A or The
(The Golden Ticket)
I’m starving! I forgot my lunch today.
We use a in front of a noun when there is one of something or someone.
If a noun starts with a, e, i, o, u we use an.
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an apple
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an ear
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an idea
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an onion
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an umbrella
Rory is walking home with his friend, Paul...
I have an apple if you want it.
No thanks! Do you want to go to the shop?
Paul is talking about a specific shop near their school, so he uses the.
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We use the when we talk about a specific thing or person.
For example….
I got a new Playstation game. It took all night to download but the game is really good!
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a new game (there are many games and I downloaded one of them)
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the game (that I downloaded) is really good
I’m going to get a bag of Tasto. What do you want?
There are many bags of "Tasto" crisps. The boys just want a bag of "Tasto" each. They don’t want a specific bag. Any bag of "Tasto" will do. So they use a.
Yeah, come on.
I think… a bag of Tasto too.
Oooooh! There’s something in the bag.
What?
Rory uses the instead of a because he’s talking about a specific bag of crisps in his hand.
It’s a ticket for a prize!
What's the prize?
There are many tickets and prizes. Rory has just found one...so he uses a for ticket and prize.
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Paul uses the because now they are talking about the specific prize on the ticket.
It’s a trip for two families to go to Tasto Park!
Rory uses a here because he introduces the idea of a trip.
We don’t generally use a or the for places, so Rory says, “...go to Tasto Park!”
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We live in Dublin.
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Let’s go to Buenos Aires.
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We want to see Athens.
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We’ve been to Tokyo.
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I’ve been to Disneyland.
Woah! Ahhh, stop!
Right at that moment, a bus goes by...
We use a for bus here because it’s new to the story.
Paul uses the for "ticket" because he is talking about the ticket that was in the bag of crisps. He is talking about a specific ticket.
Oh no! It’s flying away!
Don’t lose sight of the ticket!
After lunch, Mac likes to chat with Tucker, his friend...
What’s this? It looks like...a ticket...
What?
Sometimes, we don’t use the, for example…
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I have the lunch with my friends.
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After the dinner, we watched TV.
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We go to the school every day.
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He’s tired, so he’s going to the bed.
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She’s going the home.
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They eat bread for the breakfast.
X
X
X
X
X
X
Mac, don’t let go of the ticket!
It’s your boy! And a friend.
What’s this?
You are such a hero, Mac!
Well, I do my best!
Huh?
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to be starving: to be really hungry
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Tasto Park: an imaginary theme park
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theme park: for example, Disneyland
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to lose sight of something: when you can’t see something anymore
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to chat: to have a relaxing talk with someone
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hero: a person who saves people or a situation
Glossary
crisp (UK English)
potato chip (US English)