Unit 73: The 1

English Grammar in Use With Answers » Unit 73: The 1

We use the when there is only one of something:

Have you ever crossed the equator? (there is only one equator)
What's the Longest river in Europe?
Our apartment is on the tenth floor.
Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina.
I'm going away at the end of this month.

We use the before same (the same):

Your sweater is the same colour as mine. (not is same colour)
'Are these keys the same?' 'No, they're different.'

We say:

the sun
the moon
the earth
the world
the universe
the sky
the sea
the ground
the environment
the internet

I love to look at the stars in the sky. (not in sky)
The internet has changed the way we live.
We need to do more to protect the environment. (= the natural world around us)
The earth goes round the sun, and the moon goes round the earth.

We also use 'Earth' (without the) when we think of it as a planet in space (like Mars, Jupiter etc.).

Which planet is nearest Earth?

We say space (without the) when we mean 'space in the universe'. Compare

There are millions of stars in space. (not in the space)
I tried to park my car, but the space was too small.

We use a/an to say what kind of thing something is (see Unit 71 B). Compare the and a:

The sun is a star. (= one of many stars)
The hotel we stayed at was a very nice hotel.

We say: (go to) the cinema, the theatre.

I go to the cinema a lot, but I haven't been to the theatre for ages.

When we say the cinema / the theatre, we do not necessarily mean a specific cinema or theatre.

We usually say the radio, but television/TV (without the). Compare:

I listen to the radio a lot. but I watch television a lot.
We heard it on the radio. but We watched it on TV.

The television / the TV = the television set:

Can you turn off the television, please?

We do not normally use the with breakfast/lunch/dinner:

What did you have for breakfast?
We had lunch in a very nice restaurant.

But we use a/an if we say 'a big lunch', 'a wonderful dinner', 'an early breakfast' etc. :

We had a very nice lunch. (not We had very nice lunch)

We do not use the before noun + number. For example, we say:

Our train leaves from Platform 5. (not the Platform 5)
(in a shop) Do you have these shoes in size 43? (not the size 43)

In the same way, we say: Room 126 (in a hotel), page 29 (of a book), question 3 (in an exam), Gate 10 (at an airport) etc.

73.1 Put in the or a where necessary. If no word is necessary, leave the space empty.

A: Our apartment is on ⁽¹⁾ tenth floor.
B: Is it? I hope there's ⁽²⁾ lift.
A: Did you have ⁽³⁾ __________ nice holiday?
B: Yes, it was ⁽⁴⁾ __________ best holiday I've ever had.
A: Where's ⁽⁵⁾ __________ nearest shop?
B: There's one at ⁽⁶⁾ __________ end of this street.
A: It's ⁽⁷⁾ __________ lovely day, isn't it?
B: Yes, there isn't ⁽⁸⁾ __________ cloud in ⁽⁹⁾ __________ sky.
A: I've got a problem with my computer. It isn't connecting to ⁽¹⁰⁾ __________ internet.
B: That's interesting. I've got ⁽¹¹⁾ __________ same problem with mine.
A: We spent all our money because we stayed at ⁽¹²⁾ __________ most expensive hotel in town.
B: Why didn't you stay at ⁽¹³⁾ __________ cheaper hotel?
A: Would you like to travel in ⁽¹⁴⁾ __________ space?
B: Yes, I'd love to go to ⁽¹⁵⁾ __________ moon.
A: What's Jupiter? Is it ⁽¹⁶⁾ __________ star?
B: No, it's ⁽¹⁷⁾ __________ planet. It's ⁽¹⁸⁾ __________ largest planet in ⁽¹⁹⁾ __________ solar system.

73.2 Put in the where necessary. If you don't need the, leave the space empty.

I haven't been to ⁽²⁾ cinema for ages.
Sarah spends most of her free time watching ⁽²⁾ __________ TV.
Do you ever listen to ⁽³⁾ __________ radio?
⁽⁴⁾ __________ television was on, but nobody was watching it.
Have you had ⁽⁵⁾ __________ dinner yet?
Lisa and I arrived at ⁽⁶⁾ __________ same time.
What's ⁽⁷⁾ __________ capital city of Canada?
What do you want for ⁽⁸⁾ __________ breakfast?
I lay down on ⁽⁹⁾ __________ ground and looked up at ⁽¹⁰⁾ __________ sky.

73.3 Complete the sentences using the following. Use the where necessary.

breakfast
cinema
~~dinner~~
gate
Gate 21
question 8
sea

Are you going out this evening?' 'Yes, after .'
There was no wind, so __________ was very calm.
The test wasn't too difficult, but I couldn't answer __________ .
'I'm going to __________ tonight.' 'Are you? What film are you going to see?'
I didn't have time for __________ this morning because I was in a hurry.
Oh, __________ is open. I must have forgotten to shut it.
(airport announcement) Flight AB123 to Rome is now boarding at __________ .

Answer Key

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