English Grammar
Basic Grammar -> Definite Articles
| 1. | Definite Article : |
|---|---|
| This is a definite article which comes under determiners, and is amongst the most frequently used words in English. | |
| We will list some of the cases or situations in which it is used: | |
| It is used to refer to something which is unique, or one of such a type exists. | |
| For example: | |
| The Pope gave a great speech yesterday | |
| There is only one Pope, and this is signified or indicated by the definite article 'the' used before it. | |
| The sun is hiding in the clouds today! | |
| As we know, there is only one Sun, so it is appropriate to introduce, or mention it by having a definite article before it to convey this oneness. | |
| The king of India was well known for his generosity. | |
| It indicates that there was only one king at that particular time. | |
| A definite article is also used before superlative adjectives, again indicating that only of such kind exists. | |
| For example: | |
| He is the smartest student in our class | |
| There can only be one who would be deemed the smartest. | |
| He is the tallest person in our family | |
| Again, there can be only one who can be considered the tallest. | |
| To refer to something we have already mentioned. | |
| This is similar to the only one thing, because we are referring to something or someone unique, i.e. just the one we have already mentioned. Thereby, we are being very particular and we intend to refer to only that entity. | |
| For example: | |
| A boy was running down the streets and he suddenly fell as he tried to avoid a collision. | |
| The boy was lucky that he did not suffer any serious injuries | |
| You could argue the necessity of this 'the', but with this determiner, it is indicated that we are not referring to just any boy, we refer to that one boy we just mentioned. Thus, it helps in removing this small ambiguity. | |
| To imply one trait or just something about all the entities referred to by the noun. | |
| For example: | |
| The dogs are often reliable. | |
| 'The' helps convey a trait which all the dogs have. | |
| The moms are always very emotional about their kids. | |
| The definite article helps say something about 'all the moms'. | |
| When we are referring to a system or service. | |
| For example: | |
| The fire brigade took just five minutes to arrive at the site. | |
| Did you listen to the radio last night? | |
| The police did a commendable job. | |
| When referring to a specific group of people. | |
| For example: | |
| The rich should do more charity. | |
| It's heartrending to see the poor suffer so much. | |
| She works to make lives of the orphans better. |