equipment for the hospital, (one specific hospital) Other words of this type which use 'preposition and no article' are: in/to hospital (prison/bed/class I court at /to work fschool/university I sea /home Note how we use 'home': be at home, go home (NOT go to homo) £ General and specific meanings A When we use a plural noun or an uncountable noun on its own it has a general meaning. When we put the in front it has a specific meaning. Cars are rnuch safer these days. The cars we make are built to last I don't understand spreadsheets. The spreadsheets for March and April are here. People can be difficult. The people in my office are all very friendly. I prefer fish to meat. The fish I had for lunch was superb. Money makes the world go round. Have you got the money I gave you? How's business? The clothing business is very competitive. Taxis in Singapore are abundant and reasonably priced, but. hard to find during rush hours, when is rains and between 11 pm and midnight. The taxis from the airport to the central business district cost around $12. (asia-inc magazine website) 35 Practice Exercise 1 A B C D Underline the correct words. 1 We went to Pisa/the Pisa and saw Leaning Tower/the Leaning Tower. 2 Crete/The Crete is very beautiful at this time of year. 3 My son is in hospital/the hospital and can't go to school/the school. 4 You can go from Heathrow/the Heathrow by underground'/the underground. 5 Helmut Kohl/The Helmut Kohl was Chancellor/the Chancellor who helped to reunite Germany/the Germany. 6 We flew over Alps/the Alps and saw Mont Blanc/the Mont Blanc. 7 In near future/the near future videoconferences will replace many meetings. 8 I'm tired! Thank goodness it's time to go home/to home. 9 New York/The New York is in United States/the United States. 10 I usually have lunch/the lunch at about one. 11 I used to work for Deutsche Bank/the Deutsche Bank in City of London/the City of London at start/the start of my career. 12 My son wants to go to university/the university after his exams. 13 Do you know Lake Windermere/the Lake Windermere? It's in Lake District/the Lake District, in north-west/the north-west of England/the England. 14 I bought this suit from Bond Street/the Bond Street. 15 The Government should do more to help the poor/the poor people. 16 On our trip to UK/the UK we toured around south-east/the south-east and visited Canterbury Cathedral/the Canterbury Cathedral. 17 They wouldn't pay, so we took them to court/the court. 18 John/The John is at work/the work at moment/the moment. 19 We travelled to Italy/the Italy by car/the car. 20 Danube/The Danube is the main river in Central Europe/the Central Europe. In each pair of sentences, fill in one space with the and the other space with a dash (-) to show no article 1 a) ....T..... profits are increasing across every division of the company. b) Jh^-... profits we made last year were up in comparison to the year before. 2 a) ...........information in your report will be very useful to us. b) ............ information about the Kazakh market is hard to find. 3 a) ...........visitors should sign their name in the book at reception. h} ........visitors from Germany will be arriving at ten. 4 a) This magazine article gives...........advice about which stocks to buy. b) Thank you for...........advice you gave me last week. 5 a) ...........bonds I have are all long-term investments. b) ...........bonds are a safe investment when interest rates are falling. 6 a) ...........French exports to the rest of Europe are up 4% this year. b) ........... French are world leaders in the luxury goods market. 7 a) ........... management is an art, not a science. b) ........... management are blaming the unions for the breakdown in negotiations. Exercise 3 B C D Complete the second sentence so it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. 1 Tracey is Ihe team leader Tracey i.^hUj&H&C of the team. 2 Your goods are on a ship at the moment At the moment your goods are...............,............sea. 3 The meeting has ended. This is............................ meeting. 4 Brighton is at the bottom of a map Df England. Brighton is............................ soiith of Engand. 5 Do you have the Internet at your house? Do you have the Internet............................home? 6 We waked to the station We went to............................foot. 7 We employ 250 people at the moment. We employ 250 people............................... present. 8 Daniel is sliJI in his office. Daniel is still.............._.............work. Exercise 4 A B C D E unit 31 Complete the following texts with either the or a dash (-) to show no article. Th;s exercise includes some revision of unit 31. A (1) Argentina is one of {2} — most deregulated markets in (3)world (4)...... privatisation process started in (5)...... 1990s, and has included sectors such as (6)...... telecommunications. (7>......util ties and (8)...... financial services.(9)...... Argentine telecoms market was fully deregulated in (10) ...... J^ovember 239G and there are now (11)......five million cellular lines and six million homes with (12)......cable television services. {13}......water was decentralised before being privatised. {14).....- Aguas Argentinas, (15)......local water supply company for (16)......city of Buenos Aires and all (17)...... ; . , . ^ municipalities in * -{18)......Greater / J Buenos Aires, is * i?-*^ (19)......largest . /.....TiT^^V privatised water utility ; r*^ i » in (20) _.....world. U w r :,1 A a '- %'r T Imagine a country that continues for 4,200 km 'Yam (21)......dry deserts in (22) ..... north, through (23)......industrial and agricuEtural heartland in (24)......centre, to {25)...... lakes and forestry plantations in (26)...... south, and finally to (27)......ends of (28)...... earth in (29)......Patagonia and Antarctica. Welcome to (30) ..... Chiie! It's a very diverse country, with (31)......Pacific Ocean to one side and (32)......Andes to (33)______other - you can swim-in (34).;..„ sea arid ski \ri (35) mountains all in (36)______same day There are (37) ...... business opportunities ;n many areas^ and (38)......financial services sector is (39)most sophisticated in (40)...... Latin America. ■ h 1