Class #1: A Day At The Beach

Vocabulary

BEACH

DAY

GIRL                                          BOY

ORANGE JUICE

TREASURE

A day at the beach

Woman: It’s very nice here.

Man: Yes, the weather is wonderful.

        I’m thirsty!

Woman: Well, it is hot today.

Man: I am very lucky!

        A blue sea, white sand, and a beautiful girl.

Woman: And a very cold orange juice.

Man: Oh, darling. You are a treasure.

Woman: Yes, I know. Here you are.

Read the conversations below:

Ken: Hello, My name's Ken. What's your name?
Jack: Jack. How are you?
Ken: I'm fine, and you?
Jack: Great. Where are you from?
Ken: I'm from Seattle.

Ken: Where is that girl from?

Jack: She's from Japan

Ken: How old is she?

Jack: She's twenty-six

Demonstrative Pronouns - This and That

We use this and that with singular and uncountable nouns: 

Try to repeat this exercise every morning and evening. (this + singular countable noun)

What does this music make you think of? (this + singular uncountable noun)

I’ve never been to that part of France. (that + singular countable noun) 

Can I have some of that juice, please? (that + singular uncountable noun)

We use this most commonly to point to things and people that are close to the speaker or writer, or things that are happening now:

Can I use this knife here? 

[pointing to something]

Is this your sister? 

We use that most commonly to point to things and people which are not easy to identify in a situation. They are often more distant from the speaker, and sometimes closer to the listener:

[pointing to something]

What's in that bottle over there? 

Sometimes they are not visible to either the speaker or listener:

New York! That’s my favorite place!

Using articles: A/AN and THE

What is an article? Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.

English has two articles: the and a/an. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and a/an the indefinite article.

the = definite article

a/an = indefinite article

For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book. If I say, "Let's read a book," I mean any book rather than a specific book.

Here's another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, "I just saw the most popular movie of the year." There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.

"A/an" is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group. For example, "I would like to go see a movie." Here, we're not talking about a specific movie. We're talking about any movie. There are many movies, and I want to see any movie. I don't have a specific one in mind.

Let's look at each kind of article a little more closely.

Indefinite Articles: a and an

"A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example:

• "My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas." This refers to any dog. We don't know which dog because we haven't found the dog yet.
• "Somebody call a policeman!" This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.
• "When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!" Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here.

Remember, using a or an depends on the sound that begins the next word. So...

• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog
• an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot; an orphan
• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound, so 'a' is used); a university; a unicycle
• an + nouns starting with silent "h": an hour
• a + nouns starting with a pronounced "h": a horse 
  • In some cases where "h" is pronounced, such as "historical," you can use an. However, a is more commonly used and preferred.
    A historical event is worth recording.