Definite article

Question

I have a problem in definite article when dealing with these specific occasions.

6: I like ____ food.(Arabian/ the Arabian)
8: Do you like ___ cheese?(Stilton/the Stilton)
9: We went for a walk in ___.(park/ the park)
15: I don't go to ____ very often(theatre/the theatre)
17: What did you have for ____?(dinner/the dinner)
18: I'm going to ___ to get some cash.(bank/the bank)
20: It's the first road on ____.(right/the right)
Please explain each sentence accordingly. Thanks

Nestor · Accepted Answer

Atesttaker-

6. I like Arabian food. This sentence means that I like Arabian food in a general way; if you gave me some, I'd eat it. If I said "I like the Arabian food," it could mean that I was at a restaurant where many different types of food were available. Ex. "Do you like the Persian food here?" "No, but I really like the Arabian food." Make sense?

8. I like Stilton cheese. This is the same type of sentence as #6--I like Stilton cheese in general. "I like the Stilton cheese" is more specific, as if a dairy offered all kinds of cheese, and I thought the Stilton was the best. Again, you'd have to be somewhere looking at all the varieties of cheese for this sentence to be correct.

17 is similar to the previous two. 'The dinner' is something you're looking at right then and there. 'Dinner' is the big meal of the day.

9. We went for a walk in the park. Always use the article with park if you're talking about the nice green place in the city. I'll make the explanation easy: 'in park' refers to only one thing, a gear of a car. You have 'drive', 'reverse', 'neutral', and 'park'. 'In park' means that the car won't move. That's the only time you would use that expression.

20. It's the first road on the right. I don't really know why, but 'left' and 'right' usually have a definite article. 'On right' could mean 'on correctly', as in 'do you have your head on right?'

Nestor

Atesttaker · Answer

Thanks for the detailed answer Nestor but i am still confused in the last question. My book says that do not use article with the directions (south,east,north,left right etc) but here you have to use the definite article. Can you please explain why?

Nestor · Answer

OK, I understand your confusion. You don't use definite articles with directions. I would say "go left, then right" or "go south." But in your example sentence, 'right' is more like a location than a direction--it's a specific place, like the bank, the store, the theater, or the park. The same holds true for north, south, east, and west. "Go west to get to the west." 'West' is the direction, whereas 'the west' is the location. Never use the definite article with 'straight'. It can only be a direction.

I'll make matters worse by telling you that 'take a right' (or left) is an idiomatic expression that uses the indefinite article, but means the same thing as 'go right'. You cannot use this expression with anything other than left and right.

Chris · Answer

Well explained Nestor!

Atesttaker · Answer

Thanks it was indeed a good explanatory answer Nastor.

Anonymous · Answer

Arabian

Stilton

the park

the theatre

the dinner

bank

NO Articles for speakining in general , noun followed by number, name of cuntries- cities- continents - mountains usually have no articles but if they r plural we use THE

rivers, seas, oceans = have THE

Public buildings, theatres, restaurants, hotels cinemas = have THE

THE + adjective (for talk about group of people)

Hope this helps u ...

Thx....... Husam

Anonymous · Answer

Can we say "The Lebanon" ???

Mister Micawber · Answer

.
Not if you are speaking of the English name of the country, which is Lebanon.
.

Anonymous · Answer

arabian

stilton

the park

the theatre

dinner

the bank

the right

Definite article

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