不能這樣不分具體情況就說的啦.
Where is the oxygen you bought yesterday? 不就有the?
the oxygen in this bottle不就一定得加the?
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Bertrandsky 說：
“但當(dāng)氣體名詞修飾名詞時,可以使用定冠詞the
如：the nitrogen cycle ——氮循環(huán)；
the element nitrogen —— 氮元素”
兩例中的 the 與氣體 nitrogen 沒有關(guān)系了!
在"the nitrogen cycle"中,短語中心是 the cycle,nitrogen 作定語.用了 the 不是因為有 nitrogen.我們不能說,在 the tall tree 中用了the 是因為有了 tall (作定語).在 the university student 中用了 the 也不是因為有university.
在the element nitrogen 中,更是另外一回事啦. nitrogen 作的是the element 的同位語.the 與nitrogen 沒直接關(guān)系.
例子：The word vis-a-vis is from French. (vis-a-vis 這個詞來自法語.)
The sentence "Long time no see" is calqued from Chinese.

Bertrandsky 還說：
“樓上(指ylyuan68)說的the oxygen 大概是指 the oxygen bottle/tank等,省略‘容器’名詞
而the oxygen in this bottle,此處特指瓶裝的氧氣可以加定冠詞”
------------這這這這這.解釋.
Where is the oxygen you bought yesterday?
怎么也不可能等于：
Where is the oxygen bottle/tank you bought yesterday?
Where is the oxygen you bought yesterday?
倒是極可能等于：
Where is the bottled oxygen you bought yesterday?
(說極有可能,只是因為也有可能是罐裝的或袋裝的--我是外行,不知是否有袋裝的氧氣.不管怎么說,the bottled oxygen (瓶/罐裝的氧氣) 與 the oxygen bottle (氧氣瓶/罐)已經(jīng)是云泥之別了.)
在 "Where is the oxygen you bought yesterday?”中用 the 就是一簡單特指,特指昨天買的氧氣,與是瓶是罐的沒關(guān)系.與The apples I bought yesterday were eaten by the squirrels. 中 apple 前面的 the 的用法毫無二致.
在 "the oxygen in the bottle"中,之所以說/寫成 the oxygen 僅僅是因為特指瓶中的氧氣.
the oxygen you bought yesterday
the oxygen in the bottle
都是因為特指,才在oxygen 前加了the.沒有別的原因.
道理是這樣的：一般來說,物質(zhì)名詞表抽象概念即為不特指,而不特指就不加 the,所以要說成 lack of oxygen (缺氧).lack of the oxygen (表缺特定的氧---豈不怪哉?)
I know the use of the definite article "the" is very confusing, and to many it is a mission impossible. What is more discouraging is grammatical theory does not really help that much. And oftentimes theoretical explanation could make things more complex and frustrating. It is my personal experience that language intuition is the most helpful, and this intuition could most effectively be developed by reading extensively. Don't let yourselves be boggled down by grammar proper. Remember "English is crazy." When you have learned 500 grammatical rules, you will run into an equal number of exceptions, or perhaps even more. And don't be surprised. This is what English is like. CRAZY. I'm going to drop this topic and I don't want to come back. Enjoy your study of "the".