一、不用冠词的场合

在通常情况下，表示一日三餐的 breakfast, lunch, supper前不用冠词。如：

Breakfast is served until 9 am. 早餐一直供应到上午9点。

Can you manage lunch on Tuesday? 你星期二能来吃午饭吗?

Have you finished supper already? It’s only 5 o’clock! 你已经吃过晚饭了? 现在才5点钟啊!

A snack in the afternoon bridges the gap between lunch and supper. 在午餐和晚餐之间，下午吃些点心补充一下。

Mother said lunch was ready and there was a mad dash for the table. 母亲说午饭做好了, 大家一下子都向饭桌奔去。

注：不连用冠词的用法尤其注意以下搭配：have breakfast (lunch, supper), after breakfast (lunch, supper), at breakfast (lunch, supper), before breakfast (lunch, supper), during breakfast (lunch, supper), for breakfast (lunch, supper), over breakfast (lunch, supper), since breakfast (lunch, supper), without breakfast (lunch, supper)。如：

They were having breakfast when I arrived. 我到达时，他们正在用早餐。

We got off immediately after breakfast. 我们吃完早餐就动身了。

Please make your beds before breakfast. 请在早饭前把床铺好。

It happened at [during] lunch. 此事发生在吃午饭的时候。

I nearly always go home for lunch. 我差不多总是回家吃午饭。

Do you want a boiled egg for breakfast? 你早饭要吃煮鸡蛋吗?

She scanned the newspaper over breakfast. 她吃着早饭把报纸大略看了一遍。

I haven’t eaten since breakfast. 我吃了早饭后到现在还什么都没吃呢。

I had to go without breakfast this morning as I was in a hurry. 我今早很匆忙, 只好不吃早饭了。

二、用定冠词的场合

虽然在通常情况下，“三餐饭”前不用冠词，但是若要特指某一顿早餐、中餐或晚餐，则可在其前加定冠词。如：

The supper is well cooked. 晚饭做得很好。

Thank you for the breakfast. 谢谢你的这顿早餐。

注：表特指时，除可用定冠词修饰外，有时可用指示代词或物主代词等的修饰。如：

After that breakfast, I never saw her again. 吃了那顿早餐后，我就再没有看到过她。

Why don’t you go for a walk? It’ll give you an appetite for your lunch. 你怎么不出去散散步? 散散步午饭时就有食欲了。