Forms of Entertainment

• When you are talking about someone going to enjoy a form of entertainment you use the definite article with the word for the form of entertainment. Words like this are: ‘cinema’ (AmE ‘movies’), ‘theatre’, ‘opera’, ‘'ballet’. Here we are not thinking of a particular performance of an opera or ballet, or a particular theatre building, but just of the form of entertainment.

  • Let’s go to the movies.

  • You have seen things. You have been to the opera, the ballet, the theatre.

• ‘Cinema’, ‘theatre’, ‘opera’, and ‘ballet’, as well as ‘dance’, ‘film’, and ‘television’, can be used as uncountable nouns with a zero article to refer to the art form.

• ...supreme artists of dance and theatre.

• ...a very fine piece of cinema.

• Television can be an art medium.

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

1. He was a supreme master of ballet/ a ballet.

2. She has returned to a theatre/ the theatre after an absence of five years.

3. Our lives are dominated by television/ a television.

4. This town is boring. What we need is a cinema/ the cinema.

5. “You’re dressed up.” – “Yes, we’re going to opera/ the opera.”

6. Film/ The film is both a respected art form and a form of mass entertainment.

7. “What can we do tonight?” – “Well, we could go to movies/ the movies.”

8. What the American public wants in theatre/ the theatre is a tragedy with a happy ending. (W. D. Howells)

9. He took them to the royal box at opera/ the opera as guests of a minor princess of the House of Windsor. (W.S. Maugham)

10. I haven’t been to an open-air theatre/ open-air theatre before.

11. She’s got a diploma in dance/ the dance from the Performing Arts Academy.

12. I’ve got some tickets for a ballet/ the ballet. Interested?

13. The government doesn’t give enough money to arts/ the arts.

14. I was no good at art/ the art at school. What about you?

15. Are you interested in cinema/ the cinema?

Shops and Other Businesses

• Shops and other businesses that are regular features in towns or cities can be used with the definite article when you do not want to pick out a particular one.

• He might have been to the barber’s to please his mother.

• He’s at the dentist’s.

• It enables you to put money into the bank and withdraw it.

• Mother sent me to the butcher’s to get a nice joint of beef.

Some words like this are:

baker’s dentist’s hairdresser’s

bank doctor’s post office

barber’s greengrocer’s pub

• In these cases the activity is as important as the place. You go ‘to the post office’ to get some stamps, ‘to the bank’ to get some money, ‘to the barber’s/hairdresser’s’ to have your hair cut, ‘to the dentist’s’ to have your teeth filled, and so on.

• If you want to have a drink you can say ‘Let’s go to the pub’ without having a particular one in mind. But of course the difference is not always clear or important:

  • When he tired of painting he went to the pub.

This could mean one particular pub that we know about, or any pub; the important thing is that he needed a drink or some company.

Exercise 1. In some of the sentences below both the noun groups that are underlined are possible. In others only one is correct. Put a ring around the ones that are correct.

1. “I’m thirsty; let’s go to a pub/ the pub.”

2. Nowadays a hairdresser’s/ the hairdresser’s is a place where both men and women can have a haircut.

3. Don’t forget, you’re going to the doctor’s/ a doctor’s today.

4. I need some stamps; where can I find a post office/ the post office?

5. Our fear of the dentist’s/ a dentist’s starts when we are children.

6. It’s such a small village; you wouldn’t expect it to have a pub/ the pub.

7. Lord Charles Tamerley was the oldest and the most constant of Julia’s admirers, and when he passed a florist’s/ the florist’s he was very apt to drop in and order some roses for her. (W.S. Maugham)

8. I bought these buns at a baker’s/ the baker’s.

9. He might have been to the barber’s/ barber’s to please his mother.

10. It enables you to put money into the bank/ a bank and withdraw it.

11. Mother sent me to the butcher’s/ a butcher’s to get a nice joint of beef.

12. I bought some onions at a greengrocer’s/ the greengrocer’s.

13. Take these letters to the post office/ a post office, will you?