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# the

«the» in Mova's school dictionary: **The points to a thing you already know about or that has…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

article (definite)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The points to a thing you already know about or that has been named. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#m1)

2) The is used when there is only one of something: the sun, the sky, the world. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#m2)

3) The is used before some names of groups, rivers, oceans and places: the Pacific, the USA. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#m3)

4) The before «more … the more» shows two things grow together: «the more you read, the better you get». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#m4)

5) (casual) «The» is often dropped in quick talk and texts: «bus is late», «kids are fine»; «da» or «teh» are typos or slang spellings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#m5)

6) (formal) Exams pile up «the» in long phrases: «the aggregate of the quantities», «the remainder of the sum». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#m6)

### sense in the lessons

marks things already known: the table, the board; it shows the problem is talking about the same thing as before; phrases: «the first», «the rest», «the same», «the whole», «the most»; in casual talk «the» goes missing («bus at 8:40», «nan's coming»), or sounds «th'»; in rough talk «the bloody bus»; in the exam voice «the aforementioned», «the said quantity», «the remainder»

### examples

- On the board: cups = 1. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x1)
- The apples are on the table. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x2)
- How many cards does the boy have now? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x3)
- The sun is a star. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x4)
- She is the tallest girl in the class. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x5)
- We swam in the Atlantic Ocean. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x6)
- The rest of the cookies are in the jar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x7)
- The more you practise, the faster you get. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x8)
- bus at 8:40, its 8:25 now, how long (no «the» in a text). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x9)
- The bloody dog ate the last 2 sausages. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x10)
- The aforementioned crates contain 12 bottles each. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x11)
- Determine the remainder when the sum is divided by 5. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x12)
- "Who's there?" asked the old lady. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/#x13)

### note

Said «thuh» before a consonant sound and «thee» before a vowel sound (the apple). Use «a/an» for something new, «the» for something known: «I saw a dog. The dog barked.» Carries no operation clue; but «the» shows a thing already counted. In texts and quick talk «the» is often missing: the meaning stays the same. «the aforementioned» and «the said» point back to things already named.

### In the corpora

- [When a parent seems frazzled after work, it is usually the workload, not anything the child did.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/1-a-day-at-a-grown-ups-job/18/)
- [Knowing this helps you understand why a family's week is planned round a piece of paper on the fridge.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/2-shifts-nights-and-other-ways-of-working/4/)
- [Night shifts mean working through the night and sleeping in the day; nurses, drivers, bakers and warehouse workers often do them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/2-shifts-nights-and-other-ways-of-working/6/)
- [Overtime is working extra hours beyond the normal ones; sometimes it is paid at a higher rate, sometimes not paid at all.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/2-shifts-nights-and-other-ways-of-working/8/)
- [Some people go to work ill because they can't afford to lose the pay, which spreads germs to everyone else.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/2-shifts-nights-and-other-ways-of-working/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «the» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/the/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.