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)
Farmers like rain, but they don’t like the rain. What does this mean? All farmers like rain as it is good for their crops. If it doesn’t rain, their crops will die and they will have difficulty earning a living. Due to the nature of their work farmers like rain in and of itself. It would be quite unusual to …
The above should read ‘I took the bus.’ The use of the definite article does not signify something that is specific, rather it is used as part of an object-activity noun. Object-activity nouns highlight the activities associated with them.
