a barn vs the barn

Question

What is the difference between these two sentences:

Tom was hiding in the barn.

Tom was hiding in a barn.

A question perhaps better suited for https://ell.stackexchange.com — GEdgar, Sep 09 '18 at 11:57

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

1

Here are two examples:

Tom had been shot down over occupied France and was trying to get back to England. One night he was hiding in a barn.

When the police came to his father's farm Tom was hiding in the barn.

The difference is this:

In the first case the context does not identify the specific barn, it's just one that Tom found on his travels. As the barn is not identified we use the indefinite article a.

In the second case the barn is identified as being the one on Tom's father's farm. Since it is identified we use the definite article the.

If there was more than one barn on Tom's father's farm we would either have to use the indefinite article and say "When the police came to his father's farm Tom was hiding in a barn" or identify the specific barn by saying "When the police came to his father's farm Tom was hiding in the big barn".

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Sep 09 '18 at 12:54

BoldBen

17,171

Minus one? What's wrong with that? – BoldBen Sep 09 '18 at 13:13
+1 to offset the drive-by downvote. Most likely it was simply because the question was marked as a duplicate. (Some people will downvote any answer to such questions.) – Jason Bassford Sep 09 '18 at 15:28
@BoldBen You should have answered at the duplicate rather than here. – Mitch Sep 10 '18 at 19:40

a barn vs the barn

1 Answers1