Practise this dialogue that could be spoken in a restaurant:

Waiter: What would you like?

Customer: I’d like some cake.

Waiter: What kind of cake would you like?

Customer: I’d like some chocolate cake.

Question: Why do you say “some cake” and not “a cake?”

Well, because “a” means “one.” You’re not going to eat a whole cake, but a piece of it. We don’t know how big the piece is, so that’s why you say “some.” “Some” can mean a big piece, or a little piece, or two pieces.

Another example:

Waitress: What would you like?

Customer: I’d like some fruit.

Waitress: What kind of fruit would you like?

Customer: I’d like a banana.

Here the customer asks for “some fruit,” because he doesn’t know how much fruit exactly. When he’s asked what he likes exactly, he orders “a banana,” which means one banana.

And the last example:

Waiter: What would you like?

Customer: I’d like some coffee.

Waiter: What kind of coffee would you like?

Customer: I’d like a latte. 

Nothing special here. I think you got the idea.

By the way, if you don’t like espresso, you can say: I’d like anything, but not espresso.

Now do the following exercises.

Exercise 1

Write or say dialogues like the above with other pieces of fruit (orange, cherry, apple), other pieces of cakes (strawberry, carrot, cheese) and pies (apple, meat, lemon), and ice creams (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mango).

Exercise 2 Fill in “a” or “some.”

You can do this exercise online and check your answers immediately here.

1 Would you like ________ melon?

2 I’d like ________ fish, please.

3 Would you like to try _______ muffin?

4 I need ________ glass of water.

5 Would you like ________ coffee?

6 She wants to eat ________ sushi.

7 Would you like ________ piece of cherry pie?