from left to right vs from the left to the right

Both "from left to right" and "from the left to the right" are correct, but the more common and concise phrase is "from left to right." The addition of "the" in the second phrase is not necessary and can make the expression sound a bit awkward.

Last updated: March 27, 2024 • 4052 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

"from left to right"

This phrase is used to describe the direction of movement or orientation, indicating that something is moving or arranged from the left side to the right side.

Examples:

When reading a book, we usually move from left to right.
The cars were parked from left to right in the parking lot.
Arrange the items on the shelf from left to right.

Show examples from the web [+]

Always trays from left to right.
It's a syllabary and reads from left to right.
The source is passed from left to right...
Throat cut from left to right.
Consensus building was often difficult, with several tendencies within Parliament: from left to right, advocates of more sovereignty or a more modern type of sovereignty, and advocates of certain institutions.
Mr President, Commissioner, from left to right in this House, there is a consensus, and this time it is not a weak consensus, but a genuinely strong signal sent out to the Commission.
The buet entered below the rib cage, traveling from left to right.
All the maps and charts are in sequence from left to right.
It was razor-sharp, and it cut from left to right.
Precedence decreases from left to right for equally exact matches.
From top to bottom and from left to right.
That means that the brains are synced up more closely in terms of simultaneous activity, and the arrows flow clearly from left to right.
He cut their throats from left to right, therefore he's right-handed.
Her throat cut laterally across the larynx and the carotid artery from left to right.
I put them in ascending order of bowl size and intensity of flavour, from left to right, obviously.
Yes, but listen to this debate from left to right and upwards and downwards.
As I look around this room from left to right I know that it is inconceivable that Europe should ever be at war with itself again.
When playing the Very hard difficulty level connections can wrap from left to right and from top to bottom.
Insert the series horizontally, from left to right
Show files marked to Copy from left to right (CTRL+L).

Alternatives:

left to right

This phrase is correct but less common and slightly more cumbersome than "from left to right."

"from the left to the right"

This phrase also describes the direction of movement or orientation, but the inclusion of "the" before "left" and "right" can make the expression sound a bit more formal or verbose.

Examples:

The teacher asked the students to move from the left to the right side of the room.
When setting up the stage, place the props from the left to the right.
The artist painted the mural from the left to the right.

Show examples from the web [+]

Shoulder length is measured from the left to the right.
And once I hit the switch, the current will move from the left cortex to the right cortex, inducing a seizure, which we will monitor on the e.E.G.
The cloth is being unraveled from the left of the frame to the right.
Last week in Strasbourg I was shocked, to be frank, that there is a coalition of nine countries opposing Europe from the radical left to the radical right.
This applies to both the media and also, unfortunately, to Europe's political classes, which seem to have taken up the refrain, from the extreme left to the extreme right.
Reach around under the arms, going from the left to right side.
Political groups sit according to political affiliation, from the left wing parties on the left to the right wing parties on the right, as viewed from the podium.
The president's massive financial rescue plan under fire from the left and right.
I don't know much about knitting, but I do know that you cast off from the left or the right.
In politics, there is a tendency to evaluate any given issue depending on whether you come to it from the Left or the Right.
This Europe was created to prevent totalitarianism from ever resurging, whether from the left or the right.
Well, see, she appears larger from the left than on the right.
Madam President, I want to take a little time to talk about corporate social responsibility and sustainable development, not from the Left but from the Right of this chamber.
Speak to any Argentine politician, whether from the left or the right, and they will tell you exactly what havoc international finance policy can wreak in a country!
I have thus carefully listened to all the speeches from the left, the right and the centre in this debate, and you can be certain that a number of elements will definitely inspire us.
Voices from the left and right are equating the free enterprise system with greed and exploitation and failure.
Third from the left, right?
Sites of administration should alternate between the left and the right anterolateral and left and right posterolateral abdominal wall.
The bone defects on the distal ends of the right radius and ulna suggest the implement entered with a left-to-right trajectory.
At present there are 10 such European political parties spanning the left-right spectrum.

Alternatives:

from left to right

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from left to right vs from the left to the right