The definite article "the" is used: 1) When the person you are talking to knows which specific person or thing is being referred to 2) When referring back to something already mentioned 3) When specifying which person or thing is being talked about using a qualifier like a prepositional phrase or relative clause

1. Main Uses of ‘The’

2. Main Uses of ‘The’
• ‘The’ is called an definite article, and is the
commonest determiner.
• You use ‘the’ when the person you are
talking to knows which person or thing you
mean.
• You can use ‘the’ in front of any noun,
whether it is a singular count noun, an
uncount noun, or a plural count noun.

3. Main Uses of ‘The’
• Examples:
She dropped the can.
I remember the fun I had with them.
The girls were not at home.

4. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You use ‘the’ with a noun when you are
referring back to someone or something that
has already been mentioned.
I called for a waiter … … The waiter with a
moustache came.
I have bought a house in Wales … … The
house is in an agricultural area.

5. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You use ‘the’ with a noun and a qualifier,
such as a prepositional phrase or a relative
clause, when you are specifying which
person or thing you are talking about.
I’ve no idea about the geography of
Scotland.
The book that I recommended now costs
over three pounds.

6. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You use ‘the’ with a noun and a qualifier,
such as a prepositional phrase or a relative
clause, when you are specifying which
person or thing you are talking about.
I’ve no idea about the geography of
Scotland.
The book that I recommended now costs
over three pounds.

7. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You use ‘the’ with a noun when you are
referring to something of which there is only
one in the world.
They all sat in the sun.
We have landed men on the moon.
The sky was a brilliant blue.

8. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You also use ‘the’ when you are referring to
something of which there is only one in a
particular place.
Mrs Robertson heard that the church had
been bombed.
He decided to put some words on the
blackboard.

9. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You can use ‘the’ with a singular count noun
when you want to make a general statement
about all things of that type. For example, if
you say ‘The whale is the largest mammal in
the world’, you mean all whales, not one
particular whale.
The computer allows us to deal with a lot of
data very quickly.
My father’s favorite flowers is the rose.

10. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You can use ‘the’ with a singular count noun
when you are referring to a system or
service. For example, you can use ‘the
phone’ to refer to a telephone system and
‘the bus’ to refer to a bus service.
I don’t like using the phone.
How long does it take on the train?

11. Main Uses of ‘The’
• You can use ‘the’ with the name of a musical
instrument when you are talking about
someone’s ability to play the instrument.
‘You play the guitar, I see,’ said Simon.
Geoff plays the piano very well.