One could think that mastering the most frequent word should be a piece of cake (very easy) for learners of English. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite is true. Both definite and indefinite articles, together with prepositions, are a nightmare for learners of English (and English teachers!). OK, maybe not a nightmare, but certainly one of those areas of English where foreign users make a lot of mistakes.
Firstly, the pronunciation of ‘the’ is difficult for us as there is one of those strange speech sounds – the consonant [ð]. You have to push the tip of your tongue hard against your upper teeth and pronounce [z]. I remember the lesson in which I was teaching eight-year-olds to pronounce this sound. It was really difficult for one little girl who had just lost her milk teeth, so instead of pronouncing [ð], she was producing an unidentifiable sound accompanied by loud spitting. (Otherwise she was really bright and the best student in her class.) Students don’t always fully realize that the definite article is pronounced differently before a consonant [ðә] and a vowel [ði/ði:]. However, people sometimes pronounce a stressed [ði:] even if the following word begins with a consonant – before a hesitation, or when they want to stress the following word.
Secondly, the usage of ‘the’ is problematic for us. I’m not going to explain all the rules – that’s what grammar books are for. I’ll just point out some special cases of using ‘the’. We normally don’t use ‘the’ with place nouns such as school, university, college, hospital, prison, church, etc. when they are being referred to as an institution, but we should use ‘the’ when we are talking about a particular building. Let me give you some examples from British English (some place nouns are used differently in American English): I first met my wife at school. (= when we were students) Let’s meet outside the school. (= outside the school building) Peter is in hospital. (= as a patient) I left my umbrella in the hospital. (= in the hospital building)
Another special case is the difference between ‘in the night’ and ‘at night’: I had to get up in the night. (= during one particular night) I often have to get up at night. (= during any night) It doesn’t work like this with the morning, afternoon or evening, though.
Here is another special case of using ‘the’ – the difference between ‘last month’ and ‘the last month’. Any ideas? Well, ‘last month’ is the month just before this one. So if you are reading this article in September, last month was August. ‘The last month’ is the period of thirty days up to the moment of speaking. For example, on 10 May, the last month is the period from 11 April to 10 May. It works like this with ‘(the) last week/year’ too, as well as with ‘(the) next week/month/year’. Compare the following pairs of sentences: 400 books have been sold in the last week. (= during the last seven days) 400 books were sold last week. (= during the previous week) The next year won’t be any easy. (= the twelve months starting now) Next year won’t be any easy. (= the year starting next January)
It is not the same thing when you are ‘in front of’ and ‘in the front of’ a place, vehicle, etc. Compare these two sentences: I stood in front of his car so that he couldn’t drive off. I prefer to travel in the front of the car. (= next to the driver) The rule is simple – if you are in front of something, you are outside it; if you are in the front of something, you are inside.
Should we use the definite article with means of transport? Well, it depends. We don’t use ‘the’ after the preposition ‘by’: by bus/car/plane, etc. (We left by plane for New York.), but we normally use either ‘a/an’ or ‘the’ after the prepositions ‘on’ and ‘in’: in a/the car, on a/the bus, etc. (I’ve never flown in a plane. I’ve never been on the plane.) By the way, I have always wondered why the English language uses the expression ‘on foot’ (We came on foot. = We walked.) when people actually use both their feet when they are walking (unless, of course, they had one of their feet or legs amputated).
So, that’s it for this issue. Don’t worry too much about ‘the’, even though it is the most frequent English word – there are hundreds of more interesting and useful things to do!
