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We use A before words that begin with a consonant sound:
a university, a European, a one parent family
We use AN before words that begin with a vowel sound:
an orange, an Italian, an honor, an heir
Abbreviations said as individual letters that begin with A, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, O, R, or X:
an MP, an IOU
But compare abbreviations said as words:
a NATO general, a FIFA official
We use THE when we are thinking of one particular thing.
Compare a / an and the:
Alan sat down on a chair. (perhaps one of many chairs in the room)
Alan sat down on the chair nearest the door. (a particular chair)
Did Sue get the job she applied for? (a particular job)
Have you got a car? (not a particular car)
I cleaned the car yesterday. (my car)
We use the when there is only one of something:
What is the longest river in the world?
The earth goes around the sun and the moon goes around the earth.
But we use a / an to say what kind of thing something is.
Compare the and a:
The sun is a star.
The motel we stayed at was a very nice motel.
We do NOT usually use THE with the names of meals:
What did you have for breakfast?
We had lunch in a very nice restaurant.
What time is dinner?
When we are talking about things or people in general, we do not use the:
Life has changed a lot in the last 20 years.
Sugar isn’t very good for you.
BUT
Can you pass the sugar, please? (the sugar on the table)
The difference between something in general and something in particular is not always very clear.
Look at these sentences:
In general (without the) Particular people or things (with the)
I like working with people who are I like the people I work with
THE + adjective
We use the + adjective (without a noun) to talk about groups of people, especially:
the young the old the elderly
the rich the poor the unemployed the homeless
the sick the disabled the injured the dead
THE + nationality
You can use the with some nationality adjectives to mean “the people of that country”.
For example: the Spanish, the Dutch, the British, the Irish, the Welsh
We do not use the with names of people (Ann, Ann Taylor etc.). In the same way, we do not normally use the with names of places.
But we use the in collective or plural names of countries: the United States, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom
We use the with names of many geographical features: the Thames, the Alps, the Arctic
We do not use the with names of most streets / roads / squares / parks etc: Rodeo Drive, Central Park
Many names (especially names of important buildings and institutions) are two words:
Kennedy Airport, Cambridge University
The first word is usually the name of a person (Kennedy) or a place (Cambridge). We do not usually use the with names like these.
But we say the White House and the Royal Palace, because “white” and “royal” are not names like “Kennedy” and “Cambridge”.