Pronouncing The Word “The”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Yes, my name is Patrick. I’m calling from Palm Desert, California.

Hi, Patrick. Welcome to the show.

Hi, Patrick.

Thank you. When do you use the word the and the word the, T-H-E?

And I had always been taught that you use the word the with a word that begins with a vowel,

Like the earth, the art show, and you would use the word the with a word that begins with a

Consonant like the car, the house, the party. That was what I wanted to talk about.

And so, Patrick, you were taught that. Did that sink in for you? Do you use the and the in those

Ways? Sometimes I catch myself not doing the Z. The art show. The earth. Right. So a long E before

A vowel, right? Yes. Is what you’re saying. You know, a lot of people were taught that way. I was

Not taught that way. I wasn’t either. I didn’t learn it until I was in my 30s. Oh, really? And

Even then, I don’t believe it. Yeah, I don’t believe it either. I think some elocutionists

Got together and decided that having what we call an unreduced E in front of a vowel,

As opposed to a reduced one, which would be the, is somehow superior. But neither Grant nor I

Learned this until late in life. I didn’t learn it until I was doing this show. And some guy called

A few years ago and said, Martha, you do this incorrectly. And the thing about that is most

Americans don’t differentiate and do not follow that rule.

Yes. Or most North Americans, I should say, because Canadians have the same thing. Most of us

Will do the schwa sound almost always, or we will drop

The schwa and put that unvoiced TH, kind of

Alight it with the following word that begins with the vowel sound.

So it’d be vapple or thirth. I’m kind of exaggerating for a fact. Instead of

The apple, it’d be thapple. Right. And you said exaggerating

And that’s another thing. I mean, for emphasis, I might say Grant Barrett is the handsomest radio host you will ever see.

She has very limited experience with the world. She hasn’t met Kai Rizzo.

I don’t get out much. But yeah, you’ll sometimes use those for emphasis.

And I hear it a lot more from politicians, too, you know, especially people in presidential positions.

Yeah, I imagine it’s the kind of thing that you are taught once you become a public speaker.

It doesn’t actually, I looked in some pronunciation guides.

I don’t even see this mentioned in some of the more modern pronunciation guides.

It’s mentioned as an artifact of history more than it is a thing that you must do in order to be understood as a good speaker or an educated person.

But most Americans at home don’t differentiate.

It’s almost always the schwa, the.

Right.

Nobody needs to feel bad about that.

No, not at all.

That’s right.

So, Patrick, did you get the answer you were hoping to get?

I certainly did.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Thanks so much for calling.

It’s been a real pleasure.

Thank you.

It’s a pleasure.

Take care.

All right.

Bye-bye.

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