Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Zero article a/an or the    

Zero article a/an or the



olchik23
Belarus

Zero article a/an or the
 
Dear colleagues,

I need help with these sentences! Could you make some explanations, please?

1. There �s _ amazing scenery all around the hotel!

Scenery is an uncountable noun, we can �t use "an," but why "the" is impossible? I know this scenery, it is a certain scenery around the hotel.

2. Could you book _accommodation for a group of twenty coming to the Conference?

Accommodation is also uncountable noun. What about it?

3.I believe that the surviving of the planet is worth fighting for.

4. Building a road here will destroy an area of great natural beauty.

This is a certain road here, why "а"? There is a description of this area with a preposition of. I think it �s a certain place.

Thanks in advance for your answers! I �m waiting .....

17 Apr 2013      





yanogator
United States

1.  We don �t use "the" after "There is/There are".
 
2.  I don �t know if BE is different, but in the US, we say "accomodations".
 
3.  It should be "the survival", not "the surviving".
 
4.  No, there isn �t a certain road here. There isn �t a road here at all, so the proposal is to build "a road".
 
I hope these answers help,
Bruce

17 Apr 2013     



FrauSue
France

Hi Olchik,

1. "the" would be correct in a very specific situation, for example if you �d already mentioned the scenery and the person you were talking to hadn �t remembered it. But why are you going there? - Because there �s the amazing scenery, remember? But nearly all the time, Bruce �s rule holds.

2. In BE, "accommodation" is always singular. You can use "the" or leave the space blank - again, it depends on how specific the request is. "the" accommodation suggests it has already been discussed, whereas "__ accommodation" suggests that any accommodation will do. In some cases you might hear "some accommodation" too.

3. I agree with Bruce: I believe that the survival of the planet is worth fighting for. Everything else is fine.

4. As Bruce said, there is no road, so building "a road" (= any road) will destroy the beauty of the area. You could also say "the road" (= a specific road which is under discussion, e.g. a new motorway). An area of great natural beauty = the natural beauty belongs to the area. That �s why we have "of" in the sentence.

I hope that helps!

17 Apr 2013     



yanogator
United States

I disagree with FrauSue on #1, but not too strongly. I might say "because there �s that amazing scenery" or "because there �s amazing scenery", but not "because there �s the amazing scenery". Now, if it were answering "Why do you like to go there?", I might answer "Because of the amazing scenery", but "because there �s" is different.
 
Thanks for enlightening me about "accomodation" in BE.
 
Bruce

17 Apr 2013     



Jayho
Australia

This post appears twice
 
I think this might be one of those situations that, without the full context,  we can�t really say.  Colloquially, but perhaps not grammatically correct,  But why are you going there? - Because there�s the/that amazing scenery, remember? sounds  ok to me, although I�d be more inclined to say because of the amazing scenery.  Even what Peter, my fellow country man, said, with an is ok too.  There�s an amazing scenery all around the hotel.  As Peter says, language is a living thing though I�m not sure if this livingness helps the poster.
 
Accomodation is definitely what we use too, never accomodations.  Must be a UK v US thing.  Accomodations sounds extremely weird to my ears.
 
Could you book (the) accommodation for a group of twenty coming to the Conference - both are ok
 
Agree on survival - definitely not surviving
 
Agree with a road
 

17 Apr 2013     



douglas
United States

I �m with jayho (see my answers on the first version of this post)

17 Apr 2013