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1 Cards in this Set
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the
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determiner
1 denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge:what's the matter?call the doctorthe phone rang Compare with a used to refer to a person, place, or thing that is unique:the Queenthe Mona Lisathe Nile informal or archaic denoting a disease or affliction:I've got the flu (with a unit of time ) the present; the current:dish of the dayman of the moment informal used instead of a possessive to refer to someone with whom the speaker or person addressed is associated:I'm meeting the bosshow's the family? used with a surname to refer to a family or married couple:the Johnsons were not wealthy used before the surname of the chief of a Scottish or Irish clan:the O'Donoghue 2 used to point forward to a following qualifying or defining clause or phrase:the fuss that he made of herthe top of a busI have done the best I could (chiefly with rulers and family members with the same name) used after a name to qualify it:George the SixthEdward the ConfessorJack the Ripper 3 used to make a generalized reference to something rather than identifying a particular instance:he taught himself to play the violinI worry about the future used with a singular noun to indicate that it represents a whole species or class:they placed the African elephant on their endangered list used with an adjective to refer to those people who are of the type described:the unemployed used with an adjective to refer to something of the class or quality described:they are trying to accomplish the impossible used with the name of a unit to state a rate:they can do 120 miles to the gallon35p in the pound 4 enough of (a particular thing):he hoped to publish monthly, if only he could find the money 5 (pronounced stressing ‘the’) used to indicate that someone or something is the best known or most important of that name or type:he was the hot young piano prospect in jazz 6 used adverbially with comparatives to indicate how one amount or degree of something varies in relation to another:the more she thought about it, the more devastating it became (usually all the ——) used to emphasize the amount or degree to which something is affected:commodities made all the more desirable by their rarity |
