A carton of milk, a loaf of bread
(Some containers and partitives)

    1. I'm going to the supermarket, would you like me to get you anything?
    2. Oh, yes, please. Could you get me a carton of milk and a tube of toothpaste?

    When we buy groceries and household goods like milk and toothpaste, we need some way of indicating how much milk or toothpaste we want. This is usually done by the structure: a ____ of ____. Expressions we use to express this idea include:

    1. CONTAINERS（入れ物in Japanese）: a carton of milk; a tube of toothpaste.
    2. A PAIR OF ____ for something that comes in 2 parts: a pair of gloves; a pair of scissors.
    3. SPECIAL COLLOCATIONS: a loaf of bread; a bunch of grapes.
    4. REFERENCES TO WEIGHT: half a kilo of potatoes; 10 litres of petrol (gasoline in American English).

    To see how many of these expressions you know, try the exercise in the next section.

    Exercise

    Complete the phrases (1 to 14) by using words from the list below. For some words, more than one choice may be possible (e.g. carton of milk, bottle of milk):

      toothpaste, jam, soap, bananas, coffee, matches, ketchup, bread, margarine, tissues, sunglasses, milk, condensed milk, chocolates, chocolate, wine, grapes, ointment, peaches, peanut butter, honey, ice-cream, beer, jeans, film, cigarettes, crisps (potato chips), lemonade, hair spray, orange juice

    1. a bar of ______________
    2. a pair of ______________
    3. a carton of ______________
    4. a box of ______________
    5. a bottle of ______________
    6. a tube of ______________
    7. a jar of ______________
    8. a can of ______________
    9. a bunch of ______________
    10. a roll of ______________
    11. a loaf of ______________
    12. a packet of ______________
    13. a bag of ______________
    14. a tub of ______________

    Click here to check your answers and to read my comments about how to use some of these expressions.

    Click here if you want to try some of my other one-point lessons.

    © Robert E. Jones, 2004