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Grammatical article in English

The () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. The is the most oftentimes used discussion in the English linguistic communication; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for vii pct of all printed English-language words.^[1] It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Center English language and at present has a unmarried form used with pronouns of any gender.^[a] The give-and-take tin can exist used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is dissimilar from many other languages, which have dissimilar forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers.

Pronunciation

In near dialects, "the" is pronounced as /ðə/ (with the voiced dental fricative /ð/ followed past a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and equally /ðiː/ (homophone of pronoun thee) when followed by a vowel sound or used equally an emphatic form.^[2]

Mod American and New Zealand English accept an increasing tendency to limit usage of /ðiː/ pronunciation and apply /ðə/, even before a vowel.^{[3] [4]}

Sometimes the word "the" is pronounced /ðiː/, with stress, to emphasise that something is unique: "he is the expert", not just "an" expert in a field.

Adverbial

Definite article principles in English are described nether "Use of articles". The, every bit in phrases like "the more the better", has a distinct origin and etymology and by chance has evolved to be identical to the definite article.^[5]

Article

The and that are mutual developments from the same Old English system. Onetime English had a definite commodity se (in the masculine gender), sēo (feminine), and þæt (neuter). In Middle English language, these had all merged into þe, the ancestor of the Modern English word the.^{[half dozen]}

Geographic usage

An area in which the use or not-use of the is sometimes problematic is with geographic names:

• notable natural landmarks – rivers, seas, mountain ranges, deserts, isle groups (archipelagoes) so on – are by and large used with a "the" definite article (the Rhine, the North Body of water, the Alps, the Sahara, the Hebrides).
• continents, private islands, authoritative units and settlements mostly do not have a "the" article (Europe, Jura, Austria (simply the Austria), Scandinavia, Yorkshire (but the County of York), Madrid).
• beginning with a common noun followed by of may take the commodity, as in the Isle of Wight or the Isle of Portland (compare Christmas Island), same applies to names of institutions: Cambridge Academy, simply the University of Cambridge.
• Some identify names include an commodity, such every bit the Bronx, The Oaks, The Rock, The Birches, The Harrow, The Rower, The Swan, The Valley, The Farrington, The Quarter, The Plains, The Dalles, The Forks, The Village, The Hamlet (NJ), The Village (OK), The Villages, The Village at Castle Pines, The Woodlands, The Pas, the Vatican, The Hyde, the West End, the E Stop, The Hague, or the City of London (just London). Formerly e.g. Bath, Devizes or White Plains.^[7]
• more often than not described atypical names, the Due north Island (New Zealand) or the West Country (England), accept an article.

Countries and territorial regions are notably mixed, most exclude "the" only there are some that attach to secondary rules:

• derivations from commonage common nouns such as "kingdom", "republic", "marriage", etc.: the Key African Democracy, the Dominican Commonwealth, the United States, the Uk, the Soviet Wedlock, the United Arab Emirates, including most country total names:^{[8] [9]} the Czech Republic (but Czech republic), the Russian Federation (only Russia), the Principality of Monaco (but Monaco), the State of Israel (only State of israel) and the Commonwealth of Australia (but Australia).^{[10] [11] [12]}
• countries in a plural noun: the Netherlands, the Falkland Islands, the Faroe Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Philippines, the Comoros, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and The Bahamas.
• Atypical derivations from "island" or "land" that agree administrative rights – Greenland, England, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island – do non have a "the" definite commodity.
• derivations from mountain ranges, rivers, deserts, etc., are sometimes used with an article, even for singular, (the Lebanon, the Sudan, the Yukon, the Congo).^[xiii] This usage is in pass up, The Gambia remains recommended whereas employ of the Argentine for Argentina is considered quondam-fashioned. Ukraine is occasionally referred to as the Ukraine, a usage that was mutual during the 20th century, but this is considered incorrect and maybe offensive in modern usage.^[14] Sudan (simply the Commonwealth of the Sudan) and South Sudan (but the Democracy of S Sudan) are written nowadays without the article.

Abbreviations

Since "the" is one of the near frequently used words in English, at various times brusque abbreviations for it accept been plant:

• Barred thorn: the earliest abbreviation, information technology is used in manuscripts in the Old English linguistic communication. Information technology is the alphabetic character þ with a assuming horizontal stroke through the ascender, and it represents the word þæt, meaning "the" or "that" (neuter nom. / acc.).
• þͤ and þͭ (þ with a superscript e or t) appear in Middle English manuscripts for "þe" and "þat" respectively.
• yͤ and yͭ are developed from þͤ and þͭ and appear in Early Mod manuscripts and in impress (see Ye grade).

Occasional proposals take been fabricated by individuals for an abbreviation. In 1916, Legros & Grant included in their classic printers' handbook Typographical Press-Surfaces, a proposal for a alphabetic character similar to Ħ to represent "Th", thus abbreviating "the" to ħe.^[15]

In Middle English, the (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a þ with a small eastward higher up information technology, like to the abbreviation for that, which was a þ with a pocket-size t to a higher place it. During the latter Middle English and Early on Modern English language periods, the letter of the alphabet thorn (þ) in its common script, or cursive form, came to resemble a y shape. As a result, the apply of a y with an e in a higher place it () as an abbreviation became common. This tin can nevertheless exist seen in reprints of the 1611 edition of the Rex James Version of the Bible in places such equally Romans 15:29, or in the Mayflower Compact. Historically, the article was never pronounced with a y audio, even when then written.

The discussion "The" itself, capitalised, is used equally an abbreviation in Republic countries for the honorific title "The Right Honourable", as in east.g. "The Earl Mountbatten of Burma", short for "The Correct Honourable Earl Mountbatten of Burma", or "The Prince Charles".^[16]

References

1. ^ Norvig, Peter. "English Alphabetic character Frequency Counts: Mayzner Revisited".
2. ^ "the – definition". Merriam Webster Online Dictionary.
3. ^ Ladefoged, Peter; Johnson, Keith (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth. p. 110.
4. ^ Hay, Jennifer (2008). New Zealand English . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 44.
5. ^ "the, adv.i." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. xi March 2016.
6. ^ "The and That Etymologies". Online Etymology Lexicon . Retrieved 18 June 2015.
7. ^ "Why is it called The Hague?".
8. ^ "Countries: Designations and abbreviations to use".
9. ^ "FAO Land Profiles". world wide web.fao.org.
10. ^ "Using 'the' with the Names of Countries".
11. ^ "List of Countries, Territories and Currencies".
12. ^ "UNGEGN Earth Geographical Names".
13. ^ Swan, Michael How English Works, p. 25
14. ^ Ukraine or "the Ukraine"? by Andrew Gregorovich, infoukes.com
15. ^ "Missed Opportunity for Ligatures".
16. ^ 'The Prefix "The"'. In Titles and Forms of Address, 21st ed., pp. 8–9. A & C Black, London, 2002.

Notes

1. ^ masculine, feminine, or neuter.

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