Can you give me ____ bread?
✅ some ❌ a
- You can’t use a because bread is uncountable in English.
- We use some because we are asking for something. We use any in questions, but not in questions when we are asking for something or offering something.
She gave me ____ terrible news.
✅ some ❌ a
- The word news is special, because it in uncountable. It is a singular word ending in -s.
- We can’t say
new, because news is singular; the -s is not a mark of plural.- You can’t use a because news is uncountable; we can’t say
one news, two news, three news, etc.
I'm not sure of what to do. Can you give me ____ advice?
✅ some ❌ any
- You can’t use an because advice is uncountable in English.
- We use some because we are asking for something. We use any in questions, but not in questions when we are asking for something or offering something.
Do you speak ____ (French)?
✅ any French ❌ French ❌ some French
- You can’t use an because French is uncountable (names of languages are uncountable).
- We use any and not
somebecause the sentence is a question, and we use any in negatives and questions.
I'd like to cross ____ Atlantic on a cruise.
✅ the ❌ -
- We use the with the names of oceans, seas, rivers and canals (the Mediterranean, the Amazon, the Panama canal, etc.).
Please, read the text on ____ page 15.
✅ - ❌ the
- We do not use the or a(n) before noun + number: (room 25, platform 3, page 50, question 4, etc.).
There was very ____ space left to park.
✅ little ❌ few
- We use (a) little before uncountable nouns and (a) few before countable nouns.
A: Have you got anything to read? B: Yes, I have a ____ magazines.
✅ few ❌ bit of
- We use (a) little or a bit of before uncountable nouns and (a) few before countable nouns.
You can't wear ____ of those dresses. They don't suit you.
✅ either ❌ neither
- We cannot use both or neither with a negative verb. We have to use either.
- You can’t wear either of those dresses= You can wear neither of those dresses.
When I get home I like to relax ____ .
✅ - ❌ myself
- We don’t use myself, yourself, etc. after the verbs concentrate, dress (or get dressed), feel, relax, shave, wash.
Did you enjoy ____ at the party last night?
✅ yourself ❌ -
- We use myself, yourself, etc. when the object and the subject are the same person.
- The verb enjoy in English requires an object. We can say I enjoyed myself or I enjoyed the party, but we cannot say
I enjoyed.
It's hard to explain why some people fail and ____ (others / the others) succeed.
✅ others ❌ the others
- We use others as a pronoun (not followed by a noun) to mean ‘different’ (people or things). In this sentence, others mean ‘other people’.
____ (Most / Most of the) students I know passed the exam.
✅ Most of the ❌ Most
- We can use most + noun to talk about all people or things in general or most of the + noun to talk about specific things or people.
- In this case we are talking about some specific students.
We spent ____ (all day / all the day) outdoors.
✅ all day ❌ all the day
- We say all day, all night, all month, all year, etc. to mean ‘the entire day/night/month/etc.’
- We don’t use an article or a preposition when we use all + time expression.
He's one of ____ (Britain's best chef / the best chef of Britain).
✅ Britain’s best chefs ✅ the best chef in Britain ❌ the best chef of Britain
- We normally use ‘s with people or animals, although we can also use it with places (cities, countries, etc.) and organizations.
- We could also say ‘one of the best chefs in Britain’. Remember that after the superlative, we use in + names of places (⇒ See B1 » grammar » Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs.)
Some experts say that ____ (cow milk / cow's milk) isn't healthy for babies and toddlers.
✅ cow’s milk ❌ cow milk
- We normally use the possessive ‘s with animals to talk about products that are produced by them, e.g. cow’s milk, chicken’s eggs, etc.