Listening : Articles

Improve Your Score – Articles

The way the articles- a, an and the- are used in English can be quite confusing, so being able to use them correctly In your IELTS Speaking and Writing, tests will really help you improve your score; you will often have to decide whether to include the article for a fill-in answer in the Listening test. Sometimes no article is required. The best way to learn how to use articles is to see how they are used in authentic speaking and writing

: Questions

.Look back at the answers to the Listening and answer the following questions

?N1. What does a fen contain in significant amounts ?N2. During what era were the boats sunk ?N3. Who originally used some of the boats ?N4. Which side of the boats did the water enter from ?N5. Some of the boats were only as thick as what part of the body ?N6. What will be injected into the boats, in order to preserve them ?N7. What is thought to have increased considerably, just before the boats were sunk

?a. Why is there no article in the answer to question N1 ?b. Why is the article in the answer to question N2 optional ?c. Why is there no article in the answer to question N3 ?d. Which type of article is in the answer to question N4 and why is it necessary ?e. Which type of article is in the answer to question N5 and why this type f. Why is the article in the answer to question N6 linked with the adjective as being optional ?g. Why is there no article in the answer to question N7

:answers

a. Water is an uncountable noun so doesn’t have an article b. Bronze Age is a proper noun ?c. Fisherman is a plural noun being used generally to answer the question who d. This is the definite article and is used because it is referring to a specific part of the boat and is answering the question which e. This is the indefinite article. Finger is a singular uncountable noun so it needs to have a determiner (the finger, this finger, that finger etc). However as this is general it has to be ‘a’ the indefinite article. Without the article the answer would not make any sense f. wax is a uncountable noun and so doesn’t need an article. However as soon as the adjective ‘special’ is added it becomes a specific type of wax and needs an article. However because it is a general comment it is the indefinite article that is needed g. Because it is plural and plural countable nouns when talked about generally do not take articles. For example: sea levels have risen dramatically in the last five hundred years however the sea levels in the southern hemisphere have risen even faster