A vs THE

Tôi mới vô đây và thấy lạ là English Club sao lại post toàn bài tiếng Việt vậy cà?? Chẳng lẽ trình độ của chúng ta không đủ để đọc và viết tiếng Anh dù là đơn giản hay sao? Nhưng thôi tôi xin nhập gia tùy tục vậy.

Đây là nơi để trao đổi, vậy tại sao chúng ta không bàn đến những điều thiết thực nhỉ, chẳng hạn như English usage. Tôi mong rằng chúng ta sẽ có nhiều bài thảo luận về đề tài này để hoàn thiện trình độ tiếng Anh của chúng ta. Mà chẳng có gì cao siêu đâu, ngay cả những từ cơ bản nhất của tiếng Anh mà không phải ai cũng sử dụng đúng cả.

Chẳng hạn như ARTICLE - MẠO TỪ (nhiều sách gọi là quán từ). Trong tiếng Anh chỉ có 2 mạo từ A (hoặc AN) và THE thôi nhưng cách phân biệt để sử dụng chúng thì tôi e rằng 99% những người học tiếng Anh như chúng ta sử dụng không chính xác. Trong sách giáo khoa thì có đăng rõ ý nghĩa và cách phân biệt hai loại mạo từ này (xác định và không xác định) nhưng việc áp dụng vào thực tế thì lại là chuyện khác. Theo kinh nghiệm của bản thân tôi thì phân biệt được khi nào nên dùng A (hoặc không dùng gì cả dối với số nhiều),khi nào dùng THE hoàn toàn không phải là một việc dễ dàng, mà muốn nắm vững được nó bạn phải qua một quá trình học và sử dụng tiếng Anh thật lão luyện, nói nôm na là khi nó đã ngấm vào máu của bạn rồi thì bạn mới biết cách dùng nó cho đúng.

Tôi mở đề tài này là mong nhận được ý kiến và kinh nghiệm của tất cả các bạn về cách sử dụng mạo từ trong tiếng Anh. Nào chúng ta hãy cùng thảo luận đi. Tôi sẽ sẵn sàng trả lời các thắc mắc của các bạn về đề tài này nếu có thể.

Tôi xin mở đầu bằng 2 câu sau:

- People in the world are concerned about the Middle East conflict.
- The people in the world are concerned about the Middle East conflict.

Theo bạn thì câu nào đúng và đâu là sự khác nhau giữa 2 câu này?


Lung Tung Beng

The world is concerned about the Middle East conflict.
I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish,
but if you wish the wish the witch wishes,
I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.

I have not read what you wrote but my sentence is frequently used instead of the other two. Regarding we are switching to Vietnamese because nobody had been doing anything but posting long English articles that no one else wanted to read . The Club is very much alive since we are using bilingual .
People of the world is a general term. If you want to use "the" in front of it, I presume there were people in Mars too . The people from Mars would distinguish themselves from the people from the Earth, our world .
I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish,
but if you wish the wish the witch wishes,
I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.

Can't find a better explanation than yours, Despi. You truly deserve to be among the heads of the club.
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99% những người học tiếng Anh như chúng ta sử dụng không chính xác.
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Well, I dont think 99% is quite accurate a figure or should I say, a little too inflated a figure. There are a good many people out there whose commands of English are incredible. the correct use of articles is indeed merely a most basic and, perhaps, simplest part in learning in English (dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to show off. That's the fact.) Nevertheless, I agree with you. Practice on using articles correctly is just as important as anything else.

Sáng chớm lạnh trong lòng Hà Nội
Những phố dài xao xác heo may
Người ra đi đầu không ngoảnh lại
Sau lưng thềm nắng lá rơi đầy

Ranking in the English Club:
1- a handful of Vietnamese Americans plus a couple of VK's from other countries
2- another handful of exchanged students to the US
3- another handful of exchanged students to the rest of the world
4- English students in VN
<:3)~~ <:3)~~ <:3)~~

To despi: you are definitely right. "The people in the world..." is grammatically correct but sounds unnatural and is rarely used. The article is only used after a certain quantifier as in:
"All the people in the world are our friends." or
"70% of the people in the world are women" (??)
Instead, "People in the world..." is the right choice and frequently used. But I agree that "The world..." is more natural and should be preferred especially in speech.
What I'm trying to emphasize is that the word "people" has another common meaning apart from "persons" â?" that is "nation" or "race". In that context you should only use "the" as in "The people in the world are united." If you omitted the article, you wouldn't be breaking any rule but there would be an ambiguity between the two meanings of the word.
To longatum: you are right; 99% is an inflated figure, so should I make it more accurate, like "90% of intermediate learners"? Why 90%? Because I guess that given the sentence "the correct use of articles is indeed merely a most basic and, perhaps, simplest part in learning in English", 9 out of 10 learners will insist that the use of "A" with "MOST" is wrong because they have been taught that "THE" should always be used before a superlative adjective. (eg. "I am the most stupid man in the world.") But the remaining 1 out of 10, however, has enough experience to state that "a most basic..." is absolutely correct. And he is actually right.
Likewise, I believe 9 out of 10 such learners will see nothing wrong with this sentence, which in fact is wrong in terms of word usage:
"Tom is my good friend, so he will always help me when I'm down."
To Milou: thanks for the helpful statistics. I belong to the first rank... bottom up , that's why I'm always trying to learn and improve my English. I also believe that no matter how learned and experienced, unless you are a native speaker, you are still far from a perfect master and should always try to learn more and more.
Cheers to all.
Lung Tung Beng

Mạo từ quả là một vấn đề tưởng như rất dễ và chúng ta, mỗi người học tiếng Anh đều phải làm quen với nó ngay từ những buổi học đầu tiên, nhưng thực ra nó cũng rất rắc rối, có thể sai nhiều. Trong năm học, Brit đã có một bài kiểm tra về articles, để ôn cho buổi kt đấy, cũng đã tìm một số tài liệu về cách dùng a/ an/ the. Post nó lên đây mong là có thể giúp ích cho 1 số người. A/ an không chỉ được đặt trước một danh từ không xác định, the không chỉ được đặt trước most hay danh từ đã xác định rồi. Let's see.
Articles normally come at the beginning of noun phrases, before adjective (quite a..., such a...., rather a....)
Exception:
- many normally uncountable nouns can be treated as countable to express the meaning "a type of" or "a portion of".
Ex: Have you got a shampoo for dry hair?
or Three coffeeS, please.
- Many other normally uncountabe nouns can have "partly countable" uses. They do not have plural but can be used with a/ an. This happens when the meaning is particular rather than general.
Ex: We need a secretary with a good knowledge of English.
or I need a good sleep.
- With certain uncountable nouns especially which nouns referring to human emotions and mental activities, we have to use a/ an when we are limitting their meanings in some ways.
- Note that we CANNOT use a/ an in this way when we are generalising about all the members of a group together.
Ex: The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.
Ex: This recording was made with Miles Davis on trumpet (not on THE trumpet)
or She studies adobe and saxophone.
MEASUREMENT
Note the use of THE in measuring expressions beginning with "by"
Ex: Do you sell eggs by THE kilo or by THE dozen.
She drinks cough medicine by THE litre.
He is watching TV by THE hour.
PLACES
We use THE with these kinds of place names:
+ seas (The Atlantic, the Pacific...)
+ mountain group (the Himalayas...)
+ island group (The West Indies..)
+ rivers (the Rhines...)
+ diserts (the Sahara..)
+ most hotels (the Grand Hotel...)
+ most cinemas and theatre (The Odean, the Playhouse..)
+ most museum and art galleries (The British Museum)
+ bay, channel
+ union
+ wars (The Vietnam War..., except for World War)
As we go on, we remember all the times we had together
As our lives change, come whatever
We will still be FRIENDS FOREVER

We use NO ARTICLE with:
+ continents, island
+ countries, states, towns
+ counties
+ department
+ streets (except for The High street and The Drive street in London)
+ lakes
+ planet (constellation: chòm sao)
+ numbers after Noun (World War 1, World War 2)
+ historical reference
Exception:
Places whose name is (or contains) a common Noun like Republic, state, Union
Ex: The People's Republic of China
The United Kingdom
The United States of America
Note also The Netherland, and its Seat of Government "The Hague"
- In British English, "The" in unusual in the titles of pricipal public buildings or org of a towns
Ex: Oxford University, Hull Zoo, Bristol Zoo, Manchester City Council (all without the)
- In American English, "the" is more often used in such cases
Ex: The San Diego zoo
The Detroit Council
(quái thật, thế này thì biết khi nào dùng Anh - Anh, khi nào dùng Anh - Mĩ nhỉ)
- Names of single mountain vary most have no article.
Ex: Mount Kilinam Jaro, Mount Everest
- But definite articles are usually translated in the English versions of European mountain names, except those beginning "Le Mount"
Ex: The Meije (= La Meije)
(phuc tap qua' )
As we go on, we remember all the times we had together
As our lives change, come whatever
We will still be FRIENDS FOREVER

Test test, who wanna do some tests? I guess no one, but you know, it won't take you long to do this exercise, it's extremely simple... yet there're also some tricky ones. Let's see how much you can do. You'll get at least 13, 14 out of 15 I believe.
Fill in the blank with a/ an/ the if necessary.
1. Then he put forward ___ amazing suggestion that she should turn down the offer and settle in London.
2. We got back to the inn as ____ night was falling.
4. It was ____ night, but ____ street was brightly lit.
5. When he got back to ____ hotel, he took _____ newspaper and considered at his leisure ____ story on page two.
6. The fog was so thick that we couldn't see the side of the road. We followed ____ car in front of us and hoped we were going ____ right way.
7. I can't remember ____ exact date of _____ storm, but I know it was ____ Sunday because everybody was at _____ church. On Monday ____ post didn't come because _____ roads were blocked by fallen trees.
À còn về câu bác LTB bảo là sai, chắc sửa từ will always help thành always helps đúng ko ạ?
As we go on, we remember all the times we had together
As our lives change, come whatever
We will still be FRIENDS FOREVER
Được britneybritney sửa chữa / chuyển vào 00:57 ngày 27/05/2003

Fill in the blank with a/ an/ the if necessary.
1. Then he put forward an amazing suggestion that she should turn down the offer and settle in London.
2. We got back to the inn as the night was falling.
4. It was a night, but the street was brightly lit.
5. When he got back to the hotel, he took a newspaper and considered at his leisure the story on page two.
6. The fog was so thick that we couldn't see the side of the road. We followed the car in front of us and hoped we were going the right way.
7. I can't remember the exact date of the storm, but I know it was a Sunday because everybody was at the church. On Monday the post didn't come because the roads were blocked by fallen trees.
Wanna grade me, Ms. BB?
I always have problem with articles, I can never remember the rules. I just follow my instincts.
five centimeters away from the rim