Articles with general ideas: life or the life? Article exercises for general ideas and groups
About this lesson
This B2 drill lesson gives articles with general ideas exercises: bare life and nature, then the life of my grandfather, the elderly, the tiger and the school as a building.
- Grammar
- No article for an idea in general (Love is blind), the for a particular one, the + adjective for groups, the + singular noun for a whole kind, and go to school or the school.
- Topic
- An invented opinion column asks whether money can buy happiness, followed by three readers' letters and a chat with Radka about it.
- Activities
- True or false, sorting, choices, gap-fills, sentence fixes, tables, matching, word order, meaning quizzes, drag-and-drop texts, a memory game and a chat.
What's inside
Chapter 1The rule
- PictureUnlock
- Study the scheme: articles with general ideasGrammar schemeTry it
- Is the sentence correct? Mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Sort the sentences: the or no article?Sort into columnsTry it
- Choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Correct the mistakes and write the right wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 2Life or the life?
- Choose the right words: in general or a particular one?Choose the optionTry it
- Is the sentence correct? Mark true or false: general or particularTrue or falseUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: add the where you need itFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the table: in general or a particular one?Fill in the tableUnlock
- Write the sentences again with the … ofFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the mistake and choose the right wordsQuizUnlock
- Read Rufina's toast and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
Chapter 3The rich, the young and the tiger
- Match the groups and their meaningsMatchTry it
- Choose the right form: groups and whole kindsChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: the + adjective for a group of peopleFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: the + a singular noun for a whole kindFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct sentenceQuizUnlock
- Read the library notice and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
Chapter 4School or the school?
- Choose the right words: the purpose or the building?Choose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: places and why we go thereFill in the gapsTry it
- Fill in the table: the purpose or the building?Fill in the tableUnlock
- Choose the right meaningQuizUnlock
- Sort the sentences: its main purpose or another reason?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Read Ondine's message and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Is the sentence correct? Mark true or false: placesTrue or falseUnlock
Chapter 5Real life: Can money buy happiness?
- Read the opinion columnReal-life documentUnlock
- Read the column again: true or false?True or falseUnlock
- Read Ifeoma's letter and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Joaquin's letter and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read Edwina's letter and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right replies: Radka texts youChatTry it
- Test yourself: choose the right answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Choose the right words: everyday opinionsChoose the optionUnlock
- Correct the mistakes and write the right words: everyday EnglishFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the gaps with the + adjective: groups of peopleFill in the gapsUnlock
- Sort the sentences: in general or a particular one?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: general ideas and placesUnjumbleUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: what does it mean?Memory gameUnlock
- Fill in the table: two ways to talk about a groupFill in the tableUnlock
- Find the mistake: everyday EnglishQuizUnlock
- Is it correct English? Mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Read Seraphina's email and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Prudence's review and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read Leocadia's post and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right answer: mixed practiceQuizUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: write the words, with an article if you need oneFill in the gapsUnlock
- Match the questions and the answersMatchUnlock
Grammar: articles with general ideas, groups and places
With an idea in general, English uses no article: Life is short. I love music and nature. The comes in for a particular case, and also for groups of people, for a whole kind of animal or machine, and for a place visited as a building.
Life or the life? Articles with general ideas
No article for ideas in general; the for a particular one, for groups of people, for a whole kind and for a building.
In general or a particular one?
An adjective or a phrase can keep the idea general: Life in a big city is expensive, modern art, Italian food. An of-phrase or a clause makes it particular: The life of my grandmother was hard. The music at the wedding was loud.
In general: no article
- Life is short.
- Happiness doesn't come from money.
- I love music and nature.
- Life in a big city is expensive. (still in general)
- modern art · Italian food · human history
A particular one: the
- The life of my grandmother was hard. (whose life?)
- The happiness I felt that day! (which happiness?)
- The music at the wedding was loud. (which music?)
- The history of this house is long.
- The food we had in Rome was great.
When do we use the?
Besides particular cases, groups and whole kinds, some nouns take the even in general: the environment, the countryside, the future, the internet. Nature, society and history stay bare. With an adjective for one kind, a appears: a happy childhood.
| Use | Article | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| an idea or a thing in general: life, love, nature, society, history, money | no article | Love is blind. Nature heals. Money isn't everything. |
| a particular one: of…, a clause, a place | the | the love she gave us · the history of our town · the music here |
| one kind of it, with an adjective | a / an | She had a happy childhood. We want a quiet life. |
| a whole group of people: the + adjective | the | The rich are getting richer. The elderly need help. |
| a whole kind of animal or machine: the + a singular noun | the | The tiger is in danger. The wheel was invented long ago. |
| a place used for its main purpose (American: but in the hospital) | no article | go to school · in college · go to church · in prison · in bed |
| the same place as a building, or for another reason | the | The police went to the prison to talk to a guard. |
| always the, even in general | the | the environment · the countryside · the future · the past · the internet |
Groups of people and whole kinds
The + adjective means all those people, with a plural verb and no -s: The elderly need help. One person is a homeless man. The + a singular noun means a whole kind: The tiger is in danger = Tigers are in danger.
Groups of people: the + adjective
- the rich
- the poor
- the wealthy
- the elderly
- the old
- the young
- the homeless
- the unemployed
- the sick
- the injured
Groups and whole kinds
the + adjective means all those people. It takes a plural verb and never -s: The rich are… (not: The rich is… / the riches). One person: a homeless man (not: a homeless). the + a singular noun means a whole kind: The tiger is in danger. = Tigers are in danger. (A tiger is in danger = one tiger.)
School or the school?
A place used for its main purpose takes no article: Kids start school at five, He went to prison, I go to bed at eleven. As a building, or for another reason, it takes the. Americans say in the hospital, patients included.
Places: the purpose or the building?
| Place | For its main purpose: no article | As a building, or for another reason: the |
|---|---|---|
| school | Kids start school at five. | Parents painted the school last summer. |
| college | My son is in college. (a student) | We went to the college for a concert. |
| church | We go to church at Christmas. | Tourists love the church on the hill. |
| prison / jail | He went to prison for five years. | She drives to the prison to visit her son. |
| bed | I go to bed at eleven. | The cat sleeps under the bed. |
| hospital (American) | Grandpa is in the hospital. (the here too; British: in hospital) | My aunt works at the hospital. |
American English
Americans say in the hospital and go to the hospital, also for patients (British: in hospital). Americans go to college (British people often say go to university). Instruments: play the piano and play piano are both fine.
Common mistakes
Watch for The life is beautiful, protect the nature and The rich is getting richer. She went to the prison for fraud is wrong too: a prisoner went to prison.
The life is beautiful.
Life is beautiful.
life in general: no article
We have to protect the nature.
We have to protect nature.
nature in general: no article (but: the environment)
The rich is getting richer.
The rich are getting richer.
the + adjective = people: plural verb
She went to the prison for fraud.
She went to prison for fraud.
as a prisoner: no article
Examples
- Happiness is a habit, not a gift.in general
- The happiness of our children matters most.a particular one: of…
- Life in a small town is slower.still in general
- The young are online all day.a group: the + adjective
- The smartphone has changed our lives.a whole kind: the + a singular noun
- Grandma goes to church on Sundays.a place used for its purpose
More lessons on this grammar: Articles lessons and exercises
Try the articles with general ideas exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 43 auto-checked exercises
- 3 games
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 picture
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- keep ideas in general bare and add the for a particular one: History was my favorite subject; The history of this house goes back to the 1700s
- talk about groups with the + adjective and a plural verb: The young are usually the first to try new apps, but a homeless man for one person
- use the + a singular noun for a whole kind: The wheel was invented thousands of years ago. The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth.
- tell a place's purpose from the building: The judge sent him to prison, but Every Thursday, my aunt goes to the prison to teach art
- Grammar:
- articles · zero article · the + adjective · the + singular noun · school or the school
- Topic:
- grammar practice · happiness · opinion column · society · readers' letters
Teaching tips
- Ask “Which one?” after the noun: when the sentence answers it (the love she gave us), the goes in; when it can't (Love is blind), the noun stays bare.
- Debate the column's question: small groups argue whether money can buy happiness, using the rich, the young, happiness and life in the city at least once each.
- Mime school or the school: one student acts a pupil, another an electrician with a toolbox, and the class says She goes to school or He's going to the school.
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The whole course: English Grammar Practice · B2
English Grammar Practice · B2 has 24 drill lessons, one grammar point each: the future perfect and continuous, the third and mixed conditionals, wishes, past modals, the impersonal passive, have something done, participle clauses, reporting verbs and verb patterns. Each has the rule as a scheme, 43 to 47 exercises that check themselves, 15 of them for homework, and no new words.See the course
- 1Future continuous and future perfect: countdown to launch
- 2Future in the past: it was going to be perfect
- 3Past perfect continuous: what had been going on?
- 4Third conditional: if I hadn't missed that train…
- 5Mixed conditionals: where would you be now?
- 6Unless, in case and as long as: on one condition
- 7Wish and if only: is it too late?
- 8Would rather, had better and it's time: the couch crisis
- 9Past modals of deduction: what must have happened here?
- 10Should have and needn't have: what went wrong?
- 11Impersonal passive: it is said that…, she is said to…
- 12Have and get something done: who did the work?
- 13Non-defining relative clauses: the extra information
- 14Participle clauses: having planned everything
- 15Reporting verbs: what did they really say?
- 16Verbs + -ing or to: stop doing or stop to do?
- 17Make, let, allow and get: who makes the rules?
- 18Dependent prepositions: depend on, interested in, a reason for
- 19So do I and neither do I: agree, disagree and insist
- 20Articles with general ideas: life or the life?
- 21As, like and as if: interview like a pro
- 22Negative and echo questions: didn't you know?
- 23To, in order to and so that: what's it for?
- 24No use, no point and worth + -ing: what's worth your time?