Grammar: Word classes: Determiners: Referring to specific people, things, etc

Definite article (the)

Omitting the

There are two contexts in which we could expect to use the definite article the but where it is instead omitted:

	when pointing outwards
	when making a general statement

Omitting the when pointing outwards

We omit the definite article the with nouns pointing to certain social institutions, particularly when these follow a preposition (to, at, in).

Dotty used to go to kindergarten.
Mr Gong studied at university.

Other social institutions often used without the definite article the are: church, college, home, hospital, kindergarten, prison, university, work. Note that some places of worship (temple, synagogue, mosque) require the definite article the (eg Mr Wing's friend went to the temple yesterday). 

Note also, that if we are pointing to the physical structure housing an institution, or a particular institution (especially in cases where there is only one in the area), then the is usually used:

Miss Lee parked her car near the school.

Whenever we use by to indicate the means by which we are travelling or sending something, we are essentially pointing to a 'social institution', usually in the form of a system of transportation or communication, and so we also omit the definite article the:

Ricky travels to school by mini bus.
Granny Gong sent a letter by courier rather than by post.

Because home and work (as in workplace) are words not generally used for the buildings in which the activities take place (unlike school or hospital), they cannot be used with the definite article the. (Seeming exceptions like the home for the aged function like school or hospital, not like someone's home; note that in this example home is modified by for the aged.) If we want to talk about the building in which we live or where we work, we must use another noun instead, eg building, house, tower, structure:

Inspector Fu parked his car near work. [= work as social institution] 
Inspector Fu parked his car near the office tower where he worked. [= physical place of work]

As a general rule we could say:

	Institutions with short-term 'customers/clients' (patient at the doctor's/the dentist's, customer at the post office) take the.
	Institutions with long-term 'members' (student at university, patient in hospital, prisoner in prison) omit the.

Omitting the for general statements

For general statements we tend to omit the definite article the with a plural or uncountable noun:

Miss Lee taught her students that      tigers     are struggling for survival.
                                                countable noun (plural)

Pollution     is a problem in all industrial societies.
uncountable noun 

In formal contexts, especially in scientific, academic or technical writing, the alternative pattern of the definite article the + singular noun is more common:  

Miss Lee taught her students that       the tiger       is struggling for survival.
                                                 countable noun (singular)

For further information about the omission of the definite article the, see the discussions of the various aspects of the.