5 exercises — a/an with count nouns, the with specific references, zero article with proper nouns, and articles before acronyms.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Choose the correct article: "We need to add _____ SSL certificate to the production domain."
"An" is used before words that begin with a vowel sound. "SSL" is pronounced letter by letter: "ess-ess-ell" — starting with the vowel sound "ess." Therefore: "an SSL certificate." Similarly: "an HTTP request", "an API call", "an IP address."
2 / 5
The project uses a PostgreSQL database. Complete the sentence: "_____ database is hosted on a managed cloud service."
"The" is used for a specific, already-identified noun. Since "a PostgreSQL database" was mentioned in the previous sentence, the second reference uses "the database" — we know which one is meant. This is the anaphoric (back-referencing) use of "the."
3 / 5
Which sentence uses articles correctly with a product name?
Zero article is used before proper nouns and product names: "Kubernetes", "Docker", "GitHub", "PostgreSQL." However, when a proper noun is modified or used as an adjective, an article is possible: "a Kubernetes cluster", "the GitHub repository."
4 / 5
Choose the correct article usage: "The team built _____ Docker container to isolate the build environment."
"A Docker container" — first mention of a specific countable noun. "Docker" acts as an adjective here, so the article goes before "Docker." The article is determined by the sound of the following word: "Docker" starts with /d/, a consonant sound, so "a" is correct.
5 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses zero article?
Zero article is used with uncountable nouns in general statements and with abstract concepts: "cloud computing" (general concept), "infrastructure" (uncountable in general use). "The cloud" (with article) refers to the specific concept of internet-based storage/computing as a named entity. Both "the cloud" and "cloud computing" (zero article) are used, but they have slightly different registers.