Means of Transport

• You can use the definite article with words like ‘train’ or ‘bus’ when you are referring to a whole transport system, rather than to an individual train or bus.

  • She sent a cable to her husband and caught the plane back to New York.

  • How long does it take on the train?

In these examples, the speaker does not mean one particular plane or train; there may be several possibilities. The speaker is naming the form or system of transport. Here is a list of words in this category.

boat hovercraft train underground (BrE)

bus plane tram

ferry subway (AmE) tube (BrE)

• ‘Boat’ and ‘ferry’ are used in this way but not ‘ship’.

• ...the vast new Lenin Bridge over the Volga which had replaced the ferry.

• ‘Taxi’, ‘car’ and ‘bicycle’ are not used in this way, because they do not offer a systematic means of transport; if you say to someone ‘Take the car’, you must be referring to a particular car.

• With ‘underground’, ‘tube’, and ‘subway’, you can use the definite article to refer not only to the form of transport, but also to the location.

• I am alone in the underground waiting for a train.

  • All these words can be used after ‘by’ with a zero article to describe the form of transport used, for example: ‘by bus’, ‘by train’, ‘by plane’.

    • I don’t often travel by bus.

    • He got himself back to London the quickest way, by train and plane.

You can also use the following words after ‘by’ with a zero article.

air cab road taxi

bicycle car sea

bike rail ship

Exercise 1. In the sentences below, only one of the underlined alternatives is appropriate. Cross out the one that is wrong.

1. London Underground/ The London Underground was close. (H. Fielding)

2. He had felt fully fit enough to bear Donald company for the long drive home in the Wolseley but Trefusis had insisted he go by air/ the air. (S. Fry)

3. A train/ the train would be best; it leaves every hour.

4. Since they built the bridge no one uses a ferry/ the ferry any more.

5. Next year you’ll be able to go by hovercraft; they are starting a new service. It’ll be much quicker than a boat/ the boat.

6. You’ll have no trouble getting home; a bus/ the bus doesn’t stop running till midnight.

7. There are many ways for tourists to get around London. If you don’t mind travelling in tunnels, take an underground/ the underground; if you like to see where you’re going, sit on the top deck of a bus/ the bus; and if you’re in a hurry, take a taxi/ the taxi.

8. We’re going on a day trip by coach/ the coach.

9. Walk! Not bloody likely. I am going in a taxi/ the taxi. (G.B. Shaw)

10. The automobile/ Automobile changed our dress, manners, social customs, vacation habits, the shape of our cities, consumer purchasing patterns, common tastes and positions in intercourse. (J. Keats)