when the listener does not know which person or thing we are talking about.

when we refer to something for the first time.

when we describe something.

when we describe a job or the character of a person.

when a / an mean one.

with plurals and uncountable nouns when we are talking generally.

with most countries, states and cities.

with geographical areas, lakes, mountains and islands.

common expressions relating to particular places.to, in out of: bed, church, hospital, prisonto, at, from: college, school, university, work

names of buildings with a place name before.

names or before Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, Dr, Professor, etc and the person’s name.

general historic references.

with methods of transport. We use by instead.

with certain buildings, where the purpose of the building is more important than the place itself.

before school subjects / languages

before meals, days, months, holidays and festivals and special days

The kids love Christmas.

when it is clear which thing or person we are talking about.

when we refer to something that we mentioned before, using a / an.

with phrases including of

when there is only one of something.I love watching the sun go down

for nationalities and other groups: the disabled, the poor, the blind…

with musical instruments

time

superlatives

fixed phrases

names of ships

oceans, rivers, seas, groups of mountains

hotels, cinemas, theatres, museums

with the points of the compass

when you are talking about a system or service: on the radio, on the telephone

I need to buy ________new shirt. We ate two sandwiches and _____ large cake. ______

cake was filled with cream. There’s some hot water in _____ kettle. Can you make

_____ cup of tea? Look! There’s _____ big kite in _____ sky. Paul McCartney plays _____ guitar. ______ Tajo is the longest river in Spain. There was _____ garden for ______ blind. It was _____ best book I had ever read. It’s much colder in ____ north of Spain than in _____

south. ______ Trafalgar Square is _____ most famous square in

_____ London.

We didn’t have _______ breakfast at the hotel. _____ Mount Everest is ______ mountain in _____

world. _____ Women live longer than _____ men. She writes about ______ love and ______ death. He is _______ Italian businessman. I love both _____ sea and _____ mountains. What time is _____ lunch? I must go to _____ post office. She made _____ angry speech against _____ government.

Susan drove from _____ Heathrow Airport to _____Stansted Airport.