在英語中,有一些含有定冠詞 the 和不含定冠詞 the 的詞組。這些詞組僅僅是一個定冠詞 the 的差別,但是它們表示的意義卻不同。如:
He likes to sit in the front of the class.
他喜歡坐在教室的前排。
There is a pond in front of the house.
房屋前面有個池塘。
1. 詞組 in the front of 和 in front of 都有在……前面的意思,但含義不同。 in the front of 表示在……(範圍內的)前面;而 in front of 表示在……(範圍外的)前面。
2. at table 意爲吃飯;進餐; at the table 意爲在桌邊。如:
He seldom talks at table.
他吃飯時很少說話。
We sat at the table, talking.
我們坐在桌邊談論。
3. go to school 意爲開始求學;到校上課; go to the school 意爲去學校(但不一定是上學)。如:
He usually goes to school by bike.
他通常騎自行車到校上課。
His mother often goes to the school to see him.
他的媽媽經常去學校看他。
4. in charge of ( =take charge of ),意爲主管;看管;在……看管之下,主語是人; in the charge of 意爲負責管理;負責照料,主語是事物(物)。如:
Teacher Wang was in charge of our class.
王老師負責我們班級。
Our class was in the charge of teacher Wang.
我們班級由王老師負責管理。
5. at sight 意爲一看見就,一般放在句末; at the sight of 意爲在看到……時,可放在名首或句末。如:
He plays music at sight.
他事先無準備地看譜演奏。
At the sight of the police officers the thief ran off.
小偷一看見警察就跑了。
6. go to sea 意爲出航( =become a sailor )當水手; go to the sea 意爲去海邊。如:
When he was a boy, his greatest wish was to go to sea.
他小時候最大的願望就是去當水手。
He went to the sea for a holiday.
他去海邊度假了。
7. in case of 意爲假使;如果;萬一; in the case of 意爲就……來說。如:
In case of fire, ring the alarm.
如有火災,按火警鈴。
In the case of a physical change no new substance is formed.
就物理變化來說,沒有新的物質產生。
8. other 意爲另外的人或物,泛指; the other 意爲(兩個中的)另一個,特指。如:
Show me some others, please.
請給我看一些其它的。
I have two brothers. One is a teacher, the other is a doctor.
我有兩個兄弟,一個是老師,一個是醫生。
9. people 指人;人們,是泛指;作民族解時複數爲 peoples ; the people 指人民。如:
Ten people attended the meeting.
10 個人參加了這次會議。
Australians are the English-speaking people.
澳大利亞人是說英語的.民族。
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.
人民,只有人民,纔是創造世界歷史的主人。
10. out of question 意爲毫無疑問; out of the question 意爲不可能的;辦不到的;不必談的。如:
The victory is out of question.
勝利是毫無疑問的。
His coming is out of the question .
他不可能來。
11. last week ( month …)指現在講話時以前的那個星期(月……); the last week ( month …)指到今天爲止的以前的一個星期(月……)裏。如:
I had a cold-last week.
我上星期感冒了。
I has had a cold for the last week.
我感冒了一個星期。
由以上的例子我們可以看出,不帶定冠詞 the 的類似詞組表示一個統一的總的概念和意義,而帶定冠詞 the 的類似詞組,具有限定和特指的功能。當然還有一些詞組帶或不帶定冠詞 the 具有相同意義,在學習過程中,都值得我們注意。