The Politics Programme

''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers.

Pronunciation

In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun '' thee'') when followed by a vowel sound or used as an emphatic form.

Modern American and New Zealand English have an increasing tendency to limit usage of pronunciation and use , even before a vowel.

Sometimes the word "the" is pronounced , 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 under " Use of articles". ''The'', as 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.

Article

''The'' and ''that'' are common developments from the same Old English system. Old English had a definite article '' se'' (in the masculine gender), '' sēo'' (feminine), and ''þæt'' (neuter). In Middle English, these had all merged into ''þe'', the ancestor of the Modern English word ''the''.

Geographic usage

An area in which the use or non-use of ''the'' is sometimes problematic is with geographic names:
*notable natural landmarks – rivers, seas, mountain ranges, deserts, island groups ( archipelagoes) and so on – are generally used with a "the" definite article (''the Rhine'', ''the North Sea'', ''the Alps'', ''the Sahara'', ''the Hebrides'').
*continents, individual islands, administrative units and settlements mostly do not take a "the" article (''Europe'', '' Jura'', ''Austria'' (but ''the Republic of Austria''), ''Scandinavia'', ''Yorkshire'' (but ''the County of York''), ''Madrid'').
*beginning with a common noun followed by ''of'' may take the article, as in '' the Isle of Wight'' or '' the Isle of Portland'' (compare ''Christmas Island''), same applies to names of institutions: ''Cambridge University'', but ''the University of Cambridge''.
*Some place names include an article, such as '' 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 Village'' (NJ), '' The Village'' (OK), ''The Villages'', '' The Village at Castle Pines'', '' The Woodlands'', '' The Pas'', '' Wells-next-the-Sea'', '' the Vatican'', '' the Tiergarten'', '' The Hyde'', '' the West End'', '' the East End'', '' The Hague'', or ''the City of London'' (but '' London''). Formerly e.g. ''Bath'', '' Devizes'' or '' White Plains''.
*generally described singular names, ''the North Island'' (New Zealand) or ''the West Country'' (England), take an article.

Countries and territorial regions are notably mixed, most exclude "the" but there are some that adhere to secondary rules:
* derivations from collective common nouns such as "kingdom", "republic", "union", etc.: ''the Central African Republic'', ''the Dominican Republic'', ''the United States'', ''the United Kingdom'', ''the Soviet Union'', ''the United Arab Emirates'', including most country full names: ''the Czech Republic'' (but ''Czechia''), ''the Russian Federation'' (but ''Russia''), ''the Principality of Monaco'' (but ''Monaco''), ''the State of Israel'' (but ''Israel'') and ''the Commonwealth of Australia'' (but ''Australia'').
* 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''.
*Singular derivations from "island" or "land" that hold administrative rights – '' Greenland'', '' England'', '' Christmas Island'' and ''Norfolk Island'' – do not take a "the" definite article.
* derivations from mountain ranges, rivers, deserts, etc., are sometimes used with an article, even for singular (''the Lebanon'', ''the Sudan'', ''the Yukon'', ''the Congo''). This usage is in decline, The Gambia remains recommended whereas use of ''the Argentine'' for Argentina is considered old-fashioned. Ukraine is occasionally referred to as ''the Ukraine'', a usage that was common during the 20th century and during Soviet rule, but this is considered incorrect and possibly offensive in modern usage. ''Sudan'' (but ''the Republic of the Sudan'') and '' South Sudan'' (but ''the Republic of South Sudan'') are written nowadays without the article.

''Ye'' form

In Middle English, ''the'' (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a ''þ'' with a small ''e