To use “the” or not

Most names of buildings use “the”,

but place-name + Cathedral, University & School

“the” is not used.

e.g. Exeter Cathedral and NOT the Exeter Cathedral

How about for “Church” since “Cathedral” is almost similar to “Church”?

Is it “the St Anne’s Church” or just “St Anne’s Church”?

For “University”, it’s Adelaide University (without “the”),

But how about Universiti Sains Malaysia?

Does the above rule apply to “School” as well?

Do we use “the” for Jit Sin High School and Bukit Mertajam High School?

– More Confused

A church doesn’t usually have a place name before it,

but a saint’s name.

If the name of the church begins with a saint’s name,

as in St Anne’s Church in Bukit Mertajam,

or St Mary’s Church in Kuala Lumpur,

we don’t use “the” before it.

But if the name of the church begins with “church of …”

as in The Church of St. Martin’s in the Fields in London

or The Church of the Holy Cross in Avening,

Gloucestershire, England, we put “the” before the name of the church.

Likewise, if a cathedral’s name begins not with a place name or

a saint’s name, but with “cathedral of …”, we put “the”before it,

as in The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Singapore or

the Cathedral of The Isles in Millport, Scotland.

The official name of Adelaide University is

actually The University of Adelaide.

But Monash University does not have “the” before its name,

presumably because Monash is the name of a person

— Sir John Monash.

Universiti Sains Malaysia is a name in Bahasa Malaysia,

and the rules about “the” in English don’t apply to its name.

Jit Sin High School should not have “the” before it.

I don’t know if “Jit Sin” is a person’s name,

but whether it is or not,

the words are not English and there shouldn’t be

“the” before the name of the school.

Finally, Bukit Mertajam High School should not have

“the” before it, just like Penang Free School.

In school’ or ‘in the school

When do we use “in church” and “in the church”,

“in school” and “in the school”,

“in class” and “in the class”?

We use “in the church/school/class”

when we are referring to

a specific church, school or class,

or one that has been mentioned before,

e.g. “There are a number of fine stained glass windows in the church,

all erected in the first forty years of its life.”

(referring to St Augustin’s Church, Bournemouth, UK)

“This was the first time he set foot in the school his grandchildren were attending.”

“There are 30 children in the class she was assigned to teach.”

We use “in church” to mean attending a Christian religious service in a church,

e.g. “See you in church on Sunday!”

When a child is in his school building,

either attending classes or

taking part in school activities,

he is said to be “in school”,

e.g. “Ahmad has to be in school from 7.20am to 1.15pm.”

When children and their teacher are in a classroom during a lesson,

they are said to be “in class”,

e.g. “The teacher expects her pupils to pay full attention to her in class.”

Article “a, an, the”

Article

In English, knowing when to use ‘a’ or ‘the’ can be difficult.

Fortunately, there are rules to help you,

but you need to know what type of noun you are using.

Grammar rule 1

When you have a singular, countable noun,

you must always have an article before it.

We cannot say “please pass me pen”,

we must say “please pass me the pen”

or “please pass me a pen”

or “please pass me your pen”.

Nouns can be uncountable.

Uncountable nouns can be abstract nouns,

such as ‘life’, ‘happiness’ and so on,

or materials and substances,

such as ‘coffee’, or ‘wood’.

Grammar rule 2

Uncountable nouns don’t use ‘a’ or ‘an’.

This is because you can’t count them.

For example,

advice is an uncountable noun.

You can’t say “he gave me an advice”,

but you can say “he gave me some advice”,

or “he gave me a piece of advice”.

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable.

For example,

we say “coffee” meaning the product,

but we say “a coffee” when asking for

one cup of coffee.

Grammar rule 3

You can use ‘the’ to make general things specific.

You can use ‘the’ with any type of noun

– Plural or singular, countable or uncountable.

“Please pass me a pen” – any pen.

“Please pass me the pen” – the one that we can both see.

“Children grow up quickly”- children in general.

“The children I know grow up quickly” – not all children, just the ones I know.

“Poetry can be beautiful”- poetry in general.

“The poetry of Hopkins is beautiful” – I’m only talking about the poetry Hopkins wrote.
More uses of articles in English

Rivers, mountain ranges, seas,

oceans and geographic areas all use ‘the’.

For example,

“The Thames”,

“The Alps”,

“The Atlantic Ocean”,

“The Middle East”.

Unique things have ‘the’.

For example,

“the sun”,

“the moon”.

Some institutional buildings don’t have an article if you visit them for the reason these buildings
exist.

But if you go to the building for another reason, you must use ‘the’.

“Her husband is in prison.” (He’s a prisoner.)

“She goes to the prison to see him once a month.”

“My son is in school.” (He’s a student.)

“I’m going to the school to see the head master.”

“She’s in hospital at the moment.” (She’s ill.)

“Her husband goes to the hospital to see her every afternoon.”

Musical instruments use ‘the’.

“She plays the piano.”

Sports don’t have an article.

“He plays football.”
Illnesses don’t have an article.
“He’s got appendicitis.”
But we say “a cold” and “a headache”.

Jobs use ‘a’. “I’m a teacher.”

Countries
We don’t use ‘a’ if the country is singular.

“He lives in England.”

But if the country’s name has a “plural” meaning, we use ‘the’.

“The People’s Republic of China”,

“The Netherlands”,

“The United States of America”.

Continents, towns and streets

don’t have an article.

“Africa”, “New York”, “Church Street”.

Theatres, cinemas and hotels have ‘the’.

“The Odeon Theatres“, “The Golden Cineplex”, “The Grand Hilton”.

Abbreviations use ‘the’.

“the UN”, “the USA”, “the IMF”.

We use ‘the’ before classes of people.

“the rich”, “the poor”, “the British”.

How to use the phrase “all but”

“All but” has two meanings:-

“almost or very nearly”

and

“all except”.

Examples of “all but” with meaning “almost or very nearly”

“I’m all but against bullying.”,

it means that you are almost against bullying, but not totally so.

“These two are all but married.”,

meaning that their wedding day is not far off.

“The exams were all but over when he fell ill and had to miss the last paper.”

This means that he fell ill towards the very end of the exam period.

“all but” with meaning “all except”

“All but one of her classmates got an A in Modern Maths.”

This means that only one of her classmates didn’t get an A in the subject.

“The class bully intimidated all but me.”

This means that I was the only person in the class who was not frightened
of the class bully.