denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge
what's the matter?
call the doctor
the phone rang
used to point forward to a following qualifying or defining clause or phrase
the fuss that he made of her
the top of a bus
I have done the best I could
used to make a generalized reference to something rather than identifying a particular instance
he taught himself to play the violin
I worry about the future
enough of (a particular thing)
he hoped to publish monthly, if only he could find the money
(pronounced stressing ‘the’) used to indicate that someone or something is the best known or most important of that name or type
he was the hot young piano prospect in jazz
used adverbially with comparatives to indicate how one amount or degree of something varies in relation to another
the more she thought about it, the more devastating it became