HOLD UP—Is “the” an ADJECTIVE?

I recently published an article about adjective order, and one of the types of adjectives that are listed in that article is determiners, which includes words like “our,” “these,” “a/an,” and “the.” While my husband was reading that post, he stopped, looked at me with a confused expression, and asked, “‘The’ isn’t really an adjective, is it?”

So of course I ended up on a deep dive to investigate his question: Is “the” really an adjective?

What’s an Adjective?

First things first, we need to establish what an adjective is.

The Chicago Manual of Style (AKA my grammar bible) defines an adjective as “a word (more particularly, a type of word sometimes called an adjunct) modifying a noun or pronoun; it is often called a describing word. An adjective tells you what sort, how many, how large or small, whose, etc.”

At first, it doesn’t really seem like “the” gives you all that much information about the word it’s describing. It doesn’t tell you the color, attitude, size, or any other physical characteristic. However, words like “the” and “a/an” actually tell us a lot more about a noun than we might initially expect.

Articles: A Type of Adjective

Articles are a type of adjective. There are two different kinds of articles: definite (“the”) and indefinite (“a/an”). Articles can stand alone as single adjectives (“a house”) or be used along with other adjectives (“a big blue house”).

Both definite and indefinite articles are considered “limiting” adjectives because they define exactly which item is being discussed. “Cat” could refer to any cute little feline, but “the cat” is clearly talking about one specific kitty. “A cat” also narrows it down to one cat rather than the whole class of cats.

Definite vs. Indefinite Articles

The definite article “the” is used when the object is understood and it’s assumed that the reader knows what is being referred to. For example, if I said, “The book is over there,” I’m assuming that you know which book I’m referring to.

An indefinite article indicates something that is nonspecific or not distinguished from other items of its kind. If I said, “A book is over there,” I’m not expecting you to know which book.

Here’s another example of the difference between definite and indefinite articles:

I went to see the movie last night!

This assumes that you know which movie I went to see last night. Maybe we discussed a particular movie in an earlier conversation. Or maybe we exist in an alternate universe in which only one movie exists. Either way, there is an understanding that everyone involved in the conversation already knows which movie was seen.

I went to see a movie last night!

When I tell you this statement, the natural question to follow is “Which movie did you go see?” I saw “a movie,” not “THE movie,” so I’m not assuming that you know which one it was.

How Articles CHANGE Meaning

The Chicago Manual of Style states that “because articles have demonstrative value, the meaning of a phrase may shift depending on the article used.” Basically, that means that articles—small though they may be—can change a sentence pretty drastically.

Take this sentence for example:

Her roommate and enemy turned up at the coffee shop unexpectedly.

With this sentence, it sounds like her roommate is her enemy: it’s ONE person who fills BOTH roles. But if we add one little indefinite article, suddenly there’s a whole new character:

Her roommate and an enemy turned up at the coffee shop unexpectedly.

Now TWO people have turned up: (1) her roommate and (2) an enemy. Hopefully her roommate is there to protect her.

In the following sentence, there seems to be one blanket that is both orange and black:

I bought an orange and black blanket for Halloween.

But in this one, there are now TWO blankets!

I bought an orange and a black blanket for Halloween.

The Chicago Manual of Style lists these two sentences as an example of how articles drastically change the meaning of a sentence:

“The news brought us little comfort” = the news brought no comfort

“The news brought us a little comfort” = the news brought some comfort

The specific type of article that you choose (definite or indefinite) also changes the meaning of a sentence.

Here’s a sentence that begins with an indefinite article:

A suspicious-looking man passed by the window.

By using “a,” I’m indicating that this suspicious-looking man is not known to me or the person I’m talking to. Using an indefinite article shows that the man is a stranger to us. Using a definite article would change that meaning:

The suspicious-looking man passed by the window.

This sentence indicates that you and I both know who the suspicious-looking man is. Maybe we don’t know his identity, but we might have seen him before or expected him to turn up.

In The Index to English, Ebbitt & Ebbitt list another way that articles can change meaning: Articles can sometimes turn adjectives into nouns. Add “the” to an adjective like “rich” and suddenly you’re talking about a group of people who embody that adjective: “the rich.” “High” is an adjective, but “a high” is a noun. When you turn an adjective into a noun like this, the adjective-turned-noun is called a “nominal.”

“A” or “An”?

So when you’re using an indefinite article, is it “a” or “an”? The answer is all about SOUNDS, not letters.

You should use “a” before words that begin with consonant sounds and “an” before words that begin with vowel sounds.

a chair

an airplane

a crane

an igloo

Some consonant letters begin with a vowel sound when you say them out loud. Use “an” for words that begin with these vowel-sounding consonants.

a hour

When you say “hour” out loud, the word begins with an “o” sound. “O” is a vowel, so you need “an.”

an hour

a x-ray

When you say “x” out loud, the word begins with a short “e” sound (“ex-ray”). “E” is a vowel, so you need “an.”

an x-ray

All of that to say that YES, “the” definitely is an adjective, and it’s a pretty dang important adjective, at that!

Sources:

• The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
• Ebbitt, D. R., and W. R. Ebbitt. Index to English. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.