When to use the article "the"?

Most nouns in English are preceded by an article. While use of a and an is easier, use of the article "the" is tricky.

Below is the list of steps which work for most cases:

1. Find the noun. It might have preceding modifiers.
2. Can it be "any" instance of that noun? If yes, use "a/an", else, use "the".

Examples

• I bough a car. The car is of red color. [In the second sentence, it cannot be any car but the car I bought.]
• This is the same model I had before. [Noun = model. It cannot be any model, but the one I had before, so "the".]
• The tax rebate only applies to the members of the same family. [It is a special tax rebate, they cannot be any members, it cannot be any family]