[Grammar] ARTICLES

[Kanu123]

1) The eskimos make houses of snow and ice.
Why we are using 'the" in above sentence ? We are not pointing to a particular eskimo.

2) The tiger , an animal equal to the lion in size , is a native of Asia.
Why we are using 'the" in above sentence ? We are not referring to a particular tiger and lion.

3) Which is correct ?
My favourite flower is rose OR my favourite flower is the rose.

 

[MikeNewYork]

1) The eskimos make houses of snow and ice.
Why we are using 'the" in above sentence ? We are not pointing to a particular eskimo.

2) The tiger , an animal equal to the lion in size , is a native of Asia.
Why we are using 'the" in above sentence ? We are not referring to a particular tiger and lion.

3) Which is correct ?
My favourite flower is rose OR my favourite flower is the rose.

We use "the" before nouns for more than one reason. This causes confusion. As you pointed out we use "the" before a specific individual. We also use it to refer to an entire group of similar individuals. "The Eskimos" stands for typical Eskimos. "The tiger", "the lion", and "the rose" refers to a typical tiger, lion, and rose.

We do the same with adjectives that represent typical members of a group: "the rich", "the poor", etc.