For example, you might give examples of nouns, such as “dog,” “girl,” “Paris,” and “keys. ” Examples of adjectives might include “blue,” “soft,” “loud,” and “crinkly. ”
For example, you might explain to students that you’d use “the” if there was only one of the item you were talking about or if you were talking about a specific subject, such as “the girl,” “the yellow umbrella” or “the garbage can. ” On the other hand, you can use “a” and “an” in situations when the subject is more general, such as “an umbrella,” “a dog,” or “a book. ”
For example, you could include sentences like, “The dog chewed on a bone,” “Sally wants to borrow the black dress I wore last weekend,” and “I’m ordering an appetizer for dinner. ”
Make sure to explain that some nouns that start with a consonant can still have a vowel sound and require them to use “an. ” For example, “hour” and “honor” start with a consonant but make a vowel sound. Likewise, there are a few instances where the word may begin with a vowel, but make a consonant sound, such as “university” and “unicorn. ”
For example, some examples of when not to use articles might include, “Black bears are native to this region,” “Apples are my favorite fruit,” and “Pink is a stereotypical color for little girls. ” These examples all discuss general subjects, not specific groups, so no articles are required. On the other hand, examples of when to use articles with plural might include, “The black bears invaded our campsite overnight,” “The apples were delicious,” and “The three little girls all said the color pink was their favorite. ”
Mountain ranges, such as the Rockies and the Andes Unusually named mountains, such as the Matterhorn Island chains, such as the Aleutians, the Canary Islands, and the Hebrides
Allow your students about 5-10 minutes to read through all the sentences and circle all of the articles.
Allow about 10-15 minutes for this exercise.
For example, if your students speak Spanish, then you might list the articles “el,” “la,” “un,” “una,” “los,” “las,” “unos,” and “unas” for comparison. This activity would take about 5 minutes to include in your lesson.
For example, you might write something like, “Bear walked to river and caught fish,” or “I wanted sandwich, so I went to store. ” This activity takes about 5 minutes.
Allow students about 5-10 minutes to complete the worksheet.
