Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close
    Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close
    Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close
    Ebook200 pages1 hour

    Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close

    By Mark Lester

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Learn to master the useful but tricky skill of how to choose the right article or determiner

    As a non-native speaker of English, you may have trouble with determiners because, unlike true adjectives, the choice of which article, demonstrative, or quantifier to use is dependent on both the meaning and the grammatical form of the particular noun they modify. Practice Makes Perfect: English Articles and Determiners Up Close helps you untangle this grammar puzzle with clear explanations of how they should be treated and used. And of course you will get hundreds of exercise opportunities to practice, practice, practice your new skills.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMcGraw-Hill Education
    Release dateAug 2, 2013
    ISBN9780071753555
    Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close

    Read more from Mark Lester

    Related to Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close

    Related ebooks

    ESL For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Editing For Grammar

      Mar 20, 2019

      Although most writers and editors have received extensive training in written English, we still make mistakes—all the time. The Careful Writer, Words into Type, The Elements of Style and other sources offer voluminous instruction and examples for wr

      9 min read

    • Article

      That Which I Know

      Jun 9, 2019

      That Which I Know
      2 min read

    • Article

      All About Summaries

      Oct 27, 2023

      All About Summaries
      3 min read

    • Article

      Putting Your Words In Order

      Jun 3, 2021

      Putting Your Words In Order
      5 min read

    • Article

      Notes From The Margins

      Oct 30, 2019

      Welcome to Notes From the Margins, WD’s new column about the traditional book publishing business. In this column, we’ll consider the ins and outs of how books are made and what book editors really do all day. We’ll cover topics such as comp titles,

      4 min read

    • Article

      Artificial Intelligence?

      Apr 1, 2021

      Igrew up in the 1970s and 80s, when grammar was not the primary focus of English language lessons. It’s meant I’ve spent the past thirty years catching up, and I’m still learning today. For years, Microsoft Word has littered our screens with red and

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Professionals

      May 6, 2021

      The Professionals
      5 min read

    • Article

      Magnus’ Marketing Minute

      Aug 1, 2022

      Michael Magnus is an advertising professional who supports the growth of the leather industry through his marketing agency, Magnus Opus. Among his client partnerships are Silver Creek Leather Co., manufacturers of Realeather® Crafts and Lace, and Jim

      5 min read

    • Article

      Reminder: All Clips With Offensive Language Must Be Vetted

      Aug 28, 2018

      There are no exceptions. If a piece being prepared for broadcast has an offensive word or phrase, or involves excretory or sexual issues, care and consultation are required.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Edit Like a Surgeon

      Dec 21, 2021

      Most writers know the importance of self-editing their work before submitting it to an editor or publisher. However, even established writers sometimes struggle to understand exactly what the editing process should entail, and how to know when they’r

      6 min read

    • Article

      Work And Play

      Nov 4, 2021

      Work And Play
      3 min read

    • Article

      Comprehension Tests

      Jan 6, 2023

      Comprehension Tests
      4 min read

    • Article

      Notes From The Margins

      Aug 31, 2020

      Here’s my confession: Every morning when I open my email, I feel guilty. At the end of the day, when I close my email and turn off my computer, I feel guilty then, too. No matter how hard I try, I feel like I can never answer emails as quickly as I w

      4 min read

    • Article

      10 Best Language Learning Apps For Exploring The World From Home

      Mar 3, 2021

      During the first lockdown, language apps surged in popularity as users looked for new ways to fill their days. But learning a language does more than just kill time, it’s also a great way to explore the world from home, train your brain and open up n

      9 min read

    • Article

      Cryptic Classroom #5: Homophones

      Dec 9, 2021

      Cryptic Classroom #5: Homophones
      3 min read

    • Article

      Estate Planning: 3 Tips to Get Your Family Talking More Effectively

      Oct 23, 2018

      Picture this. You've decided to tell your kids about your estate plan. This is a big step for you and your family. You want to be more transparent, you want to share more information, and you want the kids to be thrilled that they are being brought i

      3 min read

    • Article

      9 Essential Practices to Make College Pay Off

      Nov 4, 2019

      Many parents and students wading through college applications this fall are experiencing sticker shock. Couple that with 44 million Americans owing $1.5 trillion in student loan debt and anyone can see why there are growing concerns about the cost an

      4 min read

    • Article

      Duolingo vs. Babbel

      May 17, 2021

      Duolingo vs. Babbel
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close - Mark Lester

      Also by Mark Lester

      Practice Makes Perfect: English Verb Tenses Up Close

      Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners

      The Big Book of English Verbs

      McGraw-Hill’s Essential ESL Grammar

      McGraw-Hill’s Essential English Irregular Verbs

      English Grammar Drills

      The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage (with Larry Beason)

      Copyright © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

      ISBN: 978-0-07-175355-5

      MHID:       0-07-175355-9

      The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-175206-0, MHID: 0-07-175206-4.

      E-book conversion by Codemantra

      Version 2.0

      All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps.

      McGraw-Hill Education eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representative please visit the Contact Us page at www.mhprofessional.com.

      McGraw-Hill Education, the McGraw-Hill Education logo, Practice Makes Perfect, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill Education and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. McGraw-Hill Education is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

      Interior design by Village Typographers, Inc.

      TERMS OF USE

      This is a copyrighted work and McGraw-Hill Education and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill Education’s prior consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms.

      THE WORK IS PROVIDED AS IS. McGRAW-HILL EDUCATION AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill Education and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill Education nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill Education has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill Education and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise.

      To obtain PDFs for exercises from the printed version of this eBook, please click here.

      Contents

      Preface

      I ARTICLES

      1 An introduction to articles

      Four types of articles

      Categories of nouns

      Singular count nouns, plural count nouns, and noncount nouns

      Distinguishing between count and noncount nouns

      2 The definite article the

      The pronunciation of the

      The meaning and use of the

      3 The singular indefinite article a/an

      A versus an

      The meaning and use of the singular indefinite article a/an

      A summary of indefinite article uses

      4 The indefinite article some

      Idiomatic uses of the indefinite article some

      The meaning and use of some

      The some/any question rule

      The some/any negative statement rule

      Other some/any rules

      5 The zero article

      Zero article, definite articles, and indefinite articles

      Present-tense forms

      Adverbs of frequency

      6 Summary of article usage

      The definite article the

      The singular indefinite article a/an

      The indefinite article some

      II DETERMINERS

      7 An introduction to determiners

      Comparative and superlative forms

      Ability to function as pronouns

      Word order

      8 Definite determiners

      Demonstrative determiners

      Possessive determiners

      9 Quantifiers

      A few / few; a little / little

      A lot of

      All / all (of) the

      Many / much

      Review of quantifiers

      Answer key

      Preface

      This book focuses on the meaning and use of a large and important class of pre-adjective noun modifiers: articles and determiners. This book is unique in that it deals only with this one special group of noun modifiers. Consequently, it is able to provide a much greater in-depth treatment than would be possible in a more conventional grammar book that also covers a hundred other topics. While many of the topics and issues covered will be familiar to you, the depth and detail of the coverage will address many issues that will be totally new to you.

      This book is intended for advanced English learners. It assumes that you are comfortable with a college-level English vocabulary. The grammatical vocabulary, however, is quite ordinary. The terms used in this book are ones that you have been using since high school.

      The book contains a number of short exercises, all with answers provided in the Answer key. The purpose of the exercises is for you to test your own understanding of a concept or to practice a particular skill or technique. These exercises are important as a way for you to ensure that what you have studied has really been learned. It is all too easy to have a passive understanding of the material without realizing that you are dependent on the support provided by the instruction material.

      This book has two goals, one obvious and one not so obvious. The first and most obvious goal is to help you use articles and determiners correctly. Articles and determiners are some of the most difficult words for nonnative speakers to use correctly. Since they are also some of the most frequently used words in English, the opportunity for nonnative speakers to make mistakes with them is nearly unlimited.

      A substantial portion of the text is devoted to a second goal: helping you understand the sometimes quite subtle implications in the way native speakers use articles and determiners, especially in informal, conversational settings. Accordingly, much of the book deals with issues of usage—exploring the consequences of different stylistic choices in the ways we use articles and determiners.

      There are two main components. Part I deals with each category of article in turn. Historically, grammar books recognized only two articles: the indefinite article a/an and the definite article the. However, we will add two additional articles: some/any Onions give me indigestion.)

      Part II deals with determiners, which are a large and heterogeneous group of pre-adjective noun modifiers that determine which noun is being talked about. There are two main types of determiners: definite determiners and quantifiers. Definite determiners serve to define or specify the noun modified by the determiners. Here are some examples of definite determiners:

      Quantifiers are determiners that specify the quantity or amount of the noun being modified. Here are some typical examples of quantifiers: all, some, much, many, few, little, and so on.

      Quantifiers account for a disproportionately large number of errors for native and nonnative speakers alike. Quantifiers are extremely sensitive to the distinction between count and noncount nouns, for example we say many problems because problems is a count noun, but much confusion because confusion is a noncount noun.

      •I•

      ARTICLES

      •1•

      An introduction to articles

      This chapter will give you the information you need to use articles correctly and to understand the often subtle ways native speakers use articles to express meaning.

      Four types of articles

      Traditionally, there are only two articles: the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1