Search results for 'tag:Universities tag:Indefinite articles' matching tags 'Universities' and 'Indefinite articles'

Looking for some tips and/or curriculum suggestions

mikesusangray — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:50:11 GMT

Hi all!

I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little stronger. His mother tongue is French but he's been teaching at a German language university for many years.

I'd like to add some more specific inputs to our lessons but I can't seem to find the right material. His passive skills are excellent - he reads widely and with perfect comprehension in his field - and he can communicate quite understandably. He is a linguistics specialist and can grasp any concept about the language immediately. I brought along Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use and he could plow through a chapter in five minutes with perfect conceptual comprehension.

However, he also continues to make very simple errors - for example, he has trouble choosing between present simple and continuous or often uses the present tense for past events. Sentence order tends to get wander hither and yon while definite and indefinite articles come and go with the tide. (Prepositions are a problem too, but I won't beat him to hard there - prepositions are difficult in any new language.) In many cases his mistakes are typical of French or German speech patterns.

One other limitation is that he enjoys the weekly lessons (a good hour), but doesn't have much time to study in between.

Right now we spend about 15 minutes reading a chapter from Advanced Grammar in Use and about 45 minutes talking about just about anything under the sun, while I take notes and show him problems under the categories Pronunciation/Articles & Prespositions/Word Order/Other Grammar/Vocabulary/Idioms. However, I don't think the work book is a good choice - particularly since he doesn't do the homework - and it seems like he isn't making very good progress with his typical problem patterns - though he greets them like old friends when I point them out.

Any tips here?

Re: Correct Sentence Structure

Beauty — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:57:25 GMT

Thanks for your input!

I still have a dilemma. Look at the following article which comes from Purdue University's on line writing lab.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslart.html

Note also that in English, the indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a profession, nation, or religion.

I am a teacher.
Brian is an Irishman.
Seiko is a practicing Buddhist.

Over eight years of experience with a Fortune 500 brokerage firm, primarily as a Senior Support Representative, advancing to a Business Systems Analyst and subsequently to a Communications Analyst.

Does it make a difference whether the indefinite article is used to indicate membership in a profession as well as with specific professional titles?

Please advise!

Re: Indefinite article with Hispanic?

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:33:33 GMT

Just passing by, pardon me for sticking my nose in, but...

We say 'a history' but 'an historical'.

Some people do. I'm not sure when it became trendy but I wish people would cut it out. I find it painful to hear. "An historical whatever" or "an hallucination" is only correct if you're an 18th century Briton or a moden Cockney and drop your aitches ("It's an 'istorical occcasion, guvnor!").

"In modern written English, we use a before a word beginning with a consonant sound, however it may be spelled (a frog, a university, a euphemism). We use an before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an orange, an hour)." -- The American HeritageÂ® Book of English Usage (1996).

"An historical" and a few other exceptions are acceptable in formal writing for historical reasons, but they are holdover varients based on obsolete pronunciations, not to be encouraged.

So: "a Hispanic person" would be the preferred usage, just like "a hissing noise".

-Tom Swiss / tms at infamous dot net

Re: Use of a or an

X11 — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:48:43 GMT

Guest wrote:
Use "a" if the next word begins with a consonant, and "an" if the next word begins with a vowel. A tiger, an angel, a book, etc. A historical character.

This is not completely correct.

The indefinite article a is used when the following word starts with a consonant sound

The indefinite article an is used when the following word starts with a wovel sound

Take for instance - university - which is called a university due to the start of the noun uni(juni)versity

Regards Jay

Re: Uncountable noun that is preceded by the "a"

Mister Micawber — Sun, 29 May 2005 12:43:53 GMT

The short answer, VC, is that they don't necessarily become countable-- it is often the speaker's option/conception that makes the choice.

1. (you have no '2')

In the countable case, can "an education" be any education such as primary school, middle school, or University?

-- not likely; more likely it is e.g. 'an adequate education'.

How big attendence did the meeting have?

-- the question would also take the article: 'how big an attendance...?' And yes, if they have an indefinite article, they are singular countable nouns.

And in your a) and b), as I said above, in many cases the speaker has the options:

high attendance or a high attendance
poor attendance or a poor attendance
great support or a great support

Some are better than others (in my estimation) but all are possible here.

Uncountable noun that is preceded by the "a"

victorycountry — Sun, 29 May 2005 11:48:03 GMT

Hi,

According to the "Longman Student Grammar" abstract nouns (such as education, kindness) can have countable and uncountable.

(e.g.)
1. What's your highest level of education? => uncountable
Although she was a girl she wanted an education => countable

In the countable case, can "an education" be any education such as primary school, middle school, or University?

According to some other contents on the indefinite article "a/an", the "a(n)" specifies types or particular instances of nouns.

(e.g)
1) a cruel kindness => what type of kindess? cruel => The "cruel" modifies the uncountable "kindness"
2) I have not seen you for a long time => How long haven't you seen him for? for a long time => "long" specifies or modifies the uncountable "time"
3) There was a poor attendence at the meeting => How big attendence did the meeting have?
"a poor attendence" => the "poor" modifies or specifies the uncountable "attendence"

In above cases, do you regard those uncountable nouns as countable nouns?

It's still a bit confusing me because of following examples.

a) Because our charity event had such high attendance, we have reached our donation goals.(One of TOEIC questions)
=> I thought it has to be "a high attendance" as in (3), it's "a poor attendance" not "poor attendance"

b) There is great support for their case.
(An article on "Liverpool" at BBC Newspaper)
=> Why it isn't "a great support" even though "support" is uncountable if above explanation is correct, isn't that have to be "a great support"?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Pls correct my translation homework

abbie1948 — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:57:21 GMT

Hi Lyn,

Here is one of my posts from a previous thread on the topic of articles. It might help.

Posted: 03-30-2005 12:26 PM

The correct use of articles is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult points of English grammar, so don't be despondant Ali; mistakes don't usually matter too much, as you will still be understood.

First, we don't usually use an article with plural or uncountable nouns. e.g. "there are lots of fish in the sea" NOT "Lots of the fish in the sea". "I love cats" NOT "I love the cats".

"The" is a definite article, as Jazz says. We use it for the following:

* to refer to something which has already been mentioned

"Ali posted a question to English Forum; THE question was about articles."

*when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not been mentioned before.

"Have you done the housework?"

* when we are speaking about a particular person or object
"The man over there is a famous film actor."

* objects which are regarded as unique
"The sun" "the moon" "the sea" "The world"

* with adjectives which refer to a whole group of people
"The English" "The Americans"

* names of geographical areas
"The Indian Ocean" "the Sahara Desert"

and finally
* with groups of years
"the seventies" "the 1800's"

a/an are indefinite articles.

We use 'a' when the word which follows begins with a consonant. (i.e. any letter whch is not a vowel),
"a book" "a film"

We also use 'a' in front of a word which begins with vowels which sound like a consonant (e.g. 'u' & 'eu' sound like 'y', so we say "a university", "a euphoric experience"

We use 'an' when the word which follows begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).

"an apple" "an exciting time"

As Jazz says, sometimes 'h' isa silent letter, i.e. we don't pronounce it, and we use 'an' in front of these words. I'm afraid these just have to be learned, but there aren't many of them. (e.g. "an hour" "an honest boy" "an hotel".)

Indefinite articles are used:

* When we talk about something for the first time.
"lets go to see a film"

* when we talk about particular groups of people (don't confuse this with the groups mentioned above)

e.g.
*jobs "a doctor"
*nationalities "an Englishwoman",
*religions " a Muslim"
*musical instruments "a piano" (but, if we are describing an action we say "he is playing THE piano", because we are speaking about one particular piano)
*names of days "I go to town on a Monday"
*with numbers "a hundred pounds" "a thousand and one uses"
*when we talk about one particular thing or person "she has a beautiful silver bracelet", " a thief stole it"

Ok - that's a fairly long explanation! Now how about some practice? Go to this site

http://a4esl.org/

Click on English grammar quizes, easy, then look at level 2 "Articles". You will find some exercises there to help you.

Re: Hello

abbie1948 — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:26:54 GMT

An excellent reply, Jazz. I hope you won't mind if I expand on it a little.

The correct use of articles is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult points of English grammar, so don't be despondant Ali; mistakes don't usually matter too much, as you will still be understood.

First, we don't usually use an article with plural or uncountable nouns. e.g. "there are lots of fish in the sea" NOT "Lots of the fish in the sea". "I love cats" NOT "I love the cats".

"The" is a definite article, as Jazz says. We use it for the following:

* to refer to something which has already been mentioned

"Ali posted a question to English Forum; THE question was about articles."

*when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not been mentioned before.

"Have you done the housework?"

* when we are speaking about a particular person or object
"The man over there is a famous film actor."

* objects which are regarded as unique
"The sun" "the moon" "the sea" "The world"

* with adjectives which refer to a whole group of people
"The English" "The Americans"

* names of geographical areas
"The Indian Ocean" "the Sahara Desert"

and finally
* with groups of years
"the seventies" "the 1800's"

a/an are indefinite articles.

We use 'a' when the word which follows begins with a consonant. (i.e. any letter whch is not a vowel),
"a book" "a film"

We also use 'a' in front of a word which begins with vowels which sound like a consonant (e.g. 'u' & 'eu' sound like 'y', so we say "a university", "a euphoric experience"

We use 'an' when the word which follows begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).

"an apple" "an exciting time"

As Jazz says, sometimes 'h' isa silent letter, i.e. we don't pronounce it, and we use 'an' in front of these words. I'm afraid these just have to be learned, but there aren't many of them. (e.g. "an hour" "an honest boy" "an hotel".)

Indefinite articles are used:

* When we talk about something for the first time.
"lets go to see a film"

* when we talk about particular groups of people (don't confuse this with the groups mentioned above)

e.g.
*jobs "a doctor"
*nationalities "an Englishwoman",
*religions " a Muslim"
*musical instruments "a piano" (but, if we are describing an action we say "he is playing THE piano", because we are speaking about one particular piano)
*names of days "I go to town on a Monday"
*with numbers "a hundred pounds" "a thousand and one uses"
*when we talk about one particular thing or person "she has a beautiful silver bracelet", " a thief stole it"

Ok - that's a fairly long explanation! Now how about some practice? Go to this site

http://a4esl.org/

Click on English grammar quizes, easy, then look at level 2 "Articles". You will find some exercises there to help you.

Re: "the" usage

matthewg — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 11:36:50 GMT

Hi Tyro,

Here are some rules that I adapted from this page: An, The" definite and indefinite articles in English - Beginning Guide to indefinite articles. There is also a great fill-in-the-gaps exercise on the page, which shoud help you get to grips with the rules.

the = definite article (a specific object that both the person speaking and the listener know)
The car over there is fast.
The food is very good, isn't it?

The first time you speak of something use "a or an", the next time you repeat that object use "the".
I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.

DO NOT use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as "The United States".
He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
They live in northern British Columbia.

Use an article with bodies of water, oceans and seas.
My country borders on the Pacific Ocean

DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about things in general
I like Russian tea.
She likes reading books.

DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about meals, places, and transport
He has breakfast at home.
I go to university.
He comes to work by taxi.

Re: I am or I an

learner — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 16:56:32 GMT

Hi FishWish

The grammar rule for indefinite articles usage is:

We use A before a consonant-sound.
We use AN before a vowel-sound.
The difference depends on the sound of the vowels and consonants, not the spelling!

honest begins with an H, but it is not said, so "I am an honest man" is the correct answer.

university begins with U but it sounds like "Y", so it is said "a university"

hope it helps