Below are the answers and explanation for the lesson about using the article “the” when referring to countries and nationalities.
If you have not completed the test already, please do so now. To complete the test, click here: Articles & Countries Grammar Test
Country Names and THE
Almost all country names do not require the article “the”. We refer to France, England, Britain, Vietnam, Canada, China, India – all without “the”.
However, there are exceptions. Countries that are made up of a group of states or islands use “the”, such as the Philippines and the US. Any country that uses the words “states” or “united” or “republic” also use “the”, for example the UK, the US, the Republic of China.
Please note, the word “Britain” is not a synonym for England. Britain means the UK. Britain refers to the group of countries that make up the UK: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The word “Britain” actually means “Great Britain”.
Nationalities
We need to use the article “the” when referring to nationalities as a group of people: the British, the Americans, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the English.
Do not confuse the rule of nationalities, above, with a different rule about using similar words as part of a noun phrase where it does not form the main noun. For example, the words “a British car” is a noun phrase and in that noun phrase the word “car” is the main noun, not the word “British”. So, the rule about using “the” with nationalities is only when referring to a group of people under the umbrella of their nationality – not when using the nationality as an adjective to another noun. One more example: “the hard-working British” is a noun phrase referring to the whole group of British people as a nationality and requires “the”. But we could say “a hard-working British man” – in this noun phrase, the word “man” is the main noun and can use any article depending on how the noun is used. To learn more about this, refer to two chapters in my Grammar E-book: the chapter on Articles and the chapter on Noun Phrases. Also note that when referring to “Americans”, it is possible to drop the article “Americans are friendly” and it is also possible to use “the” – “The Americans are friendly”.
I hope you found this useful. Rules about articles (a / an / the) can feel confusing. But you can learn them all simply and easily in my new Grammar E-book 🙂
Answers for the Grammar Test:
Number 3 “the America” is wrong. Number 4 “the Britain” is wrong. Number 8 “the England” is wrong.
Correct: the British, the UK, the English, the US, the Americans. Note it is also possible to say “Americans” without an article as noted on the page above.
Grammar E-book
My Grammar E-book is now available in my online store. There is a comprehensive chapter on Articles as well as over 200 pages of other grammar to push your English to a higher level. You will find content and details of the e-book given in my store. See below:
CLICK HERE: VISIT STORE
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Hi Liz!
I have some questions regarding the use of article in listening.
Here is the question:
“Pesonality Questionnaires
• completed during … ”
I answer “the staff selection” but the answer key says “staff selection” only. And the maximum number of words is 3. Is it considered wrong if I use the word “the”?
As you can see, you are not completing a sentence. When you complete a sentence, the sentence must be grammatically correct when it is finished and that means articles must be correctly used. However, there is no sentence. There are notes. When we take notes, we do not write articles. Your answer would be marked wrong. If you look at the Cambridge IELTS test books (which are real tests) you will see that note completion questions don’t require articles – the examples and answer keys show you this.
Good day Ma.
How can some one purchase your grammar book? Because we are currently under locdown, I want to know if i can purchase it through the website and I will like to have the web address.
Thank you
If you are using a phone and you look further down this page, you will see a link to my store and an advert for the Grammar E-book. If you are using a laptop, you can see this in the right hand column.
Dear Liz,
After looking over tens or maybe hundreds of various lessons, lectures, videos etc. for learning English language (and for IELTS preparation) I finally found the BEST source! The best of the best is your materials – your website, YouTube videos and your store. I bought your E-Grammar today and I am really impressed. You are a hard-working professional and amazing teacher. You post so much of valuable free material – I can’t believe my eyes, especially after seeing (over the years) lots and lots of other sources, as mentioned above.
THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, DEAR LIZ!
All the best!
Aukse Ivanov
Thank you so much for your kind message. It really warms my heart when someone sees how much I do and how hard I try. It’s great to know you are making the most of my lessons 🙂 Tomorrow I will be posting my story – how I have done this and what my approach to life is all about. I hope you read it 🙂 Wishing you all the best 🙂
Dear Liz,
I have some confusion over the passive structure and therefore request you to answer the following questions and get back to me ASAP.
1. Cristina hates people criticizing her look.
passive: Cristina hates having her look criticized.
2. I saw him beating a man.
Passive: He was seen beating a man.
Please let me know if my passive sentences are correct and also if there are other alternative passive forms as well.
Thank you!
To explain the passive voice and the variations in using it takes me 9 pages in my e-book. It isn’t something that requires a quick tip in a message. It is something that requires pages and pages of explanation. Please get my Grammar E-book to learn more.
About your sentences, the first set of options are fine. The second don’t work. In the second set of sentences, your active sentence is about “I”. You can’t change that into passive in that way. Not all sentences can be turned into a passive. The sentence “He was seen beating a man” does not relate to “I” – it infers that someone (a person or people) saw him beating a man. This means by using the passive, you are completely altering the meaning. So for the second set of sentence, you would never choose to use passive unless your aim is to alter the meaning.
Hello Liz,
Your website is amazing. You have explained so many topics in very interesting way. I really appreciate your efforts. Thank you for being there for us. Get well soon. May God bless you with healthy, happy and long life.
Thank you 🙂 You’re welcome 🙂
Hi Elizabeth.
Does it correct to say “London is the capital of Great Britain”
Owing to a misunderstanding some people believe that it is incorrect.
Why? Why not?
Thank you in advance
Andy
Most people call our country the UK. That is what it is most commonly referred to. It is lengthy to explain the political, geographical and common interpretation of “Britain” and “Great Britain”. I’ll make a post about it some time.
Thanks Liz for shading more light,I attempted & got the second one wrong but it was a beautiful exercise.Thank you
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It takes time to learn the rules for articles.
3/5/8are incorect
I can’t understand how we should distinguish if we need to put “the” before British and English, because I thought that in above-mentioned case it was language, not nationality, or in case of language we also need to use “the”?
This lesson is not about languages. This lesson is about nationalities and countries. British is a nationality and English is also a nationality.
If you are asking about languages, we don’t use articles. “I speak French.”
Really interesting quiz and explanation to the details. I have bought your both books and they are very useful. I didn’t realized earlier that Learning English can be so interesting.
Thanku for sharing knowledge. May GOD bless you with good health.
That’s such a nice message to read. I’m really pleased that you find learning English interesting. That is precisely what I want people to feel. I honestly think if you approach teaching in the right way, learning becomes enjoyable for people. You’ve brought a smile to my face – thank you 🙂
Hi Liz
Hope you are doing well. I have purchased your Grammar book and I am sure it will not only help for the IELTS but also to get a good hold on the language . While attempting the exercise, I did mark ‘The Britain’ wrong as it doesn’t sound correct/right but now when I see your explanation, I am a little curious to know about the rule which makes “the Britain” wrong.
You have mentioned ‘Britain’ is a group of countries and that ‘Britain’ means “Great Britain’, then shouldn’t it be right(as per the rule of ‘group of states, islands etc’) to write “the Britain’ instead of “Britain” as “great Britain” too is called “The great Britain”. It would really help all the students out here if you can kindly answer this query.
We must sincerely admit that you are not just into the noble job of teaching but you are doing a wonderful job helping the students and thus the world. Thank you so much!
I see where you are confused. The first and main rule – nearly all country names do NOT use “the”.
The word “America” has the same meaning as “the US” but they each use different grammar rules. The US contains the word “states” and the UK contains the word “kingdom” – both words mean you must use “the”. But the name “America” does contain a reference to the many states that it represents. It is about what the name implies as well as the rules.
All you need to remember is – all country names do not use “the” unless
– they contain “states”, “kingdom” or “republic” in their name because those words imply a union or a group.
– the name represents a group of islands.
So, don’t get confused about what we know of the country, but look at the words and the implications of the words.
= the UK, Britain, England, the US, America, the Philippines, the Republic of China, China etc
Thanks Liz. That answers everything except one: “the Great Britain”. “The Great Britain” is just like Britain as in it doesn’t contain “states, kingdom , republic” etc yet it has “the” in it. Is it an exception?
Also, British council says the following
” The kangaroo is found only in Australia”=(refers to all kangaroos)
“the wolf is very ferocious”=(refers to any wolf in general)
“the heart pumps blood” =(refers to any heart in general)
On these lines, can we thus say the following:
“the government needs to take care of its citizens” (refers to just any government and not any particular government)
I’m a bit confused. Great Britain requires no article the.
When you refer to whole species as a group, you have two choices: a) The honeybee is an interesting insect. This means you are referring to the whole species when you use “the”. b) Honeybees are interesting insects. This is referring to all honeybees in general. So, while both sentences seem to be the same when it comes to meaning – all honeybees, one sentence is referring to a species group and the other to all honeybees. Two different methods of grammar.
When we refer to “the government” we are usually referring to our government in our country. There is also a rule that you use “the” when referring to social institutions – the government, the police, the army.
As you see, you might have one meaning with two options of grammar use depending on the thoughts in your mind. This is about the subtle use of English. Your are showing your thoughts by the choice you make, for example: honeybees (the general group) or the honeybee (the species). This is also what IELTS Reading is sometimes testing. When you learn the grammar rules, you learn subtle variations which IELTS will test.
I hope this helps 🙂
Thank you so much Liz. The more we learn , the more we realize how much less we have known and that keeps us going in our pursuit to learn further.
Thank you for all your efforts. May God bless you with a good health
That’s a great way to think about learning. I agree. It’s about becoming aware of how much more there is. When there is more to learn, you know that clarity and understanding will come.
I bought both of your new books it’s excellent and I think both of them useful way to learn and improve
Brilliant. It makes me so happy you find them useful 🙂 Wishing you all the best 🙂
Thanks Liz for answers and understand you. And then did you get my email?
No, I didn’t get any email. Try using this email address: ieltsliz789@gmail.com
Oh I am sorry, I didn’t see that, I am really happy that I got all answers right. Thank you again!!!
No, don’t apologise, you didn’t miss it. I added it after for more clarity 🙂
Useful.thank you for sharing knowledge
Thank you Liz, the quiz was really useful and I answered all questions right, with the exception of 7th I thought that it is wrong to say the Americans but thanks to explanation I know how use it properly.
I’ve just added a note about that. The nationality “Americans” can also be used with an article.
Thanks Liz, I got it, thanks for shedding more light on it.
It’s interesting that you ask people to put comments but then you delete them. I asked a question under an essay and it was earased.
Simple question asking about a simple rule
I am sorry that happened. As a sick, disabled person who works alone I sometimes struggle to answer the hundreds and thousands of comments posted on this site. I have a notice on the HOME page of this site which explains that I am not able to answer all comments. I currently have 10,000 comments waiting – I will not be able to answer them. I do not actually provide a question/answer service. I offer free lessons and tips which you can access through the HOME page or the RED NAV BAR at the top of the website. Please respect the work I do for free and understand that I have limitations. Always read the HOME page of any website fully to learn about the website you are using.
Good I got it right
Yes I got it right