{"id":10604,"date":"2019-07-09T17:02:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T15:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=10604"},"modified":"2021-10-11T09:24:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T07:24:58","slug":"the-definite-article-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2019\/07\/the-definite-article-the\/","title":{"rendered":"The Definite Article: &#8216;The&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"p1\"><b><i>Level: Beginner-Intermediate<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/e\/2PACX-1vS5rL_uG3fuqil2BUKJhWRuttpbaRoBd30p792oXVxI1ntzjisKISvyUfktXMazlw6Dw3Q9WPtKQdWd\/embed?start=true&amp;loop=true&amp;delayms=10000\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"580\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Form of Article &#8220;the&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The definite article \u201c<strong>the<\/strong>\u201d is the most frequently used word in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-accent-background-color has-background\"><strong>the<\/strong> + NOUN<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We use the definite article in front of a noun when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he is referring to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Uses of the article &#8220;the&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The definite article &#8216;the&#8217; is used in the following cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>because there is <strong>only one<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>The<\/strong> sun is very bright.<br>Who is <strong>the<\/strong> president of Spain?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>because there is only one <strong>in that context<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>My family lives in a house next to <strong>the<\/strong> church. (= the church in our town)<br>Mom, can I borrow <strong>the<\/strong> car? (= the family\u2019s car)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>because it has <strong>already been mentioned<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>A young man&nbsp;tried to rob a jewelry shop in Tampa.&nbsp;<strong>The<\/strong> man used a big rock to smash the windows of the shop.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>with a <strong>superlative adjective<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>He is <strong>the<\/strong> tallest kid in our class.<br>It is <strong>the<\/strong> oldest house in the village.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>to talk about musical<strong> instruments and dances<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Jerry plays <strong>the<\/strong> guitar really well.<br>Can you do <strong>the<\/strong> foxtrot?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>to refer to a <strong>system or service<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>How long does it take on <strong>the<\/strong> train?<br>She heard it on <strong>the<\/strong> radio.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>with <strong>countries <\/strong>whose names include words like <strong>kingdom<\/strong>, <strong>states <\/strong>or <strong>republic<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>the<\/strong> United Kingdom<br><strong>the<\/strong> People\u2019s Republic of China<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>with <strong>countries<\/strong> which have <strong>plural<\/strong> nouns as their names<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>the<\/strong> Netherlands<br><strong>the<\/strong> Philippines<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>with geographical features, such as canals, oceans, groups of islands, seas, rivers, and mountain ranges<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>the<\/strong> Amazon<br><strong>the<\/strong> Himalayas<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>with&nbsp;works of art or well-known buildings<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>the<\/strong> Mona Lisa<br><strong>the<\/strong> Empire State Building<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>We <strong>do not&nbsp;use <\/strong>the definite article with names.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Robert Downey Jr.<\/strong> played <strong>Iron Man<\/strong>.<br><strong>Madrid<\/strong> is the capital of <strong>Spain<\/strong>.<br><strong>Japan<\/strong> is in <strong>Asia<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-primary-color has-subtle-background-background-color has-text-color has-background\"><em>Other English grammar lessons can be found <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/grammar-index\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Level: Beginner-Intermediate Form of Article &#8220;the&#8221; The definite article \u201cthe\u201d is the most frequently used word in English. the + NOUN We use the definite article in front of a noun when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he is referring to. Uses of the article &#8220;the&#8221; The definite article &#8216;the&#8217; is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Definite Article: &#039;The&#039; | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The definite article \u201cthe\u201d is the most frequently used word in English. 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