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Rain Lover Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Extra "the" in "In the evening, my mother and I cooked the dinner"


My name's Elsie Jackson. I'm eighty-nine years old. I was at school eighty years ago! Every morning I helped my mother. We lived on a farm, and sometimes I milked the cows. I walked eight kilometers to school. School started at eight o'clock. I learned reading, writing and math. And then I walked home with all my brothers and sisters. In the evening, my mother and I cooked the dinner. We didn’t watch TV, but we played games.
SOURCE

Shouldn't it be:


In the evening, my mother and I cooked dinner.
  

Top answer

Both are OK. It is of little importance.

— Mister Micawber

  • Both are OK.
  • It is of little importance.
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4 Answers
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Both are OK. It is of little importance.
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Why should we use a definite article when we're not talking about a specific dinner? She's talking about the meal they cooked and ate in the evening in general.
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Because there there is only one dinner per family per day.
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Mister MicawberBecause there there is only one dinner per family per day.
That's what happens in all families everywhere, but

We do not normally use the with breakfast/lunch/dinner:
  • What did you have for breakfast?
  • We had lunch in a very nice restaurant.
Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Us
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