Referring back to something mentioned before

If something has been introduced and established in a conversation or text (perhaps using the indefinite article), it is possible to refer to it again using the same noun with the definite article.

But then I came on a man playing a harp. It was a black harp...and the man was wearing a long coat.

This is the type of use of the that most books for learners concentrate on, but it is not very common, for one simple reason: if it is clear what item you are referring back to, you normally use a pronoun.

Just then he saw a dog and heard it curiously sniffing.

Some books give examples like 'I have bought a book. The book cost.2.50'. This is very strange English because you would normally say 'It cost...' or '...which cost...'. Sometimes, however, you may need to repeat the noun with the definite article:

• when the first mention occurred a long time before and a pronoun would not make a connection with it, as in the example above with 'a man - the man'

• when you are referring to one of two different people or things that have just been mentioned together

Suddenly Jane heard what sounded like a fight between a man and a woman. She tensed, prepared to call help, till she realized that the woman seemed to be getting the better of it.

• when you want to add something to the noun

The full development of an idea may well take years of hard work but the idea itself may arrive in a flash of insight.

• as a way of avoiding repeating a pronoun too often.

Pouncing on an idea as soon as it appears kills the idea.

Something mentioned before: using another noun

When you are referring back to something, you don't have to repeat the same noun or use a pronoun; you can also use another, more general, noun.

There was an enormous cat crouching on the counter... The animal looked up at Mrs Bixby.

In speech and informal writing, 'thing' and 'place' are often used in this way.

Angelica took the shell in both her hands and we peered at the thing.

He disliked France and everything to do with the place.

This use is common when you want to add an adjective as a comment.

The horse just threw me off, lay down and kicked its legs in the air. I had to remount the wretched animal at once.

If you used the indefinite article with the more general noun, you would be introducing another item. Consider the following sentence:

He was trying to warn that there was a leopard about and to say that all night long he had been threatened by the animal.

'The animal' refers back to 'a leopard'. If the phrase was 'an animal', it would refer to an animal which was probably not the leopard.