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Session 53

Welcome to English In A Minute. Give us a minute and we'll give you a hot tip about English. Grammar, vocabulary... there's so much to learn! And all taught by your favourite BBC Learning English staff!

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    Activity 1
  1. Activity 1

Activity 1

Three facts about 'the'

Do you have a minute to spare to learn some English? Phil is the right man to explain three facts about the word 'the'! Give us 60 seconds and we'll give you the English!

Watch the video and complete the activity

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Phil

Hi I'm Phil from BBC Learning English. I'm going to tell you three facts about the.

We use the when referring to a specific thing and both you and the person you're talking to know which one you mean. Please pass me the milk.

We can see the bottle so we know it's that one.

Number 2. We don't use the when talking about something in general. For example, I love chocolate.

Number 3. We don't use the when it doesn't matter which thing we're talking about.

We usually use a or an, here. Give me a cup of tea, I don't care which cup, any cup will do.

Three facts about 'the'

 We use 'the' when referring to a specific thing and both you and the person you're talking to know which one you mean.

  • Please pass me the milk - we can see the bottle so we know it's that one.
  • Don't use the when talking about something in general. For example I love chocolate.
  • We don't use the when it doesn't matter which thing we're talking about.
    We usually use a or an here. Give me a cup of tea, I don't care which cup, any cup will do.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

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