Social Issues- Discuss and Agree Determiners Practice

Social Issues- Discuss and Agree Determiners Practice
Articles speaking practice/ Social issues vocabulary

Work in twos or threes. Try to make sentences that you both/ all think are true starting with
words below. The phrases on one line often have different meanings, so choose one. Your
teacher will tell you if you should use the worksheet below with no articles (adding articles
when necessary) or the version on this page with the articles still in.

 From 1990 to 1999/ (In) the (19)90s…

 A 21st century CEO/ The 21st century CEO/ 21st century CEOs…

 The academic community/ Readers of academic journals,…

 (Drug) addiction/ Becoming a drug addict…

 The chief advantage of/ A major selling point of…

 Airlines/ The travel industry…

 (For) almost all people/ (For) the vast majority of people,…

 Arabic countries/ The Middle East…

 Arctic countries/ Countries near the North Pole…

 Antarctica/ The South Pole…

 Asia/ The Orient…

 A convincing argument for/ The most convincing argument for…

 Baby-boomers/ The baby-boomer generation…

 Beaches/ The coast…

 A big benefit of/ The biggest benefit of…

 Billionaires/ The super-rich…

 (Formal) business clothing/ A suit (and tie)….

 The main cause of/ A major cause of…

 (In) the twenty-first century/ Since 2000…

 Large cities in this country/ The capital city of this country…

 Leaving the countryside/ Depopulated villages…

 Democratic countries/ A democratic country…

 Countries near the equator/ Tropical countries…

 In a couple of years/ In the next couple of years,…

 (In) developing countries/ (In) the developing world…

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p. 1

 A difference between/ The only difference between…

 Becoming a drop out/ Dropping out of the workforce

 In the education system/ In school,…

 The elderly/ Elderly people…

 Electoral systems/ The electoral system (in this country)…

 England/ The United Kingdom…

 The environment/ Environmental problems…

 Everest/ The Himalayas…

 A few/ Few…

 In the (near) future/ From now on…

 Gambling/ The gambling industry…

 A good option…/ A better option/ The best option…

 The (current) government/ (Modern) politicians…

 At home/ In a house or flat,…

 Humans/ A human/ The human species…

 The most important/ A vital…

 Ireland/ The Republic of Ireland…

 Legislation on data security/ The legislation on data security…

 The LGBT community/ LGBT teenagers…

 The media/ Newspapers…

 In June and July/ In the middle of the year…

 Korea/ The Korean Peninsula…

 Modern society/ The modern world…

 Neighbouring countries/ The nearest countries (to this one)…

 New York/ The Big Apple…

 In the North of this country/ In northern towns…

 (In) North America/ (In) the USA…

 NAFTA/ The North American Free Trade Agreement…

 The nuclear power industry/ Nuclear power plants…

 The (official) opposition/ Opposition parties…

 In Pacific nations/ In the Pacific Ocean...

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p. 2

 In the distant past/ A long time ago,…

 Pensions/ The (national) pension system…

 Problems with immigration/ The problems with immigration…

 A large number of people/ Many people…

 Most people/ Most of the people in this room…

 The most polluted places/ Pollution…

 The poor/ Poverty…

 In prison/ As a prisoner,…

 Private education/ The private education system…

 Professionals/ The (upper) middle class…

 A rat/ The rat/ Rats…

 The latest research/ Recent research…

 Right-wingers/ The (alt) right…

 Sociologists/ (The field of) sociology…

 Swedish people/ The Swedish…

 A typical (Japanese) office worker/ The typical (Japanese) office worker…

 (Long-term) unemployed people/ The (long-term) unemployed…

 The United Nations/ United Nations peacekeepers…

 Cambridge University/ The University of Cambridge…

 Vulnerable children/ The most vulnerable children…

 Welfare benefits/ The Welfare State…

 The West/ Western countries…

 (Factory/ Industrial/ Manual) workers/ The working class…

 (In) January to June this year/ (In) the first half of this year…

 Next year/ In the next few years,…

Share some opinions with another group and see if they share your opinions. Ask about
any phrases that you couldn’t understand and/ or couldn’t use.

Add missing determiners to the phrases on the next page. Sometimes you need to add to
both phrases and sometimes to just one. The ones on one line always take different
articles, e.g. “a” for one and “-” for the other (never two “the” ones on one line).

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 3

No articles version
If your teacher tells you to, use this version for the speaking activity, adding any articles
needed. When you finish the speaking activity, add any determiners needed below. The
ones on one line always take different articles, e.g. “a” for one and “-” for the other (never
“the” or “a/ an” to both).

From 1990 to 1999

(In) (19)90s…

21st century CEO

21st century CEO

21st century CEO…

Academic community

Readers of academic journals,…

(Drug) addiction

Becoming drug addict…

Chief advantage of

Major selling point of…

Airlines

Travel industry…

(For) almost all people

(For) vast majority of people,…

Arabic countries

Middle East…

Arctic countries

Countries near North Pole…

Antarctica

South Pole…

Asia

Orient…

Convincing argument for

Most convincing argument for…

Baby-boomers

Baby-boomer generation…

Beaches

Coast…

Big benefit of

Biggest benefit of…

Billionaires

Super-rich…

(Formal) business clothing

Suit (and tie)….

Main cause of

Major cause of…

(In) twenty-first century

Since 2000…

Large cities in this country

Capital city of this country…

Leaving countryside

Depopulated villages…

Democratic countries

Democratic country…

Countries near equator

Tropical countries…

In couple of years

In next couple of years,…

(In) developing countries

(In) developing world…

Difference between

Only difference between…

Becoming drop out

Dropping out of workforce

In education system

In school,…

Elderly

Elderly people…

Electoral systems

Electoral system (in this country)…

England

United Kingdom…

Environment

Environmental problems…

Everest

Himalayas…

Few

Few…

In (near) future

From now on…

Gambling

Gambling industry…

Good option…

Best option…

(Current) government

(Modern) politicians…

At home

In house or flat,…

Humans

Human

Human species…

Most important policy

Vital policy

Ireland

Republic of Ireland…

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 4

Legislation on data security

Legislation on data security…

LGBT community

LGBT teenagers…

Media

Newspapers…

In June and July

In middle of the year…

Korea

Korean Peninsula…

Modern society

Modern world…

Neighbouring countries

Nearest countries (to this one)…

New York

Big Apple…

In North of this country

In northern towns…

(In) North America

(In) USA…

NAFTA

North American Free Trade Agreement…

Nuclear power industry

Nuclear power plants…

(Official) opposition

Opposition parties…

In Pacific nations

In Pacific Ocean...

In distant past

Long time ago,…

Pensions

(National) pension system…

Problems with immigration

Problems with immigration…

Large number of people

Many people…

Most people

Most of people in this room…

Most polluted places

Pollution…

Poor

Poverty…

In prison

As prisoner,…

Private education

Private education system…

Professionals

(Upper) middle class…

Rat

Rat

Rats…

Latest research

Recent research…

Right-wingers

(Alt) right…

Sociologists

(Field of) sociology…

Swedish people

Swedish…

Typical (Japanese) office worker

Typical (Japanese) office worker…

(Long-term) unemployed people

(Long-term) unemployed…

United Nations

United Nations peacekeepers…

Cambridge University

University of Cambridge…

Vulnerable children

Most vulnerable children…

Welfare benefits

Welfare State…

West

Western countries…

(Factory/ Industrial/ Manual) workers

Working class…

(In) January to June this year

(In) first half of this year…

Next year

In next few years,…

Optional: Do the grammar presentation below and use that to help check your answers.

Check your answers with the first worksheet. All other answers are probably wrong, so ask
your teacher about any which you wrote differently. You can also ask about any
differences in meaning between similar ones.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 5

Determiners grammar presentation
Without looking above, write “a/ an”, “the” or “-” in each of the gaps below depending on
which you think matches the grammar explanation. Only one should be possible in each
gap. Also fill in the gaps in the examples given to help with and help check your answer.
Determiners in general and specific statements
 ___________ + plural noun for (the most common way of) making general statements
 ___________________ + singular (countable) noun for making general statements

(the second most common way, often used to make you imagine one typical example,
e.g. one typical person in that situation)

 ___________________ + singular (countable) noun for making general statements

(less common, mainly used to make scientific statements about species etc)

 ______________ + uncountable nouns to make general statements (e.g. “_____ politi-

cal repression”

 _____________ + uncountable nouns to talk about specific things (e.g. “_____ political

repression which was mentioned in the New York Times yesterday”)

 ______________ + singular countable noun to mean one/ any of a group (e.g. “_____

anarchist protestor” or “_____ Labour Party MP”)

 _____________ + something unique/ that there is only one of (e.g. “_______ middle of

the ocean”, “______ sole….”)

 ______________ + something that is number one (e.g. “_______ main…”, “______

best…”)

 ______________ + an adjective to mean a whole group of people (e.g. “_____ dis-

abled”, “_______ British”)

 ______________ + the name of a whole group (e.g. “_______ Vietnamese commu-

nity”, “_________ millennial generation”, “________ tobacco industry” or “______ pop-
ulation”)

 ___________ + something that is considered to be one thing all joined together (e.g.

“_________ mainland”)

Determiners in number expressions
 “all/ most/ many/ some + __________ + people” when talking about people in general
 “all of/ most of/ many of/ some of ________ people” when talking about specific people
 ________ + number expressions like “little”, “large amount of” and “couple of” (with n

negative meaning)

 “_________ + few” and “________ + little”, with a negative meaning

Determiners in time expressions
 “____________ + this/ next/ last + week/ month/ year”, and similar phrases like “to-

day”, “tomorrow” and “yesterday”

 “in ____________ last … (s)” to mean times from the past until now (e.g. “in ______

last four decades”, “in ______ last five minutes”)

 “in ____________ next … (s)” to mean times from now and into the future (e.g. “in

______ next two days”, “in ______ next 24 hours”)

 “(In) ____________” + a decade (e.g. “in _______ 1890s”)
 “(In) ____________” + a century (e.g. “in ______ 16

th

century”)

 “In _______ past” and “In ________ future” (because there is only one of each)

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 6

Determiners in names of places
 __________ + mountain ranges (e.g. “_____ Alps” or “______ Rockies”)
 __________ + names of (individual) mountains (e.g. “_____ Mont Blanc” or “______

Mount Rushmore”)

 _________ + names of countries made up of different islands, states, etc, often ending

with “-s” (“______ Netherlands”, “______ Philippines”, “______ Seychelles”, “______
Maldives”, “_____ UAE”, etc)

 _________ + names of individual countries (“______ Belgium”, “_____ Cyprus”,

“_____ Malta”, “______ Argentina”, “_____ Georgia”, “______ Greece”, “_______
Kazakhstan”, “________ Russia”, “_____ Jordan”, “_____ Mongolia”, “______ Switzer-
land”, “_____ Thailand”, “______ Turkey”)

 _______ + official names of countries with “republic”, e.g. “_______ Czech Republic”

or “_______ DRC”)

 ___________ + continents and parts of continents (“______ South America”, “____

Central Asia”, “______ Australasia”, etc)

 _________ + (official) names of towns and cities (“______ Paris”, “______ Athens”,

“______ Brussels”, “______ Cologne”, “______ Florence”, “______ Geneva”, “______
Guangzhou/ Canton”, “_____ Kiev”, “_____ LA”, “_____ Milan”, “____ Moscow”,
“_____ Munich”, “______ Naples”, “_____ North Korea”, “______ Perth”, “______
Prague”, “______ Rome”, “______ Shenzhen”, “______ Turin”, “______ Venice”,
“_____ Vienna”, “_______ Warsaw”)

 _________ + nicknames of cities and countries (“_______ Windy City”, “______

Venice of the Midlands”, “______ sick man of Europe”, “_______ Big Easy”, etc)

 _________ + names of geographical features (“______ Indian Subcontinent”, “_____

Straits of Malacca”, etc)

 _______ + names of seas and oceans (“______ Atlantic Ocean”, “_______ South

China Sea”, “______ Sea of Japan”, etc)

 “at/ in + _________” + a place to mean your status (not actually meaning being physi-

cally in or at that place, e.g. “at ________ university” to mean being a university stu-
dent but “at a university” for the location of a protest)

 “In ________ North/ South/ East/ West of…” to mean parts of countries and countries
 “________ West/ East/ South/ North” to mean (whole) hemispheres of the world

Try to find at least one example of each of these in the example phrases above to start
checking your answers.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 7

Suggested answers

Determiners in general and specific statements
 ____-_______ + plural noun for making general statements (the most common way)
 ______a/an_____________ + singular (countable) noun for making general state-

ments (the second most common way, often used to make you imagine one typical ex-
ample, e.g. one typical person in that situation)

 ________the___________ + singular (countable) noun for making general statements

(less common, mainly used to make scientific statements about species etc)

 _______-_______ + uncountable nouns to make general statements (e.g. “__-___ po-

litical repression”

 _____the________ + uncountable nouns to talk about specific things (e.g. “__the___

political repression which was mentioned in the New York Times yesterday”)

 _____a/ an_________ + singular countable noun to mean one/ any of a group (e.g.

“__an___ anarchist protestor” or “__a___ Labour Party MP”)

 ______the_______ + something unique/ that there is only one of (e.g. “___the____

middle of the ocean”, “___the___ sole….”)

 _______the_______ + something that is number one (e.g. “__the_____ main…”,

“___the___ best…”)

 ______the________ + an adjective to mean a whole group of people (e.g. “__the___

disabled”, “___the____ British”)

 _______the_______ + the name of a whole group (e.g. “__the_____ Vietnamese com-

munity”, “___the______ millennial generation”, “___the_____ tobacco industry” or
“___the___ population”)

 _____the______ + something that is considered to be one thing all joined together

(e.g. “_____the____ mainland”)

Determiners in number expressions
 “all/ most/ many/ some + ____-______ + people” when talking about people in general
 “all of/ most of/ many of/ some of ___the_____ people” when talking about specific

people

 ____a_____ + number expressions like “little”, “large amount of” and “couple of” (with

n negative meaning)

 “____-_____ + few” and “____-____ + little”, with a negative meaning

Determiners in time expressions
 “_____-_______ + this/ next/ last + week/ month/ year”, and similar phrases like “to-

day”, “tomorrow” and “yesterday”

 “in ____the________ last … (s)” to mean times from the past until now (e.g. “in

__the____ last four decades”, “in __the____ last five minutes”)

 “in ______the______ next … (s)” to mean times from now and into the future (e.g. “in

___the___ next two days”, “in __the____ next 24 hours”)

 “(In) ____the________” + a decade (e.g. “in ___the____ 1890s”)
 “(In) ____the________” + a century (e.g. “in __the____ 16

th

century”)

 “In ___the____ past” and “In ___the_____ future” (because there is only one of each)

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 8

Determiners in names of places
 ____the______ + mountain ranges (e.g. “__the___ Alps” or “___the___ Rockies”)
 ____-______ + names of (individual) mountains (e.g. “__-___ Mont Blanc” or “___-___

Mount Rushmore”)

 ___the______ + names of countries made up of different islands, states, etc, often

ending with “-s” (“__the____ Netherlands”, “___the___ Philippines”, “__the____ Sey-
chelles”, “___the___ Maldives”, “___the__ UAE”, etc)

 _____-____ + names of individual countries (“___-___ Belgium”, “__-___ Cyprus”,

“___-__ Malta”, “__-____ Argentina”, “__-___ Georgia”, “__-____ Greece”, “__-_____
Kazakhstan”, “_____-___ Russia”, “__-___ Jordan”, “__-___ Mongolia”, “__-____
Switzerland”, “___-__ Thailand”, “___-___ Turkey”)

 ____the___ + official names of countries with “republic”, e.g. “____the___ Czech Re-

public” or “___the____ DRC”)

 _____-______ + continents and parts of continents (“___-___ South America”, “__-__

Central Asia”, “___-___ Australasia”, etc)

 _____-____ + (official) names of towns and cities (“__-____ Paris”, “__-____ Athens”,

“___-___ Brussels”, “___-___ Cologne”, “__-____ Florence”, “__-____ Geneva”, “___-
___ Guangzhou/ Canton”, “__-___ Kiev”, “__-___ LA”, “___-__ Milan”, “__-__ Mos-
cow”, “___-__ Munich”, “___-___ Naples”, “__-___ North Korea”, “___-___ Perth”, “__-
____ Prague”, “___-___ Rome”, “___-___ Shenzhen”, “___-___ Turin”, “___-___
Venice”, “___-__ Vienna”, “___-____ Warsaw”)

 ____the_____ + nicknames of cities and countries (“___the____ Windy City”,

“__the____ Venice of the Midlands”, “___the___ sick man of Europe”, “____the___
Big Easy”, etc)

 _____the____ + names of geographical features (“__the____ Indian Subcontinent”,

“__the___ Straits of Malacca”, etc)

 ____the___ + names of seas and oceans (“___the___ Atlantic Ocean”, “____the___

South China Sea”, “___the___ Sea of Japan”, etc)

 “at/ in + ___-______” + a place to mean your status (not actually meaning being physi-

cally in or at that place, e.g. “at ____-____ university” to mean being a university stu-
dent but “at a university” for the location of a protest)

 “In ____the____ North/ South/ East/ West of…” to mean parts of countries and coun-

tries

 “____the____ West/ East/ South/ North” to mean (whole) hemispheres of the world

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

p. 9