Hi, recently I've stumbled upon this problem when teaching determiners.
What's the difference between these:
She lives in a city.
She lives in the city.
And why is it possible to use THE in the second one?
Similarly, why do we say "she lives in THE country?"
A city/The city, the country etc.
Moderator: Alan
-
radazatl
- Member
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:59 pm
- Status: Teacher of English
-
Alan
- Teacher/Moderator
- Posts: 15257
- Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:56 pm
- Status: Teacher of English
- Location: Japan
Re: A city/The city, the country etc.
'In the city/country' are simply fixed expressions.
Regarding the first, substituting 'a' for 'the' would make no significant difference.
Regarding the first, substituting 'a' for 'the' would make no significant difference.