Teaching Tips & Ideas

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE "THE" - Part 2

DO NOT use THE before the names of chemical elements, substances, metals, materials; animal or agricultural products, colors, arts, sciences etc., when used in a general sense:

e.g. Butter is made from cream
Wheat is grown in Canada and Argentina.
Coffee is appreciated all over the world.
Steel is harder than iron.
Blue is a beautiful color.
Hydrogen is the lightest gas.
I like history and music.
Sand is used in house building.

But, we use THE before the nouns above when they are limited or qualified:

e.g. THE steel used in ship building is a special one.
THE blue of the sky above us is absolutely marvelous.
THE history they teach at that school is completely wrong.
THE music that comes from that church is divine.
THE hydrogen that they produce at that factory is 100% pure.
THE sand they used to build that house is of poor quality.
THE butter that you bought is awful.
THE wheat grown in Canada is of excellent quality.
THE coffee which is exported from Colombia is of good quality.

DO NOT use before the names of the planets (except the Earth):

e.g. Jupiter is many times bigger than THE Earth.
Pluto is the farthest planet of the Solar System.

But, IT IS used before nouns that have a UNIQUE reference:

e.g. THE Sun THE Moon THE Atmosphere THE Sky THE Stars
THE North THE South THE East THE West.