USES OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE.
Reference to a known
object.
180. The most common use of
the definite article is to refer to an object that the listener or
reader is already acquainted with; as in
the sentence,—
Don't you remember how, when the dragon was
infesting the neighborhood of Babylon, the citizens used to walk
dismally out of evenings, and look at the valleys round about strewed
with the bones?—Thackeray.
NOTE.—This use is noticed when, on opening a
story, a person is introduced by a, and afterwards referred to by
the:—
By and by a giant came out of the dark north, and
lay down on the ice near Audhumla.... The giant frowned when he saw the
glitter of the golden hair.—Heroes Of
Asgard.
With names of rivers.
178. The is often
prefixed to the names of rivers; and when the word river is omitted, as
"the Mississippi," "the Ohio," the article indicates clearly that
a river, and not a state or other geographical division, is referred to.
No wonder I could face the Mississippi with so
much courage supplied to me.—Thackeray.
The Dakota tribes, doubtless, then occupied the country
southwest of the Missouri.—G.
Bancroft.
To call attention to
attributes.
181. When the is
prefixed to a proper name, it alters the force of the noun by directing
attention to certain qualities possessed by the person or thing spoken
of; thus,—
The Bacon, the Spinoza, the Hume,
Schelling, Kant, or whosoever propounds to you a philosophy of the mind, is
only a more or less awkward translator of things in your consciousness.—Emerson.
With plural of abstract
nouns.
182. The, when
placed before the pluralized abstract noun, marks it as half abstract or a
common noun.
His messages to the provincial
authorities.—Motley.
Half abstract.
He was probably skilled in the subtleties of
Italian statesmanship.—Id.
With adjectives used as
nouns.
181. When the
precedes adjectives of the positive degree used substantively, it marks their
use as common and plural nouns when they refer to persons, and as singular and
abstract when they refer to qualities.
1. The simple rise as by specific levity, not
into a particular virtue, but into the region of all the virtues.—Emerson.
2. If the good is there, so is the
evil.—Id.
Caution.
NOTE.—This is not to be confused with words that
have shifted from adjectives and become pure nouns; as,—
As she hesitated to pass on, the gallant,
throwing his cloak from his shoulders, laid it on the miry spot.—Scott.
But De Soto was no longer able to abate the confidence
or punish the temerity of the natives.—G.
Bancroft.
One thing for its class.
183. The before
class nouns may mark one thing as a representative of the class to which it
belongs; for example,—
The faint, silvery warblings heard over the partially
bare and moist fields from the bluebird, the song sparrow, and
the redwing, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell!—Thoreau.
In the sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a
sacred and precious gift.—Gibbon.
For possessive person
pronouns.
184. The is
frequently used instead of the possessive case of the personal pronouns
his, her, etc.
More than one hinted that a cord twined around the
head, or a match put between the fingers, would speedily extract the
required information.—Kingsley.
The mouth, and the region of the mouth, were
about the strongest features in Wordsworth's face.—De
Quincey.
185. In England and
Scotland the is often used where we use a, in speaking of measure
and price; as,—
Wheat, the price of which necessarily varied, averaged
in the middle of the fourteenth century tenpence the bushel, barley
averaging at the same time three shillings the quarter.—Froude.
A very strong restrictive.
186. Sometimes the
has a strong force, almost equivalent to a descriptive adjective in emphasizing
a word,—
No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall
die with you.—Bible.
As for New Orleans, it seemed to me the city of
the world where you can eat and drink the most and suffer the least.—Thackeray.
He was the man in all Europe that could (if any
could) have driven six-in-hand full gallop over Al Sirat.—De Quincey.
Mark of a substantive.
187. The, since it
belongs distinctively to substantives, is a sure indication that a word of
verbal form is not used participially, but substantively.
In the hills of Sacramento there is gold for the
gathering.—Emerson.
I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if
possible, to imitate it.—Franklin.
Caution.
187. There is one use of
the which is different from all the above. It is an adverbial use, and
is spoken of more fully in Sec. 283. Compare this sentence with those
above:—
There was something ugly and evil in his face, which
they had not previously noticed, and which grew still the more obvious
to the sight the oftener they looked upon him.—Hawthorne.
Exercise.—Find sentences with five uses of the
definite article. |
