Course Content
UNIT 1 | Effects of our Actions on the Environment
"Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water."
0/8
1.1 Reading Comprehension: Can we do anything?
03:59
1.2 Speaking: Identifying a problem leading to the solution
09:11
1.3 Language Practice: Possessive Pronouns
04:28
1.4 Writing: Paragraph Writing
05:36
1.5 Study Skills: Free Writing
01:35
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
02:37
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Possessive Pronouns
ESL Games 🕹️🎮🎶
00:00
UNIT 2 | Social Etiquettes and Manners
"Social etiquette is a set of rules, manners, and actions that help people to portray themselves as pleasant, polished, and professional human beings. People who are social etiquette experts know how to behave and look their best in various social situations. Social etiquette shows you how to behave in different social settings, so you don’t have to question your behavior. Learning social etiquette can teach you how to communicate effectively and nicely. Social etiquette can help you to look more professional and make a good impression."
0/8
2.1 Reading Comprehension: Problems and Solutions
01:15
2.2 Language Practice: Articles in English
07:13
2.3 Writing: Informal Letters
03:56
2.4 Study Skills: Cloze passage
02:03
2.5 Creative Writing
01:25
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
02:54
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Articles in English
ESL Games 🕹️🎮🎶
00:00
UNIT 3 | Awareness of Crisis, Accidents and Natural Calamities
"Natural disasters can encourage social cohesion and better relationships. When disasters strike, humans have a tendency to get together and show their traits and put them to work. It is during these times that we may work together and realize that all people are the same and have the same basic needs. Friendships may be formed and new things may come to life. The key to reducing loss of life, personal injuries, and damage from natural disasters is widespread public awareness and education. People must be made aware of what natural hazards they are likely to face in their own communities."
0/6
3.1 Reading Comprehension: Learning to live in a critical situation
02:40
3.2 Speaking: Reasons for expressing ability and inability to do something
03:02
3.3 Language Practice: Conditional sentences
05:08
3.4 Writing: Essay Writing
13:52
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
02:25
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Reading Things
UNIT 4 | Awareness of and Empathy with Special People
"Developing social awareness and empathy takes time, effort, intention, and choice. No one is born with the ability to be perfectly informed and sensitive when it comes to the many complex social issues in our world.” Empathy is the ability to understand what another person is going through. It’s the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and to feel what they are feeling. It’s about being respectful and standing in solidarity with marginalized groups."
0/6
4.1 Reading Comprehension: The blind boy
06:34
4.2 Making Wishes In Future Tense
07:02
4.3 Language Practice: Forming Adjectives
07:05
4.4 Question Words
03:40
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
02:32
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Future Tenses
UNIT 5 | Historical & Cultural Places of Pakistan
"Old buildings have intrinsic value." The stories of how places in Pakistan came to be have created historical sites and local culture. People enjoy visiting these places. The cultural and historic heritage defines a place as it captures the local design, festivities, and themes. These characteristics are often displayed in hospitality, signage, public art, and even music. Civic buildings such as libraries, schools, auditoriums, and government offices are public places that can benefit people through healthy design and their communities through shared use. Cultural and historical sites give a place a sense of identity while creating opportunities for community pride and tourism."
0/5
5.1 Reading Comprehension: Pakistan home to ancient civilization
04:35
5.2 Language Practice: Present Perfect Tense
05:56
5.3 Articles in English
15:03
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
03:08
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Present Perfect Tense
UNIT 6 | Media as a Source of Knowledge
"Media plays a significant role in keeping everyone updated about the various events around the world. Today, we can check out the latest news and current affairs with just a few clicks of the mouse or by simply switching on the radio or television, apart from glancing at the newspaper every morning! Media is the plural form for medium and involves the collective communication sources or mediums including television, radio, newspapers, internet, social media sites, and various relevant sites and blogs. The main purpose of media is to disseminate information and knowledge."
0/5
6.1 Reading Comprehension: Different Newspaper News
03:05
6.2 Language Practice: Use of Since and For
05:17
6.3 Writing: Narrative Writing
05:19
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
03:06
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Since/For Techniques
UNIT 7 | Learning Organized Approach through Identifying
"Continuous improvement programs are sprouting up all over as organizations strive to better themselves and gain an edge. The topic list is long and varied, and sometimes it seems as though a program a month is needed just to keep up. Solving a problem, introducing a product, and reengineering a process all require seeing the world in a new light and acting accordingly."
0/5
7.1 Reading Comprehension: Rafia Wedding
03:59
7.2 Language Practice: Position of Adverbs
03:30
7.3 Writing: Descriptive Essay Writing
09:03
3️⃣ Minute English 💡 💬
00:00
Quiz Yourself 💭🤔💭 | Adverbs
English – VII
About Lesson
What is an article?

Articles are a type of determiner. They function like adjectives, as they modify the noun in the sentence. The only articles in English are ‘the’ and ‘a/an’. Yet, the tricky part is that we use them differently – and sometimes not at all.

We call ‘the’ the definite article and ‘a/an’ the indefinite article.

When to use a/an, the and no article

So when do we use articles in English? We’re going to show you some explanations, examples, and activities to practice so that by the time you finish reading, you’ll be an articles pro!

Definite and indefinite Articles

1_OH How to use articles (a, an, the) in English

We use ‘the’ before a noun when:

    • referring to something specific
    • there is only one of something (e.g. the cathedral)
  • the noun has been mentioned before

We use ‘a/an’ before a noun when:

    • referring to something in general
    • mentioning something for the first time
  • describing someone’s profession (eg. I am a teacher)

Compare these two sentences:

Let’s watch the TV series that we love (a specific TV series that is familiar to us or that we know about.)

Let’s watch a TV series after dinner (we don’t have a specific TV series in mind – it could be any series.)

It’s important to remember that we use ‘a’ and ‘an’ differently: ‘a’ comes before a noun beginning with a consonant sound and ‘an’ comes before a noun beginning with a vowel sound. For example:

2_OH How to use articles (a, an, the) in English


Here are some more examples of definite and indefinite articles:

    • Somebody call a policeman!
    • Did you see the film that was on Channel 4 last night?
    • Would you like a glass of milk?
    • I love to swim in the ocean.
No article

We never use a/an with uncountable nouns. However, ‘the’ is sometimes used with uncountable nouns in the same way it is used with plural countable nouns. This is when we want to refer to a specific object, group, or idea.

For example:

    • Electricity has become more expensive recently.
  • Can you pass me the sugar, please?

It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with countable and uncountable nouns so you can make the right choice of article. See the table below for examples.

3_OH How to use articles (a, an, the) in English

Check out some of the following situations for knowing where you must leave out the article.

Use ‘no article’ before:

    • Names of languages and nationalities: Chinese, Russian (unless referring to the population of the place e.g. ‘The Italians are known for their delicious food.’).
    • Names of sports: cricket, baseball.
  • Names of subjects: Art, Mathematics.
Geographical places

When it comes to geographical places, such as countries or continents, we use ‘the’ in some cases and no article in others. Unfortunately, there aren’t any rules to help you here – you just have to familiarise yourself with the ones that need ‘the’ or not.

Do NOT use ‘the’ before:

    • Lakes: Lake Geneva, Lake Placids
    • Mountains: Mount Fuji, Mount Everest.
    • Continents: Europe, Asia.
    • Most countries: England, Sweden.
  • Counties/states/provinces/regions: Oxfordshire, Catalunya etc.
      • Rivers: The Nile, The Mississippi.
          • Cities, towns, villages: London, Paris.
          • Islands: Bali, Hawaii.
        • Street names: Main Street, 5th Avenue.

         Use ‘the’ before:

      • Mountain ranges: The Andes, The Pyrenees.
      • Deserts: The Sahara, The Atacama.
      • Oceans and seas: The Pacific, The Mediterranean.
      • Groups of islands: The Maldives, The Seychelles.
      • Some countries: The USA, The Netherlands.
      • Points on the globe: The Equator, The North Pole.
    • Geographical areas: The Middle East, The West.

     

Types of Articles with Examples
Definite Article

Definite means to be clear, exact, or obvious about something. It is called definite because it is used in relation to a particular thing or person. “The” is the definite article in English, which is used to refer to particular nouns, the identities of which are known. The definite article indicates that the noun is specific. The speaker talks about a particular thing.

For example:

  • The cat sat on the couch.
  • The dog attacked me and ran away.
Other examples are listed below: 
  • I’ll pick you up at the airport.
  • We spent all day at the beach.
  • Let’s go to the movies this evening.
  • I have to go to the bank and get some Euros.
  • I really enjoyed the book I’ve just finished reading.
  • Do you like the other kids in your class?
Indefinite Articles

Indefinite means something which is not clear, obvious, or exact. They are called indefinite because the identity of the thing or person being spoken about is left unclear or indefinite. The indefinite article indicates that the noun is not someone or something in particular. The speaker talks about anyone of that type of things. The indefinite articles in English are “a” and “an.”

For example:

  • Do you have a pencil?
  • I want to have an apple.
Other examples are listed below: 
  • I’ve bought a car.
  • She’s got a boyfriend.
  • There was a sudden loud noise.
  • What a shame that you couldn’t go to the party.
  • I heard a child crying.
  • He applied to become an American citizen.
  • Chris has an evening job as an office cleaner.
  • That was an excellent meal!


Exercise Files
BCA-123-Basic-English.pdf
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