13 Work individually. Study the information about the article and do exercises afterwards. The Article

Definite Article (the)

1. The definite article the is used when we are referring to something specific or already mentioned. It is used:

• In front of a singular countable noun

e.g. Give me the apple.

• In front of plural countable nouns

e.g. The apples I bought weren’t very ripe.

• In front of uncountable nouns if they are specified

e.g. The water from the bathroom tap is not very nice to drink.

2. Other uses of the:

• when there is only one of something,

e.g. the sun, the Prime Minister, the Pacific Ocean

• before cinema/theatre/radio

e.g. We went to the cinema last night.

( But you cannot say We watched the television.)

• when referring to a species or an invention

e.g. The whale is almost extinct.

Alexander Bell invented the telephone.

• in front of nationality words

e.g. the Canadians, the Japanese

• with some adjectives when referring to the group in general

e.g. the old, the young, the rich, the poor, the sick, the unemployed

• with superlatives

e.g. It’s the biggest theatre in Moscow.

• with names of newspapers

e.g. The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail

• with countries, regions or groups of islands which are plural

e.g. The USA, the Netherlands, the Bahamas, The Middle East

• with names of oceans, seas, rivers and canals

e.g. the Atlantic Ocean, the River Mississippi, the Corinth Canal (but not lakes)

• with mountain ranges, areas and deserts

e.g. the Andes, the Alps, the Himalayas; the west of Siberia; The Sahara Desert

• with names of hotels, pubs, restaurants, museums, art galleries, cinemas, theatres, ships

e.g. The Oriental Hotel, the Prado, the Odeon, the Piccadilly Theatre, The QE2

• with buildings and places containing the word of

e.g. the Great Wall of China

• with musical instruments, dances

e.g. the flute, the samba

• with names of families or groups

e.g. the Smiths, the Beatles

• with a part of smb’s body

e.g. She hit him on the ear =his ear).

• with titles (but the is omitted before titles with proper names)

e.g. The President, the Prince of Wales, the Queen (but Queen Elizabeth II)

• historical reference/ events

e.g. The French Revolution, the Second World War (but: World War II)

• with smb we visit regularly

e.g. She’s gone to the doctor/the dentist.

• with the words: beach, cinema, theatre, city, coast, country(side), earth, ground, jungle, radio, pub, sea(side), sky, station, shop, village, weather, environment, world, etc. but not before ‘man’(=people).

Note: the is optional with seasons.

We say space (without the) when we mean ‘space in the universe’.

• with the words morning, afternoon, evening, night

e.g. I went to the shop to buy bread. (but: at night, at noon, at midnight, by day/night, at 5 o’clock etc).

• with only, last, first (used as adjectives).

e.g. Alex is the first to come and the last to leave.