Page 18 - BASIC GRAMMAR PRACTICE

Nouns, adjectives and adverbs

11 No article or definite article?
Words using no article

He doesn't like going to school.
I think she's at home now.
I usually get to work at 9.30.
Do you go to church on Sundays?
She was very tired so she went to bed early.
Did you have the baby in hospital?
Their father's in prison.
• There is usually no a or the before: school, college, university, home, work,
church, bed, hospital, prison, town.
Note: We only say a or the before these words when the building is important and not its use:
It was a beautiful church.
The school is very old now.
This is not a very comfortable bed.
Is there a prison near here?
The hospital is closing down.
Words using the

We don't very often go to the cinema.
Did you go to the disco on Saturday?
I go to the supermarket every Friday.
• We usually say the before the places we visit in a town:
the cinema, theatre, disco, opera, post office, bank; names of shops - baker's,
grocer's, supermarket, chemist, butcher's; dentist('s), doctor('s), hairdresser('s),
toilet
And we say the shopping: I do the shopping on Mondays.
• But we can sometimes use a before these words:
Did you go to the disco on Saturday? but: There's a new disco in town.
I'm going to the bank, but: Does she work in a bank?

Practice

Write the sentences, adding the where necessary.
1 Is he still in bed?
\e he still in bed?

2 Would you like to go to cinema tonight?
Would you like to go to the cinema tonight?
3 We visit him in prison about once a month.

4 Can I go home now?

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