the theContents
| Introduction | What does 'the' do? |
| Section 1 | Why we use 'the' |
| Section 2 | Difference between 'the' and when there is no article |
| Section 3 | Exercises |
| Introduction | What does 'the' do? |
Q: First, what's difference between what Robert and Jasmine says? Click their faces to find out what they really mean.
| Robert : | Well, love is a reason I want to marry you Jasmine. |  |
| Jasmine : | The reason I want to get married to you is love. |  |
We saw in Lesson 1 that we use a when the focus is on nonspecific things. Robert's reason for marrying is nonspecific because he has several other reasons Jasmine does not know about (nonspecific for Jasmine).
For Jasmine on the other hand, love is the specific reason for marrying Robert. There is no
other reason for her.
 We use the if the focus is on specific things. |
 What is specific? |
| click to find out |
Lesson 2 will look more at what the does to the meaning of sentences.
| Section 1 | Why we use ‘the’ |
1) “Let’s go to the party tonight!”
By using the, I'm talking about a specific party about which I think you know about too.
2) Peter sat on an empty box. The box collapsed under his weight.
Here, the box is the specific box mentioned before (the empty one).
Q: Try to complete the following sentences. Choose between a, an or the.
| 1 | Excuse me, do you have ...... envelope you could give me? |  |
| 2 | (During dinner） Pass me ..... salt please, thank you. | |
3 |
It's started raining. Let's go back to ....... hotel. | |
| 4 |
Did you know, last night Tom found ...... cat sitting outside his window in the rain. Tom named ........ cat Boots. |
|
The focuses on a specific thing. There are no other choices with the.
| Section 2 | Difference between ‘the’ and when there is no article |
You may have learnt that you do not use articles with abstract concepts.
When there is no article, things can be treated as an abstract concept.
For example;
| I love chicken! |
|
The above example would mean, I love eating chicken meat, and not a specific one.
Q: What is the difference between the next two remarks? Imagine what Mary's
answer might be to find out the difference in meaning. Click on Mary's
face for the answers.
| 1 | Tom: "Do you like chicken?" | Mary: "No, ................" |  |
| 2 | Tom: "Do you like the chicken?" | Mary: "No, ................" | |
By the way, we would not say "Do you like a chicken?" because
we are asking about chicken meat (an abstract concept) rather than focussing
on a nonspecific chicken. So, we just say "Do you like chicken?"
Q: What is the difference between the next two remarks? .
| 1 | I don't like noise. | |
| 2 | I don't like the noise. | |
| Section 3 | Exercises |
to see the answers.