Grammar activity : Nouns and Determiners

1. Expanding Headlines ( from Grammar Practice Activities, Penny Ur)

Focus = insertion of a/an/the or nothing before nouns

Procedure =

1. Write up one of the headlines on the board, and ask students where they would insert

a/an/the before a noun or noun phrase, and where they would not, if they were

expanding the headline into a sentence.

2. Continue with further headlines, or let students select and work on them individually.

3. Check answers yourself; or ask students to check each other’s answers, consulting you

in case of doubt. Where there is more than one possibility, discuss the differences

between the different versions.

Variation =

instead of the headlines in Box 11.1.2, use actual headlines cut from English-language

newspapers or download from news websites.

Follow-up =

ask students to insert not only missing articles, but also auxiliary verbs that are often omitted

(is, are, do, does, did), or any other items necessary to form complete sentences.