the: difficult cases

When we generalise about members of a group, meaning ‘any/every individual’, we usually use no article. For example, we use no article to generalise with uncountable and plural words (see here); but we use the to show that the listener/reader knows which people or things we are talking about (see here). Sometimes both these meanings come together, and it is difficult to know which form is correct. The grammatical distinctions in this area are not very clear; often the same idea can be expressed both with the and with no article. The following notes may help.

Groups: nurses or the nurses; railways or the railways?

When we generalise about members of a group, we usually use no article. But if we talk about the group as a whole – as if it was a well-known unit – we are more likely to use the. Compare:

• Nurses mostly work very hard. (nearly every individual)
  The nurses have never gone on strike. (the well-known professional body)
• Stars vary greatly in size. (every one is different)
  The stars are really bright tonight. (the whole of our familiar night sky)
• Farmers often vote Conservative. (individuals vote)
  What has this government done for the farmers? (the whole professional body)
• It’s difficult for railways to make a profit. (any railways)
  The railways are getting more and more unreliable. (our well-known railways)

This often happens when we talk about nationalities. Compare:

• New Zealanders don’t like to be mistaken for Australians.
• The Australians suffered heavy losses in the First World War.

French painters; the Impressionists

We are more likely to use the if we are talking about a ‘closed’ group or class with a relatively definite, limited number of members. Compare:

• French painters (a large indefinite group)
  the Impressionists (a particular artistic movement; we know more or less who belonged to the group)
• 19th-century poets
  the Romantic poets (Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth and a few others)

Specialists are likely to use the for groups or classes that they study or know about. Compare:

• Metals are mostly shiny.
• Next term we’re going to study the metals in detail.

1960s music; the music of the 1960s

Some expressions are ‘half-general’ – in the middle between general and particular. If we talk about 1960s music, eighteenth-century history or poverty in Britain, we are not talking about all music, history or poverty, but these are still rather general ideas (compared with the music we heard last night, the history I did at school or the poverty I grew up in). In these ‘half-general’ expressions, we usually use no article. However, the is often used when the noun is followed by a limiting, defining phrase, especially one with of. Compare:

• 1960s music
• African butterflies
• the music of the 1960s
• the butterflies of Africa

Physical environment: the town, the sea

The is used with a number of rather general expressions referring to our physical environment – the world around us and its climate. The suggests that everybody is familiar with what we are talking about. Examples are:

the town, the country, the mountains, the sea, the seaside, the wind, the rain, the weather, the sunshine, the night.

• My wife likes the seaside, but I prefer the mountains.
• British people talk about the weather a lot.
• I love listening to the wind.

But note that no article is used with nature, society or space when these have a ‘general’ meaning (see here).

On the bus; at the gym

We use the (with a singular countable noun) when we talk about some kinds of thing that are part of everybody’s lives, like ‘the bus’ or ‘the hairdresser’. In this case the bus, for example, does not mean ‘one bus that you know about’; we use the to suggest that taking a bus is a common experience that we all share.

• I have some of my best ideas when I’m on the bus.
• Most of my friends go to the gym two or three times a week.
• Do you sing in the bath?
• I’ve stopped reading the newspaper because it’s too depressing.

note

For similar expressions with no article (e.g. in bed, in hospital), (see here).

She kicked him on the knee.; He sat at the side.

We sometimes use the even when it is not exactly clear which of several particular persons or things we are talking about. This can happen when there are several similar possibilities, and it is unnecessary to be more definite.

• Lying by the side of the road we saw the wheel of a car. (not … a wheel of a car.)
• Jack Perkins is the son of a rich banker. (who may have more than one son)
• She kicked him on the knee.

The is often used like this with side and wrong.

• I usually sit at the side in church.
• He’s the wrong man for me.
• (on the phone) I’m sorry. You’ve got a/the wrong number.