台灣學生寫 IELTS，一半扣分是「該加 a / the 的地方沒加」，另一半是「不該加 the 的地方亂加」。本篇處理後者——過度使用 the。

為什麼是 Taiwanese 特有錯誤

中文沒有冠詞，學生學到「the = 那個」就每看到名詞都想加。但英文有四大場景不可以加 the：

  1. 抽象名詞泛稱（life, love, happiness, education）
  2. 語言名稱（English, Chinese, French）
  3. 複數名詞泛稱（people, students, cars）
  4. 大部分專有名詞（Taiwan, Mount Everest, Harvard）

四大零冠詞場景 ❌ vs ✅

| ❌ Wrong | ✅ Correct | 類別 | |----------|-----------|------| | The life is hard in the city. | Life is hard in the city. | 抽象名詞泛稱 | | I am learning the English. | I am learning English. | 語言名稱 | | The people are kind in Taiwan. | People are kind in Taiwan. | 複數名詞泛稱 | | I visited the Taiwan last year. | I visited Taiwan last year. | 國家名（一般） | | The happiness is important. | Happiness is important. | 抽象名詞 |

但有時候 the 是對的——怎麼分？

有特定限定的時候要 the：

  • Life is hard.（泛稱）→ The life of a farmer is hard.（限定「農夫的生活」）
  • English is difficult.（泛稱語言）→ The English spoken in Scotland is hard to understand.（限定特定版本）
  • People are kind.（泛稱人類）→ The people I met yesterday were kind.（限定特定一群人）

規則：看名詞後面有沒有 of ... / in ... / who ... / that ... 之類的限定語——有就加 the，沒有就不加。

另外要 the 的專有名詞（少數例外）

  • 河流、海洋、山脈：the Thames, the Pacific, the Andes
  • 複數國名：the Philippines, the Netherlands, the United States
  • 組織全名：the United Nations, the BBC, the World Bank

但單數國名 / 城市 / 人名永遠不加 the：Taiwan, Taipei, Ms Chen。

Quick Drill — 10 句判斷對錯

  1. The love is the most important thing.
  2. I want to improve my English.
  3. The people in my country are friendly.（若無限定）
  4. She lives in the Taipei.
  5. The United States is a large country.
  6. The education should be free.
  7. The education that my parents gave me was priceless.
  8. The Chinese is hard to learn.
  9. The Nile is the longest river in Africa.
  10. The Dr Wang teaches me.

Answer Key

| # | 對錯 | 解釋 | |---|------|------| | 1 | ❌ | love 抽象泛稱去 the → Love is the most important thing. | | 2 | ✅ | English 不加 the；my 是限定詞 | | 3 | ❌ | 無限定的 people 不加 the → People in my country are friendly. | | 4 | ❌ | 單數城市去 the → She lives in Taipei. | | 5 | ✅ | 複數國名要 the | | 6 | ❌ | 抽象泛稱去 the → Education should be free. | | 7 | ✅ | 有 that my parents gave me 限定 → 加 the 正確 | | 8 | ❌ | 語言名去 the → Chinese is hard to learn. | | 9 | ✅ | 河流要 the | | 10 | ❌ | 人名去 the → Dr Wang teaches me. |

記住這一條

抽象、語言、複數泛稱、單數國家人名——看到就想刪 the。寫完檢查一次 Ctrl+F "the"，問自己「後面有限定嗎？」——沒有就刪掉。

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