• 发现自己对定冠词the一无所知，不该加的地方加，该加的地方没有加，因此学习一波。
• 所有名词前面都要加冠词，只不过有一种冠词叫做零冠词，表泛指和一些特殊情况下的名词前面会用。

a/an 和 the的辨析

• 翻译的话a/an 就是一个，the就是这个，那个(表示大家都知道是哪一个)
• 也就是用the的话我指的东西(the apple)是我认为你应该知道这个东西（apple）是那个东西(那个唯独的一个我咬过的apple)（就是我认为你知道/明白/理解），并且我就是指的是那个东西（只有这个东西才是我说的东西，其他的东西不是我说的东西）（只有我咬过的这个apple才是我在这句话里面所指的apple），如果用a/an的话，我的意思是不强调是哪个东西（表示任意的都可以）
• 如果是第一次提到什么东西的话，用a/an，然后在接下来的谈话中使用the，因为此时这个东西大家都知道指的是什么。

He was talking to a man. The man was laughing.
 
She gave him a present. The present was very expensive.

• 如果只有一个东西，或者是显而易见的东西，大家也会使用the

Could you shut the door, please?

I cleaned the bathroom this morning.

He travelled around the world.

The sun is hot today.

• 当我们是去寻求服务（找牙医看牙），或者这个地方是我们经常去的地方（supermarket每个人都经常去），在地点前面加the。

I need to go to the supermarket.

She went to the doctor’s.

例子

• 那漫长的一天过去后，那杯茶真的好喝。

After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good.

By using the article the, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was long and one specific cup of tea that tasted good.

• 漫长的一天过去以后，一杯茶是多么美味。

After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good.

By using the article a, we’ve created a general statement, implying that any cup of tea would taste good after any long day.

• 定冠词the:可以在单数名词，复数名词，不可数名词前，表示特指。

The definite article is the word the It limits the meaning of a noun to one particular thing. For example, your friend might ask, “Are you going to the party this weekend?” The definite article tells you that your friend is referring to a specific party that both of you know about. The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns. Below are some examples of the definite article the used in

Please give me the hammer.
Please give me the red hammer; the blue one is too small.
Please give me the nail.
Please give me the large nail; it’s the only one strong enough to hold this painting.
Please give me the hammer and the nail.

• 不定冠词a/an只用在单数名词前，指的是general idea rather than a particular thing

The indefinite article takes two forms. It’s the word a when it precedes a word that begins with a consonant. It’s the word an when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel. The indefinite article indicates that a noun refers to a general idea rather than a particular thing. For example, you might ask your friend, “Should I bring a gift to the party?” Your friend will understand that you are not asking about a specific type of gift or a specific item. “I am going to bring an apple pie,” your friend tells you. Again, the indefinite article indicates that she is not talking about a specific apple pie. Your friend probably doesn’t even have any pie yet. The indefinite article only appears with singular nouns. Consider the following examples of indefinite articles used in context:

Please hand me a book; any book will do.
Please hand me an autobiography; any autobiography will do.

• 在占有名词前面不用冠词，his, my, our, its, her, and their，因为本身就已经表示了特指的概念

incorrect：Why are you reading the my book?
correct：Why are you reading the book?

省略冠词的情况

也叫零冠词，在抽象名词前是不加冠词的

Incorrect：Let’s go out for a dinner tonight.
Correct：Let’s go out for dinner tonight.
Incorrect：The creativity is a valuable quality in children.
Correct：Creativity is a valuable quality in children.

• 语言和国籍前面不加冠词

Incorrect：I studied the French in high school for four years.
Correct：I studied French in high school for four years.

• 运动和学术科目前面不加冠词

Incorrect：I like to play the baseball.
Correct：I like to play baseball .
Incorrect：My sister was always good at the math .
Correct：My sister was always good at math .

• 在meals前面不用a/an

We had lunch at noon.

• 一般在school prison college前面不用a/an(记得小时候老师讲过in prison是坐牢，in the prison是在监狱，其他的也一样)，hospital英式英语和美式英语不一样。

I hope to go to college.
He spent three years in prison.
My brother’s in hospital (UK) / in the hospital (US).

一个名词可以是抽象的也可以是不抽象的

• 虽然说抽象的名词前面不加冠词，但是一个名词在某些语义下是抽象的，在某些语义下是不抽象的，因此有时候加冠词，有时候不加冠词，我基本上是在这个地方栽倒了，现在终于懂了。
• 名词抽不抽象取决于使用这个名词时的含义，比如water一般来说不是抽象名词，因为是一个实物，但是在句子Water is necessary for life.的语义中就是抽象的了，因为这里的water是一个概念（而概念是抽象的），因为这里的水指的是任何水或者所有水（general/all）（可泛化的），所以不用使用冠词。但是一旦我们回归 concrete exapmle（具体的样例）中的水就不是抽象的，比如The water from the spring down the road tastes wonderful.句子中指的是一些特定的水，真实存在于the world的水，因此要加冠词。
• 再比如下面例子中前面的love是泛指所有的爱不加冠词，后面的love是对诗歌的爱，但是这个说的人认为听的人不明白是怎样的爱，所以加不定冠词a，用a不用the的话强调的是一种不为听的人所知的爱（提升了说话人自己的b格）。

Love is like a physical pain for some people (love in general/all love)

I’ve always had a love of poetry, ever since I was a child (a specific liking for something).

• 在谈论一个可以泛化的（general）抽象的概念时候，不加冠词，但是特指的话要加冠词，比如说考虑size和weight的时候是可以泛化的概念所以不加冠词，而说明是具体容器的size和weight的时候就要加定冠词the,就是说一旦weight量化了那么就成为具体的了（the weight of xxx）。因为容器的重量只有一个，没有其他的可能性所以是the而不是a。

When loading and unloading a container ship, the deck officer must take into account both size and weight, so as not to unbalance the cargo.

When loading and unloading a container ship, the deck officer must take into account both the size and the weight of the containers, so as not to unbalance the cargo.

• 英语中如果在抽象名词前使用了冠词，那么一定要是将抽象名词当成了一个样例（特指那一个）来叙述的，一般在上下文信息中隐含着这种特定的信息。The truth will topple the king.就不能说成是Truth will topple the king因为在这个语境中指的是特定的真相The truth (about the king) will topple the king。
• 对于不定冠词a/an的情况He is carrying a weight on his shoulders，表示他肩负着重担（这个重担是和他有关的重担，而非可泛化的重担）但是对于这个重担，说的人并不认为听的人知道是哪个重担，所以用的是不定冠词a而非the，再来一个例子Fish breathe through their gills. I caught a fish

使用the的特殊情况

• 标题不加the。
• 大写缩略语，如果缩略词可以单独发音，不加the。比如NASA，NATO，FIFA，TOEFL，APEC；如果不能单独发音，需加the，比如 the NBA, the FBI, the HBO。
• 称号，比如Chairman, President, Director，一般不加the，比如直接wang, chairman of beijing, is interested in football.，如果头衔前有修饰语，需要加Wang is the 3rd Chairman of Beijing.
• 地理名词：专有地区名前不加the，比如china，Beijing但是美国就得加the United States。湖泊和山峰前不加‘the’，Mount Everest(珠穆朗玛峰)，Qinghai Lake（青海湖）。但是海洋、山脉、河流，需要加，the Atlantic(大西洋)， the Yangtze River(长江)。点状和圆状的地理名词，不加the；线性或带状的，加。
• 乐器前面加the，体育中的球类不用play the violin，play football.
• the + 名词表示整体，the devil is in the detail。
  

关于专有名词不加the的疑惑

• 另外专有名词就是不能加the的，有一些看起来是专有名词却又加了the，并不是特例，是因为它们不是真正意义上的专有名词，比如the united states of America 里，真正的专有名词是America 美洲这个部分，所以它前面没有the。而这个整体组合并不是专有，别的洲可能也有联邦制，因此加the以示区分，表示是北美的联邦制国家，也就是美利坚合众国。

并列结构中第二个the要取消

• the broadcast nature and the openness characteristic of the wireless medium.->the broadcast nature and openness characteristic of the wireless medium.