use of The

Question

Why it sounds better to say, "We will see after School" than "We will see after the School". how you can tell when to use 'The' ?   Thanks

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymous~~We will see after School~~

You need one of these:

We will meet after school.
We will see each other after school.

'the school' refers to the school building.

Let's meet behind the school.
We can see each other in front of the school.

'school' refers to school activities, the school day.

'before school' and 'after school' are times.
'behind the school' and 'in front of the school' are places.

When should we meet?
After school.

Where should we meet?
In front of the school.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

"We will see you after school." is correct. "We will see you after the school." is not correct. It is very difficult for a non-native speaker to know when to use the article and when not to. You just have to learn the myriad situations by experience, as there are really no rules that cover all of them. Native speakers know all of the situations by instinct, having grown up with the language.

A general rule for articles that I myself have devised for non-native speakers is: when in doubt, put the article in, even if you make a grammatical error, because having an extraneous article sounds much less bad than leaving one out. For example, if you say, "We will see you after the school.", that's wrong, but it doesn't sound too bad. English, especially American-style English is an article-heavy language (Americans love their articles), so the odds are in your favor if you put the article in when in doubt. If you have an extraneous article, at least this shows you understand that English is an article-heavy language.

Suppose that you say, for example, "This is best school in the state.", this sounds really bad. There should be a "the" before "school." Making an error like this shows a lack of understanding of the article-heavy nature of English. So when in doubt, always put the article in.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks !

use of The

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