Use of ‘THE’
Sometimes people tend to use ‘THE’ unnecessarily in sentences without any consideration where it is not required, and the meaning of the sentence completely changes because of unnecessary use of articles and preposition so we should not overlook these errors. Let’s see the correct use of ‘THE’ here.
We use ‘THE’ when we speak of a particular person, things already referred to:
The Girl standing there is my sister.
Let’s see some cases for correct use of ‘THE’:
- With the Name of Oceans, island, gulf, river and mountains:
e.g. The Himalaya, The Persian Gulf, The Andaman Islands, The Ganga river
- With certain Books:
e.g. The Vedas, The Bible, The Ramayana, The Kuran
- With Musical instruments:
e.g. The flute, The violin, The Tabla,
- With Religious Group:
e.g. The Hindus, The Sikhs, The Muslims
- Before the Names of Newspapers:
e.g. The Hindu, The Times of India, The Economic Times
- Names enforcing Law:
e.g. The Police, The Navy, The Air Force
- With the name of Political parties:
e.g. The Congress, The B.J.P, The R.J.D
- With the Name of Clubs, Foundation etc. :
e.g. The Lion’s Club, The Premji Foundation
- Before Names of an empire, dynasty or historical events:
e.g. The Old Stone Age, The First World War, The Green Revolution
- Before Common Nouns denoting unique thins:
e.g. The Sun, The Moon, The World, The Stars
- Before an Adjective when the noun is understood:
Example:
- We must not shun the disabled.
- The poor would favour him.
- Before the comparative degree:
Example:
- The more you get, the more you want
- He is the faster of the two.
- with the Superlative degree:
Examples:
- He is the strongest contestant of this Olympic.
- She is the most beautiful girl in this group.
- Prizes would be given for the most outstanding performances.
- With the ordinals:
Examples:
- She lives in the tenth block.
- My office is on the third floor
- I took the first taxi that came in my way