Legal Writing

Definitely use ?the? or ?a?

By Michael

When to use the indefinite article a and when to use the definite article the depends mostly on how specific you want to be. During a wedding ceremony the groom would say, ?Give me the ring! The wedding ring!? because he must have a particular ring, while a carpenter would say, “Hand me a nail? because he doesn’t care which nail in the box he uses. Usually the bigger problem is not whether to use a definite or indefinite article, but whether to use an article at all.

Here are the rules for when to use “A, An or The”:

a = indefinite article (not a specific object, one of a number of the same objects) with consonants

She has a dog.
I work in a factory.

an = indefinite article (not a specific object, one of a number of the same objects) with vowels (a,e,i,o,u)

Can I have an apple?
She is an English teacher.

the = definite article (a specific object that both the person speaking and the listener know)

The car over there is fast.
The teacher is very good, isn’t he?

The first time you speak of something use “a or an”, the next time you repeat that object use “the”.

I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.

DO NOT use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as “The United States”.

He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
They live in northern British Columbia.

Use an article with bodies of water, oceans and seas -

My country borders on the Pacific Ocean

DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about things in general

I like Russian tea.
She likes reading books.

DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about meals, places, and transport.

He has breakfast at home.
I go to university.
He comes to work by taxi.

Definitely use “the” or “a”

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on August 14, 2008 (boomark / email).