FREE ENGLISH ARTICLES QUIZ + VIDEO ENGLISH LESSON

When is it correct to say A, AN, THE or ZERO article in English?

Please take this free  English articles quiz with a video lesson to avoid mistakes when using English articles.

Please start now.

Now, for the Quiz Answers, please watch this Free DailyStep English Video Lesson:

Here is the video transcript:

 

Hello, I’m Jane at DailyStep English and here are the answers to today’s free quiz about English articles.

 

You can find the quiz and many others here in my blog pages. You need to write your answers like this, and it will automatically check it for you,  so correct, incorrect.

 

Question 1: The correct answer is 

 

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, wasn’t it?

Yes, it was such lovely weather I went for a picnic with my family by the sea. Beaches are the best places for picnics.

 

so the reason for these answers

It was a beautiful day – it’s a countable noun it’s in the singular and it’s the first time that we’ve mentioned it.

 

With weather, we never say 

such a lovely weather 

 

We can say

such a lovely day. 

 

Weather is uncountable and would not use an article.

 

 I went for a picnic  – again it’s a countable noun, it’s the first time we’ve mentioned it and it’s in the singular.

 

by the sea – we use that because the sea is an uncountable noun, also a whole thing that we think of like the world, or the sea, the Sun 

 

and beaches and picnics in the last sentence, are both countable plural nouns so we don’t have an article.

 

 and the best places With a superlative of an adjective the answer is best etc, we always use THE because there’s only one with focusing on that 

 

Question 2:

The correct answer

 

Where did you have dinner?

We went to a lovely cafe on the High Street.

 

Dinner:  we never say where did you have the dinner or a dinner. Breakfast and lunch are the same.

 

You can say 

I had a lovely dinner in that restaurant. 

 

So, if you put an adjective in front of dinner, breakfast or lunch you can say.

 

You can also say 

The lovely dinner we had there was the best I have ever had, for example

 

 and we went to a lovely cafe – so it’s a singular noun, countable and it’s the first time we’ve heard of it 

 

on the High Street – towns just have one High Street.

 

It’s the main street in the town in America the main street 

 

But  in fact, in America you just say

 on Main Street, you don’t say The

 

In British English, we always say the High Street 

 

Question 3.

The correct answer:

 

Did you have a nice weekend?

Yes, it was the most restful weekend I’ve had in a long time.

 

(wish that was true 🙂 )

 

So, a nice weekend – again it’s a countable noun, it’s the first time we’ve heard of it and it’s in the singular 

 

Yes it was the most restful weekend – again here it’s a superlative adjective so we would say the most restful, the best,  the worst, if it was, etc and 

 

in a long time – so a long time is a phrase actually. 

 

Time here means period of time,  so time is one of those words which can be countable or uncountable.

 

I can talk about that in another lesson.

 

This means in a long period of time 

 

OK, let’s take a look at number 4.

 

How often do you listen to the radio?

I never do. I haven’t even got a radio. To be honest, radios seem quite old-fashioned to me.

 

 so we just say the radio – it’s just a phrase.

 

We say the television although sometimes with television, we don’t say the.

 

but we don’t say 

how often do you listen to radio?  

 

So we think of the radio as a single thing, (a single idea) even though they are countable.

 

 I haven’t even got a radio.

 

So here, we means one radio or a single radio – so here we are talking about radio as a physical thing and 

 

to be honest radios . Radios here is a plural countable noun so it doesn’t have an article 

 

 

and the last answer (Question 5)

 

Do you think you would enjoy travelling in space?

Yes, I would. If I could go to the moon, it would be like a dream come true for me.

 

So the correct explanation here: 

We talk about space meaning the universe, the area above the Earth as an uncountable without an article.

 

We talk about the moon, the Sun, the stars, even very often but we don’t say the space if we’re talking about that particular space.

 

Space is one of those words that has a countable and an uncountable meaning so I will give you another lesson on those soon.

 

So, 

 

 if I could go to the moon – there’s only one moon (outside the Earth anyway), so we say the moon 

 

If we are talking about the moons of other planets, we might see we might not use THE.

 

and it would be like a dream come true to me 

 

so a dream is countable 

 

a dream come true is actually a kind of well-known phrase 

 

so if you say something is what you would really wish for, you can say

 

it would be a dream come true for me 

 

OK, so I hope you have learned something in today’s lesson and look out for more free quizzes and video lessons coming soon on DailyStep English.

 

If you are a subscriber to DailyStep I hope you are enjoying your Daily Audio Lessons.

If you’d like to sign up for a free trial, you can do so here on my website, DailyStep.com

 

If you enjoyed my Audio Blog, please share it. Thank you 🙂

How to speak English fluently and understand fast English

DailyStep English Audio Lessons are designed to help you learn to speak and understand English at the speed that we speak it.

No matter how good your English is, you need to be able to follow a fast conversation in order to participate.

DailyStep English courses are fully accredited and you can get an internationally-recognised certificate for your CV or resume.

How to Start Daily Audio Lessons

✔   Daily Audio Lessons +  Premium Audio in my Blog Library
✔   Your lessons never expire – you can take them again any time
✔   Change your level any time
✔   100% happy or your money back!