The

PleaseMay said:

Hello I tutor ESL students I currently have one student and she is doing commendably well. However there is just one question I can't answer for her when to use the word "the". Does anyone know the "The" rules or any tips or tricks?

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"The" is a part of speech called an article. Usage:

article A word that indicates that the word which follows it is a noun and that specifies the noun’s application. The indefinite articles are a and an. The definite article is the.

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From The American Heritage Book of English Usage.

How about telling her it's for when you want to be more specific. For instance, "Go to the table" not "Go to a table."
Or "Give the book to Jack" not "Give a book to jack."

Line up a group of books to illustrate those last sentences. The book is one particular book from that group. A book is any book from that group.

Use "the" when you use a common noun to refer to a specific thing.

A common noun all by itself doesn't refer to any specific animal. The word "cat," all by itself, doesn't refer to any specific cat. So you need some other word to clarify which cat you're talking about.

Suppose you want to refer to a single cat. If you don't know its unique identity, or if you don't care to say which unique cat it was, you can say "a cat" to indicate a single, unidentified cat. You can say "A cat jumped off the table" in order to refer to a cat without specifying which cat it was.

If it's important to refer to a specific cat, you have to do two things. First, introduce the cat into the conversation. "A cat jumped off the table" tells us that there was a cat. Once you've introduced the cat, you can refer to it by saying "the cat."

"A cat jumped off the table. The cat went to the refrigerator and meowed." In the first sentence, we introduce some previously unspecified cat. In the second sentence, the word "the" says that we're referring to the specific cat that we have previously identified as a main topic of conversation. In this case, "the cat" refers specifically to the cat that jumped off the table.

"A" is called the indefinite article. Indefinite means that we have not yet defined which cat we're talking about.

"The" is the definite article. That means that we have defined which cat we're talking about.

Dale

PleaseMay said:

Hello I tutor ESL students I currently have one student and she is doing commendably well. However there is just one question I can't answer for her when to use the word "the". Does anyone know the "The" rules or any tips or tricks?

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Duncan and Dale, you make very good points. But the OP is teaching ESL students (English as a Second Language). The students may not be at the stage of understanding the concept at a higher level of the english language.

What's her first language? I think that might be the starting point. Some languages don't have articles, but you can figure out an equivalent.

A suggested rough rule of thumb:

If the object is something you don't know exists, or haven't seen before, and it's the first time you encounter it, use "a" (or "an"). (Also, "a" may be used to refer to just one of many similar objects.)

Once you know an object exists or you have seen it, use "the"

Fun example, let's call this "Man On Train"

• The train took him into town. (he already knows the train exists, he's on it)
• He arrived at the train station. (he knows this station exists even if he hasn't been here before)
• He hailed a taxi cab. (the taxi is "one of many" taxi cabs)
• He told the driver to take him to a hotel. (he saw the driver when he hailed the taxi, or knows the taxi comes with a driver / the hotel is "one of many" hotels)
• The taxi took him to the hotel. (he's familiar with the taxi now / now he knows which hotel, he's on his way there)
• At the hotel, he paid the driver. (he already knows the hotel and the driver)
• He went to the reception desk. (all hotels have reception desks, he already knows it exists)
• He said hello to the desk clerk. (he already saw the clerk, or knew there would be a clerk)
• He rented a room. (this is "one of many" hotel rooms)
• He went upstairs and found the room. (he knows this particular room is his room, the number is probably on his key)
• He unlocked and opened the door. (he already saw the door when he arrived)
• He saw a bed, a table with a lamp, a chair and a wardrobe. (he's seeing these objects for the first time)
• He turned on the lamp. (he already saw the lamp)
• The hotel room had a bathroom. (he already knows the hotel room / he didn't know this until now)
• The bathroom looked very clean. (he now knows the bathroom exists)
• He opened the wardrobe and hung up his coat. (he already saw the wardrobe)
• He lay down on the bed. (he already saw the bed)
• The mattress felt lumpy. (the mattress is part of the bed he already saw)
• He fell asleep anyway. (a happy ending )

Any help?

-Derek

In my days of teaching ESL, I often found that students whose first languages didn't have articles (Chinese, for instance) were mystified by when to use "the" and when to use "a"--dpaterso's rules are really helpful in those cases.

And I also found that students whose first languages do have articles were mystified by the somewhat arbitrary way English uses articles in relationship to abstract concepts: Superman, for instance, fights for "truth, justice, and the American way"--why not "the truth" or "the justice"? my students would ask. And why "the American way," since that's just as abstract as "truth"?

IceCreamEmpress said:

In my days of teaching ESL, I often found that students whose first languages didn't have articles (Chinese, for instance) were mystified by when to use "the" and when to use "a"--dpaterso's rules are really helpful in those cases.

And I also found that students whose first languages do have articles were mystified by the somewhat arbitrary way English uses articles in relationship to abstract concepts: Superman, for instance, fights for "truth, justice, and the American way"--why not "the truth" or "the justice"? my students would ask. And why "the American way," since that's just as abstract as "truth"?

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Mainly because, in my humble opinion, "truth" and "justice" are being used as "universals" in the Superman example, and "The American Way" is being defined.

Much as "the American Way" is comprized of "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet." Those items are all baseball, all hot dogs, all apple pies, and all Chevrolets -- there is no need to define an indifinite or a definite example.

Duncan J Macdonald said:

Mainly because, in my humble opinion, "truth" and "justice" are being used as "universals" in the Superman example, and "The American Way" is being defined.

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This is a good explanation! I wish I had thought of it then.

My answer was that "the American way" was only one way--there could be a "Canadian way" or a "French way" or what have you--but "truth" and "justice" were universals.

Yours is better.