Decades with 'The' — In the 1950s, The '80s — English Grammar Exercises
She's a student at art school. The rich. The French. The 1950s. Seven special rules, one focused practice set.
Decades and the Definite Article: In the 1950s, the '80s
Every decade in English takes the definite article the, without exception. The rule is categorical: 'the 1950s', 'the '60s', 'the 1990s', 'the early 2000s'. The rationale is straightforward — a decade names one unique, historically bounded ten-year period. Because only one 1950s exists in history, the noun phrase is inherently specific and identifiable, which is exactly the condition that triggers the. Learner corpus data consistently shows omission of 'the' before decades as an error pattern, particularly at B1 level, where learners may correctly handle 'the' with rivers and superlatives but have not yet automatised the decades rule.
Full and Shortened Decade Forms
Both the full written form and the abbreviated form require 'the':
Fashion in the '80s was very colourful.
My parents got married in the late '80s.
Disco music was popular in the 1970s.
The internet changed everything in the 1990s.
With Modifiers
Modifiers like early, late, and mid attach to the decade before 'the':
in the late '70s
in the mid-2000s
Common Mistakes
✗ Rock and roll became popular in 1950s. → ✓ in the 1950s.
✗ My parents grew up in a 1970s. → ✓ in the 1970s.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do we say 'the rich' and 'the French' without a noun?
'The + adjective' is a grammatical structure that refers to the entire group of people described by that adjective. 'The rich' = rich people in general; 'the French' = French people. The verb that follows is always plural: 'The rich are getting richer', not 'The rich is getting richer'. This pattern works with qualities (the young, the elderly, the poor, the homeless), states (the injured, the unemployed, the disabled), and nationality adjectives (the British, the Spanish, the Japanese).
Why do we use 'the' with musical instruments — 'play the piano' — but not with sports?
English uses 'the' with musical instruments when referring to playing them as an activity: play the guitar, play the violin, learn the flute. The convention treats the instrument as a generic representative of its type rather than a specific object. Sports and games use zero article: play tennis, play chess, go swimming. The two rules are parallel opposites and must be memorised separately.
What is the difference between 'go to school' and 'go to the school'?
Institutional nouns — school, hospital, prison, church, university, bed — drop the article when used for their primary purpose. 'Go to school' means attending as a student; 'go to the school' means visiting the physical building for any other reason (as a parent, a plumber, a visitor). The same distinction applies throughout: 'in hospital' (as a patient) vs 'at the hospital' (visiting someone), 'in prison' (as a prisoner) vs 'visiting the prison'.
Why do decades and ordinal numbers always use 'the'?
Both decades and ordinals identify a unique or specific position, which triggers the definite article. 'The 1960s' refers to one specific ten-year period within history — it is not one of many possible 1960s. Similarly, 'the first', 'the second', and 'the last' point to a unique position in a sequence. You cannot say 'a first time I did this' when referring to the specific incident — it must be 'the first time'.