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"
  

financial aid vs. financial aids

Another very very very common mistake among Korean students: aid vs. aids.

When you are translating 원조/지원, most of the time what you want to say is "aid", NOT "an aid" or "aids."

Think about it this way. Where do you draw a line between a singular aid and plural aids? Should aid worth $2 be "aids" because it is more than $1? If that was the case, you would probably have to use "aids" for any sort of financial or international aid. In fact, instead of "counting" aid itself, you are referring to 원조/지원 as a general, abstract concept. So say "aid", NOT "an aid" or "aids." Take a look at the following example.

• Nearly a week into the crisis, international aid was only just starting to get through to those in need, delayed by logistical and security concerns (Reuters, Jan 18, 2010).

However, when you are referring to specific "programs" of aid, which are numerically countable (e.g. program 1, program 2, program 3...), you need to use either "an aid" or "aids". Take a look at the following example.

• When you apply for a financial aid program, make sure that the aid need not be returned. Most of financial aids these days are granted to students as a loan, which the students have to pay back after they complete their education.

government control vs. government regulation

This is a very common mistake that I have seen in many essays written by Korean students. Although both "to control" and "to regulate" can be translated as "규제/제한하다" in Korean, there is a subtle difference between the two, and often they are not interchangeable.

Control means to exercise restraint over/to dominate/to command, a close equivalent of 통제하다, 장악하다 in Korean. Take a look at the following example.

• Google’s decision to scale back operations in China ends a nearly four-year bet that Google’s search engine in China, even if censored, would help bring more information to Chinese citizens and loosen the government’s controls on the Web. (New York Times, Mar 22, 2010)

Regulate means to direct according to rule or law/to adjust to a particular specification, a close equivalent of 규제하다, 조정하다 in Korean. Take a look at the following example.

• The Macao government is planning to regulate the building of new casinos in an attempt to curb investment in the gambling industry.

Here, the Macao government is not a dominating authority in a way that the Chinese government is; the former tries to drive the gambling industry to a certain direction through indirect measures including legal restrictions, while the latter imposes itself directly on the Internet through censorship.

Higher Chances vs. Better Chances

This is a common point of confusion for many Korean students. While both "better" and "higher" mean "more ", they are not always interchangable.

"Higher" should be used for something that is objectively measurable by itself.

• e.g. Students from lower income families are more likely to drop out than students from higher income families.

"Better" should be used for something that isn't objectively measurable by itself.

• e.g. There are better chances of reaching an agreement through the six-party talks, rather than through unilateral diatribes.