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THE
• When there is only one of something
 What is the longest river in the world?
 The earth goes round the sun and the moon goes round the
earth.
 Have you ever crossed the equator?
 I’m going away at the end of this month.
 Paris is the capital of France.
• Compare the and a/an:
 The sun is a star.
 The hotel we stayed at was a very nice hotel.
*Thus, we use a/an to say what kind of thing something is.

THE
• The sky
• The sea
• The ground
• The country (= not in a town)
• The environment
 We looked up at all the stars in the sky.
 Would you like to live in the country?
 We must do more to protect the environment.
• Compare the following uses of space:
 There are millions of stars in space.
 I tried to park my car, but the space was too small.
*Thus, we say space (without the) when we mean ‘space in the universe’.

THE
• The same
 Your jacket is the same as mine.
 Are these envelopes the same?
• The cinema, the theater
 I go to the cinema a lot, but I haven’t been to the theater for
ages.
*When we say the cinema/the theater, we do not necessarily
mean a specific cinema/theater.

THE
• The radio, the Internet
 We heard the news on the radio.
 Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?
• Compare the following uses of television:
 I watch television a lot.
 Can you turn off the television, please??
*Thus, we say the television when we mean ‘television set’.

THE
• Compare these sentences with the ones in the previous
slide:
 School begins at 9 A.M. and ends at 3 P.M.
 Ken’s brother is in prison for robbery.
 Joe had an accident last week. He’s in hospital now.
 What course are you taking at university?
 Sally’s father is a devout Catholic. He goes to church every day.
*Thus, we DON’T use the when we are thinking of the general idea
of places and what they are used for.

THE
Specific People or Things
 We took the children to the
zoo.
 The film wasn’t very good, but
I liked the music.
 All the cars in the car park
belong to people who work
here.
 Can you pass the sugar,
please? (= sugar on the table)
 The English people I know
drink a lot of tea.
General People or Things
 Children learn from playing.
 I enjoy listening to music.
 All cars have wheels.
 Sugar is bad for your health.
 English people drink a lot of
tea.
•For specific people or things

THE
• For a specific type of animal
 The giraffe is the tallest of all animals.
 The monkey-eating eagle can be found in the Philippines.
*Compare the and a/an:
 The giraffe is my favorite animal.
 We saw a giraffe at the zoo.

THE
• For a specific type of musical instrument
 Can you play the guitar?
 Sherry learned to play the piano at 11.
*Compare the and a/an:
 I can play the piano well.
 I’d like to have a piano.

THE
• The + adjective for groups of people
*The rich = rich people, the homeless = homeless people
 Do you think the rich should pay higher taxes?
 The government has promised to provide more money to help
the homeless.

THE
• For nationality adjectives ending in:
*-ch or –sh
The French are famous for their food.
The English like to drink tea.
The Spanish love bullfighting.
*-ese
The Chinese invented printing.
The Japanese have long life spans.

THE
• For names of places with Republic, Kingdom,
and States
the Czech Republic
the United Kingdom (the UK)
the United States of America (the USA)
• For plural names of people and places

THE
• For the names of oceans, seas, rivers, and canals
 the Atlantic (Ocean)
 the Indian Ocean
 the Mediterranean (Ocean)
 the Red Sea
 the Amazon
 the Nile
 the Suez Canal
• For the names of deserts
 the Sahara (Desert)
 the Gobi Desert

THE
With the
 the north of Brazil
 the southeast of Italy
 the Middle East, the Far East
Without the
 northern Brazil
 southeastern Italy
 North America, South Africa,
etc.
•For compass points/regions
Compare the following:

THE
• For most buildings
*We often leave out the noun:
 the Sheraton (Hotel)
 the Place (Theatre)
 the Guggenheim (Museum)
*Some names are only the + noun:
 the Acropolis
 the Kremlin
 the Pentagon

THE
• For names with of
 the Bank of England
 the Great Wall of China
 the Museum of Modern Art
 the Tower of London
*Compare the following:
 the University of Cambridge
 Cambridge University
*If the first word is the name of a place (e.g., Manchester) or a person
(e.g., Harvard), we DON’T usually use the.
 Victoria Station
 Buckingham Palace
 Canterbury Cathedral
 Edinburgh Castle
 Sydney Harbour

THE
• For most newspapers and many organizations
 Newspapers: the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Sun
 Organizations: the European Union, the BBC (= British
Broadcasting Corporation, the Red Cross)
*But names of companies, airlines, etc. are usually WITHOUT the.
 Kodak
 Sony
 IBM
 British Airways
 Yale University Press

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