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The article the in IELTS: every rule with examples, when no article is needed, an exercise with answers and a free trainer

2026-10-12 · 14 min read

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With a/an, Uzbek and Russian speakers mostly make mistakes by leaving it out. With the, mistakes go both ways: it appears where it is not needed (The society should help the elderly people) and disappears where it is required ([The] number of students increased, [The] government should invest). Here and below, crossed-out words are extra and words in square brackets are missing. An examiner notices this in every paragraph, and the Grammatical Range and Accuracy score drops. The has only a few rules, and almost all of them grow from one question: does the reader know exactly which thing you mean? Below are all the cases that come up in essays, Writing Task 1 and Speaking. At the end there is a three-question check and an exercise. The rules for a/an are collected in The article a/an in IELTS: every rule with examples, an exercise with answers and a free trainer.

What the means

The comes from that and still means almost the same: "that one, you know which". When you write the, you tell the reader that both of you can identify this thing. There are three ways to identify it:

• it has already been mentioned: a new bridge… the bridge;
• it is the only one in the world or in the situation: the sun, the government, the internet;
• it is defined right in the sentence: the bridge across the river, the best solution.

If none of the three applies, the is not needed. Then one thing out of many takes a, and a general idea, a plural or an uncountable noun takes nothing. This absence of an article is called the zero article and is marked ∅.

The main rule: general ideas with no article, specific ones with the

In a Task 2 essay this rule works in almost every sentence. When you talk about a phenomenon in general, people in general or a substance in general, there is no article:

• ∅ Society benefits from ∅ education.: society and education as a whole;
• ∅ Children need ∅ attention.: all children in general;
• ∅ Technology changes how ∅ people work.

When you narrow the idea down to something specific, the appears:

• the society we live in, the society of the 19th century;
• the children in this school, the children I teach;
• the technology used in hospitals.

The last row is not a mistake in the table. Some general ideas are treated in English as one of a kind and always take the. They are listed in the next section.

When to use the

1. Second mention

The first time a thing appears, it takes a; after that the reader knows it, and it takes the. A recent study surveyed 2,000 teenagers. The study found that… The same rule works when you describe the task in Task 1: The chart shows a sharp rise in car ownership. The rise was steepest after 2005.

The repeat does not have to be word for word. A word that points back to what was said is enough: A new tax was introduced in 2015. The measure reduced traffic by 20%. These references are what hold the text together.

2. One of a kind

Something that is the only one in the world or in the country is identified without any extra detail:

• the sun, the moon, the world, the sky, the sea;
• the internet, the media, the environment, the economy (the country's economy), the public;
• the government, the police, the army: in an essay these are the government and police of "our" country, which everyone understands the same way;
• the countryside, the city when contrasted: life in the city versus life in the countryside.

In essays a very common mistake is Government should…: without the article the phrase sounds like a newspaper headline. You need The government should…, or Governments should… if you mean the governments of all countries.

3. Defined in the sentence itself

If the noun is followed by a phrase that picks out a specific thing (of…, a clause with that/who/which…), it takes the:

• the quality of education in rural areas, but ∅ education is important;
• the people who live near airports, but ∅ people like travelling;
• the cost of living, the role of parents, the importance of exercise.

Still, an of-phrase does not always make a thing specific. A lack of money, a number of reasons, a cup of tea: the thing is still one of many. Ask yourself whether the reader knows exactly which thing you mean. If not, you need a.

4. Superlatives and ordinal numbers

There can only be one "most" and one "first", so the is required: the most important factor, the biggest problem, the first step, the last decade, the only solution, the same result, the next generation.

• One of the most + plural: one of the most serious problems, not one of most serious problem.
• If you do not want a loud "most", use a without a superlative: a major reason, a key factor. This sounds more natural than an extra the most in every paragraph.
• Most people (the majority of people) takes no the: Most people agree that… The most people would mean "the largest number of people".

5. The number of and a number of

This pair turns up in almost every Task 1, and it is almost always confused.

The same goes for the proportion of, the percentage of, the amount of, the figure for, the rate of: on a chart this is always a specific figure, so it takes the.

6. The + adjective: a group of people

The elderly, the young, the poor, the rich, the unemployed, the disabled name a whole group of people, and the verb is plural: The elderly need more support. The mistake is to add people and keep the: the elderly people. Write either the elderly or elderly people with no article.

7. The + singular: a whole class

In scientific and formal style, the with a singular noun refers to a whole species, invention or class: The smartphone has changed communication. The tiger is endangered. In an essay this sounds academic, but the plural with no article is simpler and safer: Smartphones have changed communication. Both forms are correct; only a bare singular is wrong: Smartphone has changed…

8. Names: countries, rivers, organisations

Task 1 often has in the UK and in the USA. A missing the here stands out at once.

9. Musical instruments, "play" and media

Play the piano, play the guitar take the, while sports take no article: play ∅ football. Media and means of communication: on the radio, in the newspaper, but on ∅ TV, by ∅ email, by ∅ phone, by ∅ car. In Speaking Part 1 this comes up in questions about hobbies.

When the is a mistake

General plurals and uncountables

The most common mistake looks like a polite safety net: adding the just in case. In an essay this changes the meaning: The students should wear uniforms means specific students, not schoolchildren in general. A general idea takes no the: ∅ students, ∅ money, ∅ health, ∅ crime, ∅ unemployment, ∅ nature, ∅ life.

Places by purpose: go to school and the school

When you mean the purpose of a place (to study, to be treated, to be in prison, to pray), there is no article. When you mean the building, use the:

American English speakers say in the hospital, British English speakers say in hospital. Both are acceptable, as long as you stick to one.

Meals, languages, subjects, illnesses

• have ∅ breakfast, at ∅ lunch, but the lunch was delicious (a specific lunch);
• speak ∅ English, ∅ Uzbek, but the English language;
• study ∅ history, ∅ mathematics, ∅ economics, but the history of Samarkand;
• ∅ cancer, ∅ diabetes, ∅ obesity.

With possessives and demonstratives

The does not go next to my, his, this, that, every, each, some or another noun's possessive: the my friend and the Tashkent's metro are mistakes. Write my friend and Tashkent's metro or the Tashkent metro.

The in Writing Task 1

In a chart report the is more frequent than in an essay, because almost everything on a chart is specific:

• The chart shows…, The graph illustrates…: the chart in front of you;
• the proportion of households, the number of visitors, the amount of energy: specific measures;
• in the 1990s, over the period, during the first decade, by the end of the year;
• the highest figure, the lowest point, the most significant change;
• categories from the legend: the figure for coal, the figure for Japan.

Generalisations in the overview and country names stay without an article: Overall, ∅ coal remained the main source of energy in ∅ Germany, while ∅ renewables grew fastest. Verbs and prepositions for trends are collected in How to describe trends in IELTS Writing Task 1: sentence patterns, prepositions and a worked graph with a full answer.

Pairs that get confused

A three-question check

Before every noun in your essay, ask three questions in order:

1. Does the reader know exactly which thing? Already mentioned, one of a kind, defined by a phrase or a superlative → the.
2. If not, is it one thing out of many? Countable and singular → a/an.
3. If not, is it a general idea? Plural or uncountable → ∅.

After the check, run through the special cases: the environment, the government, the internet, the number of, the UK and the fixed phrases with no article go to school, at university, by car. There is no spellchecker in the exam, so leave two minutes for this pass.

Exercise

Where do you need the, where a/an, and where nothing? Answers below.

1. ___ government should spend more on ___ public transport.
2. ___ number of cars in ___ city has doubled since 2010.
3. ___ elderly often feel lonely.
4. My brother is at ___ university in ___ UK.
5. ___ pollution is one of ___ most serious problems in ___ world.
6. A new law was passed in 2018. ___ law banned plastic bags.
7. ___ students who study abroad gain ___ independence.
8. The chart shows ___ proportion of ___ households with ___ internet access.
9. I usually have ___ breakfast at ___ home.
10. ___ Amu Darya flows into ___ Aral Sea.

Answers: 1: The government, public transport with no article; 2: The number of (the amount, verb has), the city (a specific city from the context); 3: The elderly; 4: at university (as a student), the UK; 5: Pollution with no article, the most serious, the world; 6: The law, second mention; 7: The students who… (defined by the clause) or Students who… if you mean students in general, independence with no article; 8: the proportion of households, internet access with no article; 9: breakfast and at home with no article; 10: The Amu Darya, the Aral Sea.

Free trainer: 71 gaps

The same 13 sections as in this article, 4–5 sentences each, 71 gaps on one page. You drag the, a, an or ∅ into the gaps (on a phone, with a finger or by tapping: first the word, then the gap). «Check» shows your mistakes: the wrong choice is struck through, the right one is next to it, with an explanation. Free, no sign-up, no timer.

Open the trainer for the

How to practise

Take your last essay and mark every place where you wrote the. For each one, ask why the reader knows which thing you mean. If there is no answer, the the is probably extra. Then do a second pass over bare singular nouns: there, on the contrary, an article is missing. A 250-word essay usually has 5–8 such places. Cleaning them up is easier than learning a new complex structure, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy goes up just the same.

In Tilmashq, Writing Task 2 essays and Writing Task 1 answers are scored on all four criteria, including Grammatical Range and Accuracy, with quotes from your text and corrections, so extra and missing articles show up right in the feedback. The scoring is done by AI and is on average stricter than an examiner, so read the band as a minimum. The tasks are our own, not taken from the exam.

Read next

• The article a/an in IELTS: every rule with examples, an exercise with answers and a free trainer
• A/an article exercises with answers: 15 IELTS sentences and a free trainer
• IELTS Writing: format, criteria, timing and how to prepare
• IELTS Writing Task 2: how to write a band 7 essay, structure, samples and essay checking against the criteria
• How to describe trends in IELTS Writing Task 1: sentence patterns, prepositions and a worked graph with a full answer

Download the cheat sheet (PDF) One page — print it and keep it next to you.

Updated: 2026-10-12