The Two Things I Like with “The"

Today’s English
February 11th, 2017

Do you see any difference in meaning in the following two sentences?

1.He goes to college.
2.He goes to the college.

If you are going to a place with a purpose for which the building exists, you are not supposed to use the definite article “The”.  Otherwise, use “The”.  A student goes to college to learn but a parent may go to the college to enquire about his son’s progress, not for study.
Similarly, people go to temple but the filmmaker or thief goes to the temple.

Generally we don’t use article before the name of someone but there is an exception to this. If you find someone to have certain quality of a great person, you can use the before the name of that celebrity.

1.How beautiful she is! She is the Cleopatra of our college.

2.Muthukumar sings well, doesn’t he? No doubt, he is the Ilayaraja in our group.

(My wife is the Sarojini Naidu in our family. How beautifully she speaks poetry even when she fights.)