No ‘the” when it’s on activity

: I’m going to bed now

We don’t use “the” when we describe everyday places and activities

• school, work, class, bed, church

Use “the” when it’s a place or physical location

: The school is on the corner.

I’m in class now (activity)

The class when on a trip (group of students)

musical instruments

• use “the” when talking about playing an instrument
• when talking about the instrument itself us “a” or “an”

: I’m playing the piano
: I bought a piano

Don’t use “the” with lakes

: Lake Tahoe, Lake Michigan

Use “the” with rivers

: The Nile River, The Amazon River

Don’t use “the” with mountains (individual)

: Mount Everest, Mount Fuji

Country

Don’t use “the” for countries unless the country includes a political title or group name or a plural

: the United States, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic the Netherlands, the Philippines

• They visited France last summer.
• They visited the United Kingdom last summer.
• I would love to go to Korea.
• I would love to go to the Philippines.

university

Don’t use “the” with schools and universities if the world “of” is in the name, use “the”

: She goes to Harvard University.
: She studied at the University of California.

time expressions

Don’t use “the” with “next” and “last” when referring to a time from now

: next, the next, last, the last
: I’m going to Italy next week.

Use “the” with “next” and “last” if referring to another time from the past or a story
: He arrived the next day.

Numbers

ordinal numbers
: the first, the second, the last

This is the first time I’m doing that.
He lives on the fourth floor.

Cardinal numbers: don’t use “the” (one, two, three..)

: I’m on the third page. I’m on page three.

Dates

use “the” when the date comes before the month
: the 5th of July, the1st of January

don’t use “the” when the month comes first
: July 1st, December 25th