Southern Californians have a distinctive — “Saturday Night Live’s” Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig might say funny — way of giving directions. To get from Santa Monica to Hollywood, take the 10 to the 110 to the 101. Burbank to San Diego? The 134 to the 5. And, if you can, always avoid the 405. Why the definite articles? After …
The sign featured above is very interesting. If you were to take it literally, you would never feed pigeons again. Just like when you warn a child not to talk to strangers, you mean for that child not to talk to strangers anywhere, under no circumstances. Imagine a sign telling you not to feed pigeons anywhere, under no special circumstances. …
Walk along the street in any English speaking country and you will quickly discover that the definite article precedes the names of most pubs.
The above example is wrong, it should read ‘I went to the Don River.’ The definite article is always used when referring to rivers. (Rule 7.3)
I was walking down the street when the above poster caught my eye. It should read ‘Learn the violin‘, not ‘Learn violin‘. The definite article should not be dropped when referring to the music that an instrument produces. (Rule 6.2 Extra!)