a/an and the

Study this example:

Joe says a sandwich’, ‘an apple' because this is

I had a sandwich and an apple
for lunch.
the first time he talks about them.
The sandwich wasn’t very good, Joe now says ‘the sandwich’, ‘the apple’
butthe apple was nice. because we know which sandwich and
which apple he means -the sandwich and
the apple he had for lunch.

JOE

Compare a and the in these examples:

A man and a woman were sitting opposite me. The man was American, but I thinkthe
woman was British.
When we were on holiday, we stayed at a hotel. Sometimes we ate at the hotel and
sometimes we went to a restaurant.

B We use the when we are thinking of a specific thing. Compare a/an and the:
Tim sat down on a chair, (maybe one of many chairs in the room)
Tim sat down on the chair nearest the door, (a specific chair)
O Do you have a car? (not a specific car)
I cleaned the caryesterday. (= my car)
We use a/an when we say what kind of thing or person we mean. Compare:
We stayed at a very cheap hotel, (a type of hotel)
The hotel where we stayed was very cheap, (a specific hotel)

We use the when it is clear which thing or person we mean. For example, in a room we talk about the
light /the floor /the ceiling /the door /the carpet etc. :
O Can you turn off the light, please? (=the light in this room)
O I took a taxi to the station. (= the station in that town)
(in a shop) I’d like to speak to the manager, please. (=the manager of this shop)
We also say ‘(go to) the bank / the post office’:
O I have to go to the bank and then I’m going to the post office.
(The speaker is usually thinking of a specific bank or post office.)
and (go to) the doctor / the dentist’:
O Clare isn’t well. She’s gone to the doctor.
O I don’t like going to the dentist.
Compare the and a:
O I have to go to the bank today.
Is there a bank near here?
O I don’t like going to the dentist.
My sister is a dentist.

We say ‘once a week /three times a day / £1.50 a kilo’ etc. :

I go to the cinema about once a month.
'How much are those potatoes?’ ‘£1.50 a kilo.’
Helen works eight hours a day, six days a week.

1
 the 1
We use the when there is only one of something:
Have you ever crossed the equator?
(there is only one equator)
Our apartment is on the tenth floor.
Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina. THE EQUATOR-
\
I’m going away at the end of this month.
We use the + superlative (best, oldest etc.):
What’s the longest river in Europe?
Compare the and a/an (see also Units 71-72):
The sun is a star. (= one of many stars)
The hotel where we stayed was a very old hotel.
We live in an apartment on the tenth floor.
What’s the best way to learn a language?

B We say ‘the same’:

Your sweater is the same colour as mine. (not is same colour)
‘Are these keys the same?’ ‘No, they’re different.’

We say: the world the universe the sun the moon the earth
the sky the sea the ground the country (= not a town)
O I love to look at the stars in the sky. (not in sky)
O Do you live in a town or in the country?
The earth goes round the sun, and the moon goes round the earth.
We also use Earth (without the) when we think of it as a planet in space (like Mars, Jupiter etc.).
O Which is the planet nearest Earth?
We say space (without the) when we mean ‘space in the universe’. Compare:
O There are millions of stars in space, (not in the space)
O I tried to park my car, butthe space was too small.

T We say:
(go to) the cinema, the theatre
I go to the cinema a lot, but I haven’t been to the theatre for ages.
TV/television (without the), butthe radio
I watch TV a lot, but I don’t listen to the radio much.
but Can you turn off the television, please? (the television = the TV set)
the internet
O The internet has changed the way we live.

We usually say breakfast/lunch/dinner (without the):

What did you have for breakfast?
We had lunch in a very nice restaurant.
But we say ‘a big lunch’, ‘a wonderful dinner’, ‘an early breakfast’ etc.
We had a very nice lunch, (not We had very nice lunch)

We say: size 43, platform 5 etc. (without the)

Ourtrain leaves from platform 5. (not the platform 5)
Do you have these shoes in size 43? (not the size 43)
In the same way, we say: room 126, page 29, vitamin A, section B etc.

2
 the 2 (school / the school etc.)
Compare school and the school:

b
l *T
Ellie is ten years old. Every day she goes to Today Ellies motherwantstospeakto her
school. She’s at school now. School starts daughter’s teacher. So she has gone to the
at 9 and finishes at 3. school to see her. She’s at the school now.
We say a child goes to school or is at school Ellie’s mother is not a student. She is not ‘at
(as a student). We are not thinking of a specific school’, she doesn’t ‘go to school’. If she
school. We are thinking of school as a general wants to see Ellie’s teacher, she goes to the
idea - children learning in a classroom. school (= Ellie’s school, a specific building).

B We use prison (or jail), hospital, university, college and church in a similar way. We do not use the
when we are thinking of the general idea of these places and what they are used for.
Compare:

When I leave school, I plan to go O I went to the university to meet

to university / go to college Professor Thomas.
(as a student) (as a visitor, not as a student)
Joe had an accident last week. He was O Jane has gone to the hospital to visit
taken to hospital. He’s still in hospital Joe. She’s atthe hospital now.
now. (as a patient) (as a visitor, not as a patient)
Ken’s brother is in prison for robbery. O Ken went to the prison to visit his
(He is a prisoner. We are notthinking brother. (He went as a visitor, not as a
of a specific prison.) prisoner.)
Sarah’s father goes to church every O Some workmen went to the church to
Sunday, (fora religious service) repair the roof, (a specific building)

With most other places, you need the. For example, the station, the cinema (see Units 72C and 73D).

We say go to bed / be in bed etc. (not the bed):

O I’m going to bed now. Goodnight.
O Do you ever have breakfast in bed?
but
O I sat down on the bed. (a specific piece of furniture)
go to work / be at work / start work / finish work etc. [not the work):
O Chris didn’t go to work yesterday.
O What time do you usually finish work?
go home / come home / arrive home / get home / be (at) home / do something at home etc. :
O It’s late. Let’s go home.
O I don’t go out to work. I work at home.

3
 the 3 (children / the children)
When we are talking about things or people in general, we do not use the:
O I’m afraid of dogs, {not the dogs)
(dogs = dogs in general, not a specific group of dogs)
Doctors are usually paid more than teachers.
Do you know anybody who collects stamps?
C Life has changed a lot in the last thirty years.
Do you like classical music / Chinese food / fast cars?
My favourite sport is football/skiing/athletics.
t
My favourite subject at school was history/physics/English.
We say ‘most people / most shops / most big cities’ etc. (not the most . . .):
Most shops accept credit cards, (not The most shops)

B We use the when we mean specific things or people.

Compare:

In general (without the) Specific people or things (with the)

O Children learn from playing. ( We took the children to the zoo.
(= children in general) (= a specific group, perhaps the
speaker’s children)
O I couldn’t live without music. ( The film wasn’t very good, but I liked
the music. (=the music in the film)
O All cars have wheels. ( All the cars in this car park belong to
people who work here.
O Sugar isn’t very good for you. O Can you pass the sugar, please?
(= the sugar on the table)
O English people drink a lot oftea. ( The English people I know drink a lot
(= English people in general) oftea. (=only the English people I
know, not English people in general)

The difference between 'something in general’ and ‘something specific’ is not always very clear.
Compare:

In general (without the) Specific people or things (with the)

O I like working with people.
(= people in general)
G I like working with people who say O I like the people I work with.
what they think. (= a specific group of people)
(not all people, but ‘people who say
what they think’ is still a general idea)
G Do you like coffee?
(= coffee in general)
O Do you like strong black coffee? O The coffee we had after dinner
(not all coffee, but ‘strong black coffee’ is wasn’t very good. (= specific coffee)
still a general idea)

4
 the 4 (the giraffe / the telephone / the old etc.)
Study these sentences:
O The giraffe is the tallest of all animals.
3 The bicycle is an excellent means of transport.
C When was the camera invented?
O The dollar is the currency of the United States.
i*
In these examples, the . . . does not mean one specific thing.
The giraffe = a specific type of animal, not a specific giraffe. 1
We use the ... in this way to talk about a type of animal,
machine etc.
In the same way we use the for musical instruments:
C Can you play the guitar?
O The piano is my favourite instrument.
Compare a and the:
C I’d like to have a piano. but I can’t play the piano.
We saw a giraffe at the zoo. but The giraffe is my favourite animal.
Note that man (without the) = human beings in general, the human race:
Whatdoyou know aboutthe origins of man? (notthe man)

B the old, the rich etc.

We use the + adjective (without a noun) to talk about groups of people. For example:
the old the rich the homeless the sick
the elderly the poor the unemployed the injured
the old = old people, the rich = rich people etc. :
Do you thinkthe rich should pay higher taxes?
We need to do more to help the homeless.
Note that we say: the old (not the olds), the poor [not the poors) etc.
The rich, the homeless etc. are plural. For one person, we say:
a rich man [nota rich) a homeless person (not a homeless)

the French, the Chinese etc.

We use the + a few nationality adjectives that end in-ch or-sh. For example:
the French the Dutch the British the English the Spanish
The meaning isp/ura/-the people of that country.
Z) The French are famous for their food, (not French are .. .)

We do not say ‘a French’ or ‘an English’ (singular). For example, we say:

O I met a French woman / an English guy.
We also use the + nationality words ending in -ese or-ss. For example:
the Chinese the Portuguese the Swiss
These words can also be singular (a Chinese, a Swiss etc.).
With other nationality words, the plural ends in -s (usually without the). For example:
an Italian a Mexican -> Mexicans a Thai e> Thais
O Italians / Mexicans / Thais are very friendly.
In all cases you can use adjective + people. For example, you can say:
French / Chinese / Mexican people are very friendly.

5
 Names with and without the 1
We do not use the with names of people (‘Helen’, ‘Helen Taylor’ etc.). In the same way, we do
not use the with most names of places. For example:

continents Africa (not the Africa), South America

countries, states etc. France (not the France), Japan, Texas
islands Sicily, Tasmania
cities, towns etc. Cairo, Bangkok
mountains Everest, Kilimanjaro
But we normally use the in names with Republic, Kingdom, States etc. :
the Czech Republic the United Kingdom (the UK)
the Dominican Republic the United States of America (the USA)
Compare:
Have you been to Canada orthe United States?

B When we use Mr/Ms/Captain/Doctor etc. + a name, we do not use the. So we say:

Mr Johnson / Doctor Johnson / Captain Johnson / President Johnson etc. (not the . . .)
Uncle Robert /Saint Catherine /Queen Catherine etc. (not the...)
Compare:
O We called the doctor.
We called Doctor Johnson, (not the Doctor Johnson)
We use Mount (= mountain) and Lake before a name in the same way (without the):
Mount Everest (not the . . .) Mount Etna Lake Superior Lake Victoria
O They live nearthe lake.
They live near Lake Superior, (not the Lake Superior)

We use the with the names of oceans, seas, rivers and canals:
the Atlantic (Ocean) the Red Sea the Amazon
the Indian Ocean the Channel (between the Nile
the Mediterranean (Sea) France and Britain) the Suez Canal
We use the with the names of deserts:
the Sahara (Desert) the Gobi Desert

H We use the with plural names of people and places:

people the Taylors (= the Taylor family), the Johnsons
countries the Netherlands, the Philippines, the United States
groups of islands the Canaries (or the Canary Islands), the Bahamas
mountain ranges the Andes, the Alps, the Urals
The highest mountain in the Andes is (Mount) Aconcagua.

We say:
the north (of Brazil) but northern Brazil (without the)
the southeast (of Spain) but southeastern Spain
Compare:
Sweden is in northern Europe; Spain is in the south.
We also use north/south etc. (without the) in the names of some regions and countries:
North America South Africa southeast Asia
Note that on maps, the is not usually included in the name.

6
 Names with and without the 2
Names without the
We do not use the with names of most city streets/roads/squares/parks etc. :
Union Street (notthe . . .) Fifth Avenue Hyde Park
Abbey Road Broadway Times Square
Names of many public buildings and institutions (airports, stations, universities etc.), and also some
geographical names, are two words:
Manchester Airport Harvard University
The first word is the name of a place (‘Manchester’) ora person (‘Harvard’). These names are
usually without the. In the same way, we say:
Victoria Station (not the . . .) Canterbury Cathedral Edinburgh Castle
Buckingham Palace Cambridge University Sydney Harbour
Compare:
Buckingham Palace (not the . . .) but the Royal Palace
(‘Royal’ is an adjective - it is not a name like ‘Buckingham’.)

B Most other buildings have names with the. For example:

hotels the Sheraton Hotel, the Holiday Inn
theatres/cinemas the Palace Theatre, the Odeon (cinema)
museums the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery
other buildings the Empire State (Building), the White House, the Eiffel Tower
We often leave out the noun:
the Sheraton (Hotel) the Palace (Theatre) the Guggenheim (Museum)
Some names are only the + noun, for example:
the Acropolis the Kremlin the Pentagon

Names with of usually have the. For example:

the Bank of England the Museum of Modern Art
the Great Wall of China the Tower of London
Note that we say:
the University of Cambridge but Cambridge University (withoutthe)

Many shops, restaurants, hotels etc. are named after people. These names end in -’s or-s. We do not use
the with these names:
McDonald’s (not the ...) Barclays (bank)
Joe’s Diner (restaurant) Macy’s (department store)
Churches are often named after saints (St = Saint):
St John’s Church (not the . . .) St Patrick’s Cathedral

Most newspapers and many organisations have names with the:

the Washington Post the Financial Times the Sun (newspaper)
the European Union the BBC the Red Cross
Names of companies, airlines etc. are usually withoutthe:
Fiat (nofthe Fiat) Sony Singapore Airlines
Kodak IBM Yale University Press