English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

B3.5 The definite article: other uses
B3 Articles
Section B Development

Before moving on we should note some other uses of the definite article which are not part of the specific reference described above:

i) How shall we get there? Let’s take the bus. - institutions

j) The lion is a dangerous animal. - formal generic (see below)

k) We must help the poor. - generic adjectives (see below)

l) You’re asking the impossible. - = ’something which is . . .’

m) The more the merrier. - with comparatives

n) The Times - with proper nouns

Activity B3.2

Read this old joke. It comes from a time when televisions were big solid objects. You may not find it funny but try to work out the two uses of the definite article which the joke relies on.

A. ’I’m fed up with all this fighting on the television.’

B. ’Why?’

A. ’I keep falling off.’

Activity B3.3

Consider this pedagogic rule:

The first time you mention something you use ’a’, and the second time you use ’the’.

Look at the following text from an Agatha Christie novel and find all the references (including pronouns) to a dog. Do they support the ’rule’? Why/why not?

1. ’Did they have a dog?’

2. ’I beg your pardon?’

3. ’I said did they have a dog? General and Lady Ravenscroft. Did they take a dog

4. for that walk with them on the day that they were shot? The Ravenscrofts.’

5. They had a dog - yes’ said Garroway. I suppose, I suppose they did take him

6. for a walk most days.’

7. ’If it had been one of Mrs Oliver’s stories,’ said Spence, ’you ought to have found

8. the dog howling over the two dead bodies, but that didn’t happen.’

This passage basically does not support the ’rule’, even though it is a narrative, where participants are typically introduced and then referred to again. This is the use described in c) above, but note the careful way in which the example is phrased, with two possible referents (cake and roll).

So generally the rule is not true, because:

1. the is commonly used for first mention (see all the other specific uses described above):

Where’s the sugar?

2. For ’second’ mention, pronouns are the logical choice (as in the passage):

I bought a clock on Friday and on Saturday it stopped going.

If there is a gap and the reference is not clear then the may be used. Writers can also use the to avoid repeating a pronoun too much.

3. Lack of specificness can continue into the second mention (as in the passage):

Darren wants a bike for his birthday but I don’t think a bike is a good idea.