The (1)

UNIT 68   The (1)
 

A.   We say the . . . when there is only one of something:

• What is the longest river in the world? (There is only one longest river in the world.)

• We went to the most expensive restaurant in town.

• The only television program she watches is the news.

• Paris is the capital of France.

• Everybody left at the end of the meeting.

• The earth goes around the sun. (also: the moon/ the world/ the universe)

B.   We say: the sea        the sky          the ground           the city/the country

• Would you rather live in the city or in the country?

• Don't sit on the ground! It's wet.

• We looked up at all the stars in the sky

We say go to sea/be at sea (without the) when the meaning is go/be on a voyage:

• Ken is a seaman. He spends most of his life at sea.  

but: I would love to live near the sea. (not near sea)
We say space (not the space) when we mean space in the universe.

• There are millions of stars in space (not in the space) 

 but: He tried to park his car, but the space wasn't big enough.                       

C.   Movies       theater           radio              television

We say the movies/the theater:

• We went to the movies last night.

• Do you often go to the theater?

Note that when we say the theater, we do not necessarily mean one particular theater.

We usually say the radio:

• We often listen to the radio.

• I heard the news on the radio.

But we usually say television. (without the):

• We often watch television.

• I watched the news on television.

but: Can you turn off the television, please? (= the television set)

D.    Meals: We do not normally use the with the names of meals:

• What time is lunch?

• We had dinner in a restaurant.

• What did you have for breakfast?

• Ann invited me to (or for) dinner.

But we say a meal:

• We had a meal in a restaurant.

We also say a when there is an adjective before lunch/breakfast, etc.

• Thank you. That was a very nice lunch. (not that was very nice lunch)