13 Uses of 'THE' - Articles (a, an, the) - Lesson 2 - English Grammar

In this lesson, you will learn the 13 USES of THE. Also see - MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN ENGLISH & HOW TO AVOID THEM:    • 50 MOST COMMON MISTAKES in English Gr...  

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Transcript:
Welcome back. This is
lesson two of my series on
articles. If you haven’t
seen the first lesson, you
will find the link to the
full playlist below.
Alright, in this lesson, I
will show you 13 uses of
the definite article –
‘the’. As always, there’s
a quiz at the end to test
your understanding.
Use number one is
something we discussed in
the previous lesson. This
is also the most important
use.
Use 'the' to talk about a
person or thing known to
your listener.
For example, "Julie has a
nine-year-old son. The boy
wants to be an astronaut."
Here, I first say 'a
nine-year old son' because
you don't know him yet.
But once I have introduced
him in the sentence, I
then say 'The boy' because
he is now known to you.
Here's another example:
"Can you answer the
phone?" If I say this to
you, then there's probably
a phone ringing somewhere.
So the phone is already
known to you, and I say
'the phone'.
And finally, "This is the
watch that my sister gave
me for my birthday." This
example is a little
different because if I
stop with "This is the
watch" - you will be
confused because you don't
know the watch. But then
if I give you more
information about the
watch - it's the watch
that my sister gave me for
my birthday - so that way
it becomes known to you.
Let's now move on to use
number two: use 'the' with
unique things – that is,
where there is only one of
something. For example, we
say ‘the sun’ (because
there’s only one sun).
Similarly, ‘the moon’,
‘the sky’, ‘the world’,
‘the universe’ and so on.
Here are a couple of
sentences: "Everyone knows
that the sun rises in the
east." and "Rahul has
traveled all over the
world."
Some other things we
consider unique are ‘the
government’, 'the police',
'the Internet' and so on.
As in these sentences:
“The police are
investigating a murder in
our neighborhood.” and
“Almost everybody uses the
Internet today.”
OK the next use is with
some words referring to
nature or the environment
in a general way. These
are words such as the
countryside (which means
rural or village areas),
the town, the mountains,
the weather etc. For
example, "My son enjoys
spending time in the
countryside." It means my
son likes to spend time
relaxing in rural areas.
Here are a couple more
sentences: "We're going to
take a trip to the
mountains." and "I love
the weather in Los
Angeles."
Use number four is talking
about objects of common
experience like in the
expressions that you see
on the screen. We say that
these are objects of
common experience because
we all experience these in
our lives.
Have a look at this
example: "I met an
interesting man at the
park yesterday." You may
not know which park but it
doesn't matter - the park
is common experience.
In the same way "Did you
read the newspaper this
morning?" I don't care
which newspaper you read,
I just want to know if
read one today. Here's
another example: "Darren
likes to sing in the
shower."
We also use 'the ' with
some types of media
(including the word
'media' itself) and also
forms of entertainment.
For example, "I don't
listen to the radio a lot
these days." or “Pooja is
at the movies with her
friends." Note that 'at
the movies' means at a
movie theatre.
But it's important to note
that TV doesn't work this
way. You can use 'the'
with TV if you mean a
television set. Like "Will
you help me move the TV?"
But if you mean television
as a medium, then you say
'on TV' - as in "I saw a
documentary on TV today."
Not 'on the TV'. It's just
a crazy rule in English.
Let's move on to use
number five now. Use 'the'
with some time
expressions. You see these
on the screen - we always
use 'the' in these
expressions.
For example, "Kids hate
getting up early in the
morning.", "A friend of
mine got married the day
before yesterday." and "We
love to go swimming in the
summer."
We also say ‘the past’,
‘the present’ and ‘the
future’ probably because
there's only one past,
present and future. Like
in this sentence: "We must
learn our lessons from the
past and work towards the
future."
'The' is also found in
time expressions like ‘the
eighteenth century’, 'the
1960s' (or simply 'the
60s') and so on. For
example, "This house was
built by my grandfather in
the sixties."
Now you have to be a
little careful with time
expressions because there
are many that should be
used without articles. You
see some of these on the
screen. We will discuss
these more in the next
lesson when we talk about
where to use no article.
The next use is
superlative forms. These
are expressions like ‘the
best’, ‘the worst’, ‘the
biggest’, ‘the smallest’
and so on.