Indefinite Articles- A & An for Describing Companies and Jobs

A/ An for describing companies and jobs

What is the normal answer to “What do you do?”/ “What’s your job?”?

What about the normal answer to “What kind of company do you work for?”

Which words usually follow “I’m…” and “It’s…” in the answers above?

Brainstorm possible jobs in the boxes below: 

I’m a/ He’s a/ She’s a ________________	I’m an/ He’s an/ She’s an ____________

Put one letter into each of the gaps below to make possible words to add to the table above, using the “a” or “an” to help guess the first letter. Some letters are used more than once.  

I’m an ____________________ccountant

He’s an _____________________rchitect

She’s an _______________________rtist

I’m an ________________________uditor

He’s a _____________________ank clerk

She’s a _______________________anker

She’s a ___________________ameraman

I’m a _________________________ashier

He’s a _____________________onsultant

I’m a ______________ram school teacher

She’s a ______________________irector

I’m a _________________________octor

He’s an _____________________ngineer

She’s an ___________________xecutive

I’m a ______________________ournalist

He’s a _______________________awyer

I’m a _______________________ecturer

She’s a _____________________anager

He’s a _______________________anny

I’m an __________________ffice worker

He’s an _____________________ptician

She’s a _____________ersonal assistant (= She’s a ___A)

I’m a ___________________hotographer

I’m a __________________________ilot

He’s a ___________________eceptionist

She’s a ______________esearch analyst

I’m a __________________ales assistant

He’s a _____________________ales rep

She’s a _________________ecurity guard

He’s a ________________ervice engineer

He’s a _____________________echnician

She’s a _____________elephone operator

He’s a ______________elevision presenter

I’m a _________________________rainee

He’s an ____________________nderwriter

Hint: The words above are in alphabetical order.

 

Do the same with these kinds of company:

It’s an _______________dvertising company.

It’s an ________________erospace company.

It’s an ___________________________irline.

It’s an ___________________rchitecture firm.

It’s an _______________utomobile company (= a car company). 

It’s a ____________________________ank.

It’s a ___________________amera company.

It’s a __________________hemical company.

It’s a ___________________lothing company (= fashion company). 

It’s a _______________onstruction company (= builder’s).

It’s a _________________osmetics company.

It’s a ___________________epartment store.

It’s a ____________________rinks company.

It’s a _____________________rug company (= pharmaceutical company).

It’s an ________________lectronics company.

It’s an ______________ngineering company.

It’s an _____________ntertainment company.

It’s a __________________ast food company.

It’s a ___________________inance company. 

It’s a _____________________ood company.

It’s a __________________urniture company.

It’s a ________________________otel chain.

It’s an_________________nsurance company. 

It’s an_____________nternet search company.

It’s an _______________________T company (= a computer company).

It’s a ___________________________aw firm.

It’s a ___________________ogistics company (= delivery company). 

It’s a _____________________ining company (= commodities company). 

It’s a ________________obile phone company.

It’s a ______________________usic company.

It’s a _________________________ewspaper.

It’s an _______________________il company (= petrochemical company).

It’s an ______________________nline retailer.

It’s an ________________utsourcing company.

It’s a __________________ackaging company.

It’s a __________________ublishing company.

It’s a __________________oft drinks company.

It’s a ___________________oftware company.

It’s a _________________portswear company.

It’s a __________________tationery company.

It’s a ___________________upermarket chain.

It’s a __________elecommuncations company (= phone company).

It’s a _______________________oy company.

It’s a ______________________________yre (= ____________ire) company.

It’s a _________________hite goods company.

Fill in the first letter of the nationality words below, using the “a” or “an” to help.

It’s an _________________merican soft drinks company.

It’s an ___________________ustralian mining company.

It’s a ___________________ritish white goods company.

It’s a __________________anadian insurance company.

It’s a ____________________hinese computer company.

It’s a ____________________anish electronics company.

It’s a ____________________________utch oil company.

It’s a __________________innish mobile phone company.

It’s a __________________________rench tyre company.

It’s a ___________________erman sports good company.

It’s an ___________________ndian outsourcing company.

It’s an _________________________________rish bank.

It’s an ______________________talian fashion company.

It’s a _________________________ apanese newspaper.

It’s a ________________________________orean airline.

It’s a __________________alaysian automobile company.

It’s a ____________________ussian aerospace company.

It’s a ____________panish telecommunications company.

It’s a _____________________wedish furniture company.

It’s a __________________________wiss food company.

What are the names of the countries that those companies come from?

Can you think of any examples of companies which match any of the explanations above? Think of a company, read the line above that matches that company without saying the company name, and see if your partner can guess which company you are thinking of.

 

A/ an for describing your company and job meeting people practice

Roleplay meeting people in a trade fair or conference from the beginning to the end of the conversation, pretending that you have the job, type of company, nationality of company or nationality of the card you are given. If you get a country or nationality card, you can pretend that is of your company and/ or of yourself, but make sure you use the nationality and/ or country word in the right way. Make up the other details which aren’t on your card.

advertising	airline	architect	auditor
Austria	bank clerk	banker	businessman
cameraman	Canada	cashier	chemical
construction	cram school teacher	Danish	defence
department store	drug (= pharmaceutical)	Dutch	Finland
France	furniture company	German	Indian
insurance	Irish	law	lecturer
mechanic/ service engineer	middle manager	mining (= commodities)	office worker
oil (= petrochemical)	optician	outsourcing	packaging
photographer	receptionist	Russia	security guard
soft drinks	Spain	stationery	Swedish
Swiss	Taiwan	television presenter	tyre (= tire)
UK	underwriter	USA	white goods

Look at the whole list and ask any questions you have.

Make full sentences out of these words, making sure you include “a” or “an” where necessary.

• Austrian
• Indian
• Irish
• Swedish
• advertising
• auditor
• bank clerk
• white goods

Put those words into the gaps below. Different answers are possible, but just use each one once.

It’s a _______________ company.

It’s an ______________ company.

 

I’m a ____________________________.

I’m an ________________________.

 

I’m from _______________________.

 

I’m ___________________________.

 

It’s a ________________ pharmaceutical company.

It’s an ____________ drinks company.

 

Find country words above and change them to nationality words.

Find nationality words above and change them to country words.

Find jobs above which seem similar and explain the differences.

 

A/ An to describe companies and jobs guessing game

Describe a company below until your partner guesses. They are arranged by country.

Useful phrases                  It’s a/ an (nationality) (kind of company) company.  It’s a/an (nationality) company.      It’s a/an (kind of company) company.      It’s based in…                    Its HQ is in… It’s famous for…                   Its most famous product is… In this country, it…                 It’s the market leader in…

 

Country
Adjective/ Nationality
Companies	Amazon.com Avon Boeing Citigroup Coca Cola Dell DuPont Estee Lauder ExxonMobil FedEx Gap GM Goodyear Google Hershey’s Hertz HJ Heinz IBM Mattel Met Life Microsoft Nike Northwest Pfizer Subway Wal-Mart	Asahi Shimbun Bridgestone Canon Dentsu Fast Retailing JAL Kao Kenwood Kikkoman Kirin Mitsubishi UFJ Nissan NTT Pentel Roland Sekisui Shiseido Subaru Tomy Toray	BAE Systems BP Burberry Dunlop Dyson Foster and Partners GlaxoSmithKline Harrods Land Rover Parker Prudential Tesco The Guardian Virgin Atlantic Vodafone	Adidas BASF Continental DHL Grundig Hugo Boss Leica Lufthansa Mercedes Benz Munich Re Nivea SAP Siemens Stabilo T-Mobile
Country
Adjective/ Nationality
Companies	Carlsberg Bang and Olufsen LEGO Maersk	Banco Santander Mapfre Seat Telefonica Zara	Adecco Bally Credit Suisse Logitech Nestle Roche	BHP Billiton Commonwealth Bank Foster’s Group Quantas

 

Country
Adjective/ Nationality
Companies	AXA BNP Paribas Bic Canal + Carrefour Chanel Danone L’Oreal Michelin Printemps Renault Total	Amoy Cathy Pacific Golden Harvest HSBC Hutchinson -Whampoa South China-Morning Post	Alibaba Cosco Haier Lenovo Ping An Sinopec Tsingtao	Astra Zeneca Electrolux H&M IKEA Tetra Pak Volvo

 

Country
Adjective/ Nationality
Companies	Asiana Hite Kia LG Lotte	Aegon Heineken ING KLM Phillips Royal Dutch Shell TNT	Diadora Fiat Generali Group Gucci Intesa Sanpaolo Pirelli	Blackberry Four Seasons IMAX Labatt’s Sun Life

 

Country
Adjective/ Nationality
Companies	Aeroflot Gazprom Sberbank Tupolev	Hindustan Times Infosys Kingfisher Tata	AIB Guinness Ryan Air	Banco Bradesco Petrobras Varig

 

Country
Adjective/ Nationality
Companies	Petronas Proton	Finnair Nokia	Acer Eva Airways	Manila Times San Miguel

Add the country and nationality words to the gaps above. Then check your answers as a class, writing the stress patterns of any which you pronounce incorrectly.