Look at these examples to see when the is and isn't used.
I'm going to bed.
I walk to work.
My children are going to start school.
I visited the school yesterday.
Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Grammar explanation
Here are some ways we use articles in common phrases and place names.
Common phrases
We don't usually use an article in expressions with bed, work and home.
go to bed / be in bed
go to work / be at work / start work / finish work
go home / be at home / get home / stay at home
We also don't normally use an article in expressions with school, university, prison and hospital.
start school / go to school / be at school
go to university / be at university
be sent to prison / go to prison / be in prison
go to hospital / be in hospital
But we usually use the if someone is just visiting the place, and not there as a student/prisoner/patient, etc.
My son has started school now. I went to the school to meet his teacher.
I went to the prison a lot when I was a social worker.
I'm at the hospital. My sister has just had a baby.
Place names
We don't normally use an article for continents, most countries, cities, towns, lakes, mountains or universities. So, we say:
Africa, Asia, Europe
India, Ghana, Peru, Denmark
Addis Ababa, Hanoi, New York, Moscow
Lake Victoria, Lake Superior, Lake Tanganyika
Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Elbrus
Cardiff University, Harvard University, Manchester University
Some countries are different. Country names with United have the. There are other countries which are exceptions too. So, we say:
the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America
the Bahamas, the Gambia
Seas and oceans, mountain ranges and rivers have the:
the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Mediterranean
the Andes, the Himalayas, the Alps
the Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze
Universities with of in the title also have the:
the University of Cape Town, the University of Delhi, the University of Tokyo
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Very useful practice.
Is in the Common phase, "the" is use for all public service or something like that?
Hello Loriot_King,
I'm not sure what you mean by 'public service' here. Could you provide some examples so we can be sure we are answering your question the right way?
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello, I enjoyed this lesson so much, but i Have a question. Why is it considered a mistake in the grammar task 1 that I wrote THE Nile, but in the lesson you said that we use THE with lakes? Same thing happened with THE University of Nottingham in grammar test 2
Hello rennie_005,
We use the definite article ('the') with the names of rivers so 'The' is the correct answer. However, the task is quite sensitive so you need to use a capital letter (it is the start of the sentence) and not any spaces after it. If you wrote 'THE' or 'the' then it would show as incorrect; you need to write 'The'. I imagine the same thing happened in the second test.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
good
LearnEnglish team,
We have the UN, the EU but WHO, UNESCO without 'the'. Why is so?
Are there some rules to ddetermine whether to use 'the' or not in this type of situations?
Can you provide detailed answer or any other references clarifying my query?
Thank you!
Hello ShetuYogme,
Generally, institutions such as these take the definite article with both the full name and the acronym:
However, the convention is with many of the UN's specialist organisations that the acronym is treated like a proper name without an article. UNESCO is one example but there are others:
This is something that has grown up through use rather than through the application of a rule. Reading widely is the best way to familiarise yourself with tendencies like this that are not really expressions of rules.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello LearnEnglis Team,
The articles on UNHCR, ICAO and IMO in Wikipedia use the definite articles with these acronyms.
UNHCR sometimes uses the difinite article and sometimes not: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_High_Commissioner_for_Refugees
ICAO, despite being pronounced as one word /ˌaɪˈkeɪoʊ/ according to Wikipedia, takes the: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization
The same is true with IMO: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Maritime_Organization
The case with UNESCO is diffrerent as it is pronounced as one word /juːˈnɛskoʊ/ and does not take the definite article.
So, there seem to be no convention that many of the UN's specialist organisations that the acronym is treated like a proper name without an article.
I think we should follow the rule stating that acronyms pronounced as a single word don't take the, while, intialisms with each letters pronounced individually take the definete article: https://editorsmanual.com/articles/definite-article-the-with-acronyms-abbreviations/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/proofed.com/writing-tips/using-articles-a-an-the-before-acronyms-and-initialisms/amp/
With all these inconsistencies how can reading widely be the best way to familiarise oneself with tendencies like this that are not really expressions of rules? What would you say.
I'm eager to hear from you!
Best Wishes.
Hello again Shetu Yogme,
Where there is a simple rule with no or few exceptions you can simply learn the rule and apply it. Where usage follows convention rather than a rule you can't do this and need to simply develop a familiarity by seeing examples in context. In this way you can develop a sense of what feels right just as you do with your native language as a child.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team