Please give an explanation. And you can give a link to the extended use of articles? I just do not understand why in this case the article "the" is put, if this noun is singular, then the article "a" should be used, as it is written in the rules.     Сan you get the meaning?   or     Сan you get a meaning?
121126
We adopt the approach under which the ...   We adopt an approach under which the ...   We consider the scenario where ...   We consider a scenario where ...      Suppose that I say nothing about the approach or the scenario before there corresponding sentences. However, suppose that the scenario is known in the literature.  I am a bit confused about the article usage here since I am explaining/clarifying things about the approach (resp. scenario) after under which (resp. after where)  Question: (a) which one between 1 and 2 is correct ?            (b) which one between 3 and 4 is correct ?
97039
What structures do stand behind the expression the movies (we're going to the movies)? It confuses me that it is plural (movies) and with the definite article (the). It seems that in the same way you say the woods (we went camping in the woods).
120184
In most sentences that use the word lunch, I found this word does rarely take the definite article the. For example:     I have lunch in three hours.      Shall we go out for lunch?      Let's have some lunch.      I'll take my lunch to school.   But now I wonder if this word really cannot take the definite article, and if it can, in what cases do I use the definite article and in what cases not?  And also, if the word lunch cannot take the definite article, why cannot it have it?
90290
I'm writing up my dissertation and I'm really confused where to use "the". Examples:     In this experiment, (the?) heat transfer coefficient was calculated, allowing to estimate (the?)frost thickness.    And:     Firstly, (the?) air properties are defined.   And:     As (the?) crystals grow in radius, the amount of air in (the?) ice is reduced, due to (the?) ice becoming more packed.   None of the nouns mentioned above have been used for the first time, so I rule out the use of "a".   Would appreciate any help.
11309
She must now sell two properties she owns or face an extra four years in jail.   As a rule of thumb, fours years do not go with "a" or "an". Why, in this case abover, 'an' is a must? Look at the following example:         The unions says it was expecting at least an extra 800,000 journeys during the Games.   The unions says it was expecting at least extra 800,000 journeys during the Games.      Usually, an or a is definitely not required before plural noun. But it seems I should choose Option (1) here. Why?  Anther example:      As a result of the expansion of the manufacturing plant, production capacity will increase by about 25 percent, and a further 85 permanent full-time jobs will be created in Huntington.
95329
I had a student ask about verb tense in the following question. "Live" is used with "the President", but I can't figure out why I don't want to add the "s". It doesn't "sound" right to me and I can't explain why.  Ex.-Is it important that the President live in the White House? OR Is it important that the President lives in the White House?
28027
Why do British speakers omit the article in constructions like "go to hospital" or "go on holiday"? Pretty much all American speakers would rephrase those as "go to the hospital" and "go on a holiday", I think. Is there any good reason, or forgotten sense behind those words that might explain why the articles are ommitted?  Are there other common constructions other than those two that the British use that drop the article?  EDIT: I just realized per Kosmonaut's comment that Americans do much the same thing with a few nouns, so this isn't all that special.   Do grammaticists designate nouns that can have their article dropped with anything, i.e. do they have anything in common?
80449
How do you know when to use singular or plural nouns if they're used as adjectives?  i.e.     32-bit computer vs 32-bits computer?      teacher union vs teachers union?      wedding planner vs weddings planner?      sport medicine vs sports medicine?      student council vs students council?   Which one is correct?
13975
My mother language does not have articles, so I still struggle to choose when to use the indefinte and definite article. The other day, I learned:   "The dog is an animal" is acceptable. "The iron is a metal" is not acceptable. (By the iron, I mean the metal, not the device.)   Is that true? If so, could anyone explain why?
15290
I'm from Central Pennsylvania, and apparently, we have a strange language construct in this area. I was recently talking about how "my car needs washed" to a friend from NJ, and she told me that my sentence was grammatically incorrect.   I realize she's right, and I realize my options are "my car needs to be washed" or "my car needs washing". But I'm not clear on the precise rule being invoked.
20969
In this sentence:     The commission commanded that work on the building should cease.   Why isn't the used before the word work? It seems that the work is specified by on the building.  Another example is,     Construction of the building will start next week.   I understand construction here is something like putting up the building, and so the construction isn’t general in meaning. But the definite article isn’t used here, either.  I’ve asked about this several times, but none gave me a good answer.
102269
Suddenly, to everybody's surprise, the silent Mr.Smith swung around and addressed Barbara.   The dinner was served by a silent Mrs. Keats.   I saw an infuriated Jennifer, who started shouting at me the moment I opened the door.   It seemed Walter didn't pay any attention to a tearful Kitty.   She hasn't got lovely eyelashes like marvellous Monica.   I bet your Mum kept you well clear of horrible Jesse.      The rule I learned at university said that the is used when the adjective a permanent quality of the person in question. E.g. 'I met the wicked Matilda the other day' would suggest that Matilda is inherently wicked.  The indefinite article a/an, on the other hand, would denote the mood or an unusual quality of the person described.  However, recently I've come across a lot of examples where no article is used with names modified by adjectives (see examples 5 and 6 above).   Can anyone explain why there are no articles in sentences 5 and 6?
108642
I was in a Teacher's selection for a school in my country, and one of the coordinators said that she heard a mistake from another teacher that was unacceptable. I tried to figure out why was that, but I thought it was silly and forgot about it. Then I was asking about the weekend in my classroom and one of my Ss said the same sentence. I corrected him according to the coordinator, as she is way more experienced than me, but I couldn't actually explain why to him. The sentence was:     I went to the church.   I can't see the mistake in this sentence if the church had been previously mentioned in the context of the conversation. I understand, as a non-native speaker, that if you are talking to a person that doesn't have any idea of where you were and doesn't have any previous information about the specific place, the article 'the' should not be used. Also, I am assuming church as a count noun. So instead, we would say:     I went to a church.   Is it correct to use the indefinite article since I don't have any idea of which church he is talking about?   I made a research about it and found that places that people use in common (like school, church, hospital, work) but are not necessarily the same, we would omit the article, so we would use the sentence that the coordinator accept:      I went to church.   Like this sounds strange to me, but since I am not a native speaker, I think that it is OK.   I really don't think that it was an unacceptable mistake, since the use of the article will depend on the context. So, if I am talking to my student, asking what he did last weekend and we were not talking about anything before, which one should he use?
33851
Sometimes I go through articles and find the expression utilize, I've always been wondering if there are special cases in which it should be used instead of used.  Also because  clearly shows that used is used (sorry for that ;D) much more.  Thanks for your help and happy new year!
111510
I have been having a trouble with the idea of the definite article meaning generic concepts.   Recently, I came upon a question asking which one is correct between " The Chines invented the paper" and "The Chinese invented paper.  All of the commentators said the second one is correct because you are indicating paper in general, which I totally agree with. But, the definite article "the" also has a function to indicate the generic concept of something as in "The lion is big". So I assumed using "the" in the sentence would be okay, implying the generic idea of paper not a specific kind of paper. But it apparently seems not right from English natives' perspectives.  So, I concluded that general things expressed by nouns with zero article and general things expressed by nouns with definite articles are different.     How are they different?
105041
I was reading about articles in Wren &amp; Martin and found the following explanation:  1)Use the definite article when a singular noun is meant to express a whole class.       The cow is a useful animal     [Or we can say, "cows" are useful animals]  2)Use the indefinite article in the sense of "any" to single out an individual as the     representative of a class; as,       A cow is a useful animal.   Can you please explain me the difference between 1 and 2.    I also found a given below sentence in wren &amp; martyn's exercise.        __ lion is ___ king of beasts   As per above given explanation of definite and indefinite article, I am not sure which one should be correct: "The lion" or "A lion", or both are correct.  Could you please help me understand the difference better.
74467
I used the book "Grammar and Style" and one example confused me:      He was the better/ best of two players.    The answer was the better but learners wonder how is it true since we use best after the definite article, the.   Was the answer given above correct?