We use "the" when there is only one of something:
• what is "the" longest river in "the" world?
• "the" earth goes round "the" sun
• Paris is "the" capital of France (not Paris is capital of ...)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We say: the sky, the sea, the ground, the country, the environment.
• would you like to live in "the" country? (=not in a town)
• we looked up at all the stars in "the" sky. (not in sky)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But 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 "the" before same (the same):
• Your pullover is the same colour as main. (Not is same colour)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We don't use "the" before noun+number. For example, we say:
• Our train leaves from Platform 5. (Not the Platform 5)
◇ in the same way, we say: page 29 (of a book), question 3 (in an exam).

Formal Writing

We use "the" when there is only one of something:
• what is "the" longest river in "the" world?
• "the" earth goes round "the" sun
• Paris is "the" capital of France (not Paris is capital of ...)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We say: the sky, the sea, the ground, the country, the environment.
• would you like to live in "the" country? (=not in a town)
• we looked up at all the stars in "the" sky. (not in sky)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But 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 "the" before same (the same):
• Your pullover is the same colour as main. (Not is same colour)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We don't use "the" before noun+number. For example, we say:
• Our train leaves from Platform 5. (Not the Platform 5)
◇ in the same way, we say: page 29 (of a book), question 3 (in an exam).

hottg.com/writing/1156

10.6K viewsMajid, Sep 22, 2018 at 17:48