A/an; the

A/an refers to something general.
A/an 是指一般的東西。

E.g. I bought a coat yesterday.
我昨天買了一件外套。 [但沒指哪一件]

E.g. He works in an insurance company.
他在一間保險公司工作。 [但沒指哪一間]


*An is only used before words that sound like they begin with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u).


The refers to something specific.
The 是指具體的東西。

E.g. The man is selling his car.
這個男人在賣他的車。


Exercise: a / an / the / x (for nothing)



1. ---- Tower of London is ---- popular tourist attraction.

2. Newcastle is ---- town in ---- north of ---- England.

3. ---- Princess lives in ---- palace in ---- London.

4. ---- Buckingham Palace is where ---- Queen of England officially lives.

5. She bought ---- expensive necklace at ---- Harrods.

6. They went for ---- stroll around ---- St James' Park.

7. The supermarket is in ---- Kendell Street opposite ---- Lloyds Bank.

8. ---- hotel where they held their wedding reception was called ---- Grand Hotel.

9. Anna was born in ---- Italy but she lives in ---- U.S.A. now.

10. The convict is in ---- prison on ---- outskirts of town.

11. His favourite newspaper is ---- Guardian.

12. ---- Gatwick Airport is in ---- southern England.

13. ---- Duchess of York opened ---- new hospital in ---- center of London.

14. He went on ---- expensive holiday to ---- Bahamas.

15 ---- Statue of Liberty is in ---- New York.

16 ---- National Park was opened ---- last week by ---- mayor.

17 ---- expedition to ---- South Pole needs a lot of careful planning.

18. ---- Odeon cinema is in ---- Appleton Street just past ---- library.

19. Last month I saw ---- film and then went to ---- concert. ---- film was brilliant but ---- concert was boring.

20. There are three cars parked outside: ---- Mercedes, ---- Jaguar and ---- Fiat. Mine is ---- Fiat.

21. ---- Harrods is a huge department store near ---- Kensington Gardens.

22. ---- Hilton Hotel is situated near ---- River Thames.

23. I applied for ---- job last week. ---- job involved driving ---- van around the country.

24. ---- Tate Gallery is quite far from ---- Science Museum, so you'd better take a bus.

25. ---- Sales Manager has ---- cold, so he can't come to ---- meeting this afternoon.

26. I have ---- appointment at ---- dentist's this afternoon because I've got ---- toothache.

27. We spent ---- last summer on ---- island of Crete.

28. On ---- thirty-first of December, thousands of people gather in ---- Times Square, New York, to celebrate ---- coming of ----- New Year.

29. Of all ---- countries on ---- continent of ---- North America, Phil has only visited ---- Canada.

30. ---- universities of Oxford and Cambridge are two of ---- most famous universities in ---- Europe.

31. If you want to work abroad, why don't you contact ---- agency I went to in ---- Lamb Street?

32. ---- capital city of Spain, Madrid, is to ---- north of Seville.

33. ---- holiday I took in Rome was ---- best I've ever had.

34. ---- Detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, ---- Doctor Watson, solved ---- lot of mysteries.

35. I would love to spend ---- summer cruising in ---- Caribbean.

36. Mrs. Hamilton holds ---- flower arranging class in ---- Cathedral on Wednesday evenings.

37. The highest mountain in ---- world, ---- Mount Everest, is in ---- Himalayas.

38. There is ---- wonderful 1920's style restaurant-cafe in ---- Glasgow which has some of ---- most charming and helpful waiters I've ever seen.

39. ---- Balearic Islands lie to ---- south of Spain.

40. Julia is ---- extremely patient girl-she will have no problem in her career as ---- nanny.

41. Stephen has ---- seminar on Saturday morning, so we are not able to go to ---- ski-slopes until Sunday.

42. On Sunday we decided to go to ---- beach by ---- train, but by the time we got to ---- station ---- weather looked so threatening that we went to ---- cinema instead.

43. Sam lives in ---- little flat in ---- middle of the city. There is ---- pub nearby and ---- noise keeps him awake at night.