Look at these examples to see when the is and isn't used.
I'm going to bed.
I walk to work.
My children are going to start school.
I visited the school yesterday.
Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Grammar explanation
Here are some ways we use articles in common phrases and place names.
Common phrases
We don't usually use an article in expressions with bed, work and home.
go to bed / be in bed
go to work / be at work / start work / finish work
go home / be at home / get home / stay at home
We also don't normally use an article in expressions with school, university, prison and hospital.
start school / go to school / be at school
go to university / be at university
be sent to prison / go to prison / be in prison
go to hospital / be in hospital
But we usually use the if someone is just visiting the place, and not there as a student/prisoner/patient, etc.
My son has started school now. I went to the school to meet his teacher.
I went to the prison a lot when I was a social worker.
I'm at the hospital. My sister has just had a baby.
Place names
We don't normally use an article for continents, most countries, cities, towns, lakes, mountains or universities. So, we say:
Africa, Asia, Europe
India, Ghana, Peru, Denmark
Addis Ababa, Hanoi, New York, Moscow
Lake Victoria, Lake Superior, Lake Tanganyika
Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Elbrus
Cardiff University, Harvard University, Manchester University
Some countries are different. Country names with United have the. There are other countries which are exceptions too. So, we say:
the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America
the Bahamas, the Gambia
Seas and oceans, mountain ranges and rivers have the:
the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Mediterranean
the Andes, the Himalayas, the Alps
the Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze
Universities with of in the title also have the:
the University of Cape Town, the University of Delhi, the University of Tokyo
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Thanks a lot
I have just finished this lesson, and I will read any further lessons in my grammar books for this unit.
Great lesson!!
I have never known the add "the" at the university of Nottingham and the black sea. Now I know about it. Thank you so much.
Very useful practice.
Is in the Common phase, "the" is use for all public service or something like that?
Hello Loriot_King,
I'm not sure what you mean by 'public service' here. Could you provide some examples so we can be sure we are answering your question the right way?
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello, I enjoyed this lesson so much, but i Have a question. Why is it considered a mistake in the grammar task 1 that I wrote THE Nile, but in the lesson you said that we use THE with lakes? Same thing happened with THE University of Nottingham in grammar test 2
Hello rennie_005,
We use the definite article ('the') with the names of rivers so 'The' is the correct answer. However, the task is quite sensitive so you need to use a capital letter (it is the start of the sentence) and not any spaces after it. If you wrote 'THE' or 'the' then it would show as incorrect; you need to write 'The'. I imagine the same thing happened in the second test.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team