Englishfor English speakers
the
Determiner
—
Used, instead of a, to reference something specific, already known to exist.
Compare "I read a book." and "I read the book."
—
Used with a stress, to show that the word following is special.
Are you the John Smith that I went to school with?
—
Used with an adjective that acts like a noun to mean all of the people concerned
The poor are always with us.
—
Used with superlatives forms of adjectives and adverbs.
You are the best.
commonwealth
—
noun
the official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico)
—
noun
(= state, nation, country, land)
a politically organized body of people under a single government
the state has elected a new president
African nations
students who had come to the nation's capitol
the country's largest manufacturer
an industrialized land
—
noun
a world organization of autonomous states that are united in allegiance to a central power but are not subordinate to it or to one another
—
noun
(= democracy)
a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
of
Preposition
—
Made using.
It is a house of cards.
Australia
Proper noun
—
Australia is the continent that is east of the Indian Ocean, west of the Pacific Ocean, and south of Asia.
Australia is an island, a continent, and a nation, all in one.
—
Australia is the country on this continent.