The

See: English Word, Function Word, Article.

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References

• http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the
  • Article
    • 1. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that the entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in the same sentence, or assumed already completely specified. Compare I’m reading a book with I’m reading the book.
      • The street in front of your house. (But compare a street in Paris)
      • The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird.
    • 2. When stressed, indicates that the object in question is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention.
      • That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery.
    • 3. Indicates all persons to whom an adjectival noun applies.
      • Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
    • 4. With a superlative, indicates the person or thing to which the superlative applies.
      • That apple pie was the best.
    • 5. Used as an alternative to a possessive pronoun before body parts.
      • A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”)
    • 6. Used with the name of a member of a class to refer to all things in that class.
      • The cat is a solitary creature. (= “All cats are solitary creatures.”)

• • Usage
    • As a general rule, country names are not preceded by the. There are a few exceptions, most of which are pluralised:
      • 1. The Netherlands
      • 2. The Bahamas
      • 3. The Solomon Islands
      • 4. The Maldives
      • 5. The Seychelles
      • 6. The Yemen (can also be used without an article)

• • • Names of countries containing specifications like kingdom, republic etc are used with the:
      • 1. The United States
      • 2. The United Kingdom
      • 3. The United Arab Emirates
      • 4. The Czech Republic

• • • Place names.
      • 1. All oceans (The Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean)
      • 2. All seas (The Red Sea, The Bering Sea, The Caribbean Sea), and straits (The Strait of Magellan, the Bering Strait, The Bosphorus)
      • 3. All rivers (The Amazon, The Nile, The Mississippi, The Seine, The Yangtze), canals (The Panama Canal, The Suez Canal) and deltas (The Nile Delta, The Orinoco Delta, The Colorado River Delta)
      • 4. All art galleries (The Tate, The Louvre, The Smithsonian American Art Museum), all museums with the word museum in the name (The National Museum of Natural History, The British Museums)
      • 5. Most English-language newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian, The Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal)

• • • When used before an adjective, which is not followed by a noun, it may refer to a group of people for which the adjective is appropriate:
      • the Scottish = Scots
      • the rich = rich people (considered as a group)

• • Trivia
    • The word “the” is the most common word in the English language.

• • Derived terms
    • nevertheless
    • nonetheless
    • the man
    • the one

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