Frustrated with "a/an/the"? You are not alone!

This is arguably the trickiest part of learning English for non-native speakers. Frankly, I am not convinced that even native English speakers know how to select the correct article (a, an, the). They just do it intuitively and often get it incorrect. So if you are frustrated with articles, don't be discouraged too much because there are millions of people out there struggling with the same issue.

In this post, I am going to focus on the correct use of "the." The basic rule is that "the" is for something specific. So what makes a noun specific? Here are some examples.

1) When you are referring to something you have already mentioned.

• I saw a guy lurking around my house. I told my mom and she asked the guy to leave.
  

2) Proper noun or well known entities

• The New York Times, the United Nations, the Supreme Court, the Cold War etc.

3) Acronyms: do NOT put "the" when they are pronounced as one word, but put "the" when each letter is pronounced (I have to warn you that there are so many exceptions to this rule)

• with "the": the FBI, the UN, the USA etc.
  
• without "the": NATO, AIDS (as in HIV/AIDS), UNICEF, UNESCO etc.
  
• exceptions: UCLA, MIT (as in Massachusetts Institute of Technology) etc.
  

4) Collective unit:

• The 1980s were characterized by the expansion of neo-liberalism.
  

5) Some nouns followed by a modifier (of, that, who etc.) that clearly limits the meaning of the noun

• I have the necessary skills that one needs for successful administrative coordination.
  
• The family of the victim filed a lawsuit.
  

Let me emphasize that these are not meant to be an exhaustive list of the rules behind "the". The only rule that holds in any context is that "the" is for something specific. Everything depends on the context!

The following is based on some of the most common mistakes I have seen among Korean students preparing for the Korean foreign service exam. Make sure you remember whether to put "the" or not with the following words!

WITHOUT the

• Congress (with capital C, meaning 미 의회): The Korea-US Free Trade Agreement is facing an uphill battle in Congress.
  
• society: Try to use your expertise to give back to society.
  

WITH the

• the AAAA industry: The newly enacted law is welcomed by the banking industry.
  
• the BBBB community: The international community is keenly concerned about human rights abuse in North Korea.
  
• the U.S. Congress: Members of the U.S. Congress are split on health care reform.
• the media: The media is a watchdog that ensures government transparency.
  
• the Internet (with capital I): The creation of the Internet changed our lives completely.
• the economy: "It's the economy, stupid!" (This is a phrase Bill Clinton used during his 1992 presidential campaign. When you are referring to 경제 as a general concept, i.e. everything related to the production and consumption of goods and services in an area, you need to put "the")
  

One last tip: when you are saying "AAAA's BBBB", make sure you do not modify BBBB with both "the" and possessives.

• The government's policy (o): "the" goes with "government", so it means "the policy of the government"
  
• the America's policy (x): here, "the" goes with "policy". So you are basically modifying "policy" redundantly with both "the" and "America's". The correct expression is "America's policy" or "the policy of America"