'The' (definite article) questions

[Xinfu]

I think THE for festivals is optional; do you agree?:

-We celebrate (the) Sun/Moon/Lantern/Bun/Boat Festival.


This FESTIVAL means a day or period of the year when people stop working to celebrate a special event, often a religious one; NOT a series of performances of music, plays, films/movies, etc, usually organized in the same place once a year.

[Xinfu]

Is THE optional?:

-If you are considering taking a boyfriend, (the) next semester/term will be the best time.

[Rusty]

Yes.

[Xinfu]

Thank you~ Is A/AN/THE optional?:

-They will do (an/the) in-depth reading (should I use the plural for READING?)of a couple of/a few research-based articles.

[Rusty]

They will do in-depth reading of a couple of research-based articles.
They will do in-depth reading of a few research-based articles.

Pluralizing 'reading' suggests that reading the articles once is not sufficient.
If you add 'an' before 'in-depth', you are clarifying that only one reading will be done.

[Xinfu]

Thank you~For

-He is currently 16th in the world rankings.

Is it optional to pronounce THE before 16th etc?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Xinfu

Is it optional to say THE before 16th, etc.?

Yes. Adding the definite article would be adding emphasis or contrast.

[Xinfu]

Thank you~

Without referring to a particular group of girls, can I say this?:

-He is very popular with the girls.

using THE to mean all girls. Like this:

-Consider the ravens: they never sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.

In the Bible, this THE means all members of the kind. Do you think my theory is possible?

[Rusty]

Yes, "He is very popular with the girls," is a commonly used English sentence and it means what you said.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Xinfu

Thank you~

Without referring to a particular group of girls, can I say this?:

-He is very popular with the girls.

using THE to mean all girls. Like this:

-Consider the ravens: they never sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.

In the Bible, this THE means all members of the kind. Do you think my theory is possible?

He is very popular with girls and He is very popular with the girls can have the same meaning. The difference is when you use the girls the meaning becomes ambiguous, because when you use the girls it may refer to a specific group of girls as opposed to girls in general.

The same can be said with the ravens.