As someone who has been learning English language since 1985/6, when I was still in the 5th year of my primary education, I still cannot fully figure out when to use and when not to use "the" in my writing. Sometimes I got it right, but in other time it is wrong, in the sense of it is either missing or not necessary. Most of the time when I get it wrong, the "the" is missing from my sentences.
My current supervisor, who reviews my scientific writing, often smiles at me when he is about to give me some feedbacks after reading my manuscript, because I always have a problem with "the". He always tells me that it is understandable if I do not know when to use "the" correctly because English is not my first language, and then sometimes he said, "Well Min, this proves that you're not an Australian" . :p
My current supervisor, who reviews my scientific writing, often smiles at me when he is about to give me some feedbacks after reading my manuscript, because I always have a problem with "the". He always tells me that it is understandable if I do not know when to use "the" correctly because English is not my first language, and then sometimes he said, "Well Min, this proves that you're not an Australian" . :p
1 comment:
"the" is a specific classifier... for example, if you want to talk about a specific object/person you say: THE object/person. If you want to talk about any (non-specific) object you say AN object/ A person...
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