Mr.Maru: What phone should I buy?

Sparky: How about a Phony phone? They are great.

Mr.Maru: Hmm, I think I'll get a Transonic phone.

Sparky: That phone is really nice too. Phone makes life a lot easier.

Mr.Maru: Phone?

Sparky: Yeah, phone is an amazing tool.

Mr.Maru: You mean, THE phone right? The phone is an amazing tool.

Sparky: Um, yes. The people can not communicate without the phone.

Mr.Maru: The people? Who are these people?

Sparky: Everyone. The most people need a cell phone.

Mr.Maru: Most people have good grammar too.

How do we use the articles a, an, and the? I went over the basics of a, an, the before, but today we are going to talk about some more details of how to use a/the. Today, we will talk about when to use and when not to use a, an, and the when talking in general.

Using 'the' when talking about things in general

We can sometimes use 'the' to talk about a thing in general. We are talking about all of the things of this type. We usually do this when talking about a scientific instrument or invention or musical instrument. For example,

Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone. (We are talking about the invention as a whole.)
The guitar is one of the most useful instruments to play. (We are talking about the guitar as an instrument not all guitars.)

We can talk about all guitars with the plural (-s):

Phones can be annoying. (In general, the objects called phones are annoying.)
Guitars are expensive. (In general, the objects called guitars are expensive.)

'the' is not the same as 'all'

We can not use 'the' to mean 'all'. With uncountable (pizza, beer, crime, education) or plural nouns (drugs, teachers) we do not use 'the' to talk about things in general. For example,

Crime doesn't pay. (In general, doing crime will not give you any benefits.)
The crime in Detroit is getting worse. (A particular type of crime that is in Detroit is getting worse.)

People don't like long lines. (In general, everyone doesn't like long lines.)
The people of the United States believe in freedom and justice for all. (The particular people that live in the United States believe in freedom and justice for all.)

Be careful! We do not put 'the' before most. For example,

X The most dogs like cheese.
O Most dogs like cheese.

Articles a, an, and the quiz

1) ____ pizza is delicious.

a) the

b) X (nothing)

c) a

2) _________ a beautiful instrument, but difficult to play.

a) The saxophone is

b) A saxophone is

c) Saxophones are

3) ________ becoming smaller and more efficient.

a) Cars are

b) The car is

c) A car is

Answers

1) B) – We are talking about pizza in general not a particular pizza.

2) A) – We are talking about the saxophone as an instrument not about all saxophones.

3) A) – We are talking about the objects called cars, not the invention of the car.

Corrected Dialog:

Mr.Maru: What phone should I buy?

Sparky: How about a Phony phone? They are great.

Mr.Maru: Hmm, I think I'll get a Transonic phone.

Sparky: That phone is really nice too. The Phone makes life a lot easier.

Mr.Maru: Phone?

Sparky: Yeah, the phone is an amazing tool.

Mr.Maru: You mean, THE phone right? The phone is an amazing tool.

Sparky: Um, yes. The People can not communicate without the phone.

Mr.Maru: The people? Who are these people?

Sparky: Everyone. The Most people need a cell phone.

Mr.Maru: Most people have good grammar too.

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