Today we're looking at articles; the words 'a' 'an' and 'the' and we're concentrating on the definite article 'the'. Let's look at 4 rules: Firstly, to refer to something or someone both speakers in a conversation know about: Helen: Have you got any kids? Diarmuid: Yeah, a girl and a boy. The girl's 10 and the boy is 7. At the beginning of the sentence, Diarmuid says 'a' girl and 'a' boy because this is the first time he's talking about his children. Later he says 'the girl' and 'the boy' because now Helen knows which children Diarmuid is talking about. Secondly, we use 'the' before seas, rivers, and groups of mountains or islands. Example 1: the Atlantic Example 2: the Nile Example 3: the Himalayas Example 4: the Philippines Thirdly, we use 'the' if there is only one of these people or things: Example 1: the BBC Example 2: the Taj Mahal Example 3: the moon And finally, we use 'the' before superlative adjectives Example 1: the smallest Example 2: the prettiest Example 3: the most expensive So to recap, we use 'the' when both the speaker and listener know about the person or thing being discussed, before the names of some areas of geography, if there is only one of these people or things and before superlative adjectives. That's all from me, good luck with your grammar challenge! ...
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