The question:  The definite article 'the' has many usages. However, I cannot quite understand one usage, that is, 'used to mark a noun as being used generically'. What does it mean by 'noun being used generically'? Can anyone please shed some light on this and set some examples.  An example for this use is 'The dog is a quadruped.'  How can I  distinguish if the author is expressing a generic noun/idea instead of specifying something in front of 'the'?     Readers Note:  Readers interested in this question might like this question here:   -   That question is about using generic noun phrases with nationalities.
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In English, generic reference takes three possible forms:  A. Cats are cute. B. A cat is cute. C. The cat is cute.  But the names of nationalities seem to me to make an exception to this rule. As far as I know, when referring to all the members of a nation, you can only use the C version: The Italians are musical, or The French are posh, or The British are cold. Why is it that in this case only C is considered grammatically correct? If all the Italians, or all the French, or all the British are musical, posh, or cold, why can't we also say:  A. *Italians are... // *French are... // *British are...  or  B. *An Italian is... // *A French is... // *A British is...  ?
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Could anyone explain when to use a noun or a gerund?  Are these sentences correct? What is the difference between usage of gerund and noun there?        I worked on the improvement of the article.   I worked on the article improving.   I worked on the improving of the article.                The investment idea was published.   Investing idea was published.
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Which would be correct?        The fridge, the shelves, the walls, the floor, and John himself, were all covered in foam.   The fridge, shelves, walls, floor, and John himself, were all covered in foam.      The the can be applied to all the nouns, so is there a need to repeat it?
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Why do British speakers omit the article in constructions like "go to hospital" or "go on holiday"? Pretty much all American speakers would rephrase those as "go to the hospital" and "go on a holiday", I think. Is there any good reason, or forgotten sense behind those words that might explain why the articles are ommitted?  Are there other common constructions other than those two that the British use that drop the article?  EDIT: I just realized per Kosmonaut's comment that Americans do much the same thing with a few nouns, so this isn't all that special.   Do grammaticists designate nouns that can have their article dropped with anything, i.e. do they have anything in common?
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"The new laws are seen as an attempt to gag the press." In this sentence why the definite article 'the' is used before 'laws'(noun). I always get confused when to use 'the' and when not to. My teacher taught me, it is used when both speaker and listener are aware of what they are talking about i.e. both of them are familiar with that(noun). Can someone please clarify this? I have a feeling that I should've used 'the' before 'speaker' and 'listener' in the above sentence. Am I right?
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Suddenly, to everybody's surprise, the silent Mr.Smith swung around and addressed Barbara.   The dinner was served by a silent Mrs. Keats.   I saw an infuriated Jennifer, who started shouting at me the moment I opened the door.   It seemed Walter didn't pay any attention to a tearful Kitty.   She hasn't got lovely eyelashes like marvellous Monica.   I bet your Mum kept you well clear of horrible Jesse.      The rule I learned at university said that the is used when the adjective a permanent quality of the person in question. E.g. 'I met the wicked Matilda the other day' would suggest that Matilda is inherently wicked.  The indefinite article a/an, on the other hand, would denote the mood or an unusual quality of the person described.  However, recently I've come across a lot of examples where no article is used with names modified by adjectives (see examples 5 and 6 above).   Can anyone explain why there are no articles in sentences 5 and 6?
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"He was watching the television when I called on him."  When I said this sentence to one of my friends  (an English teacher)  he corrected me saying that the definite article (the) should be omitted. Still, I can't understand why. ? Actually similar  question has been asked earlier but the answers were so ambiguous. So I put complete sentence.
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I've noticed an interesting usage where "because [noun]." is used at the end of a sentence to mean "because [...everything that word implies. Nothing more needs to be said]". It often has a wry or sarcastic tone that implies the subject considers the word to be a blanket explanation for something.   An example might be "She couldn't drag herself away from the computer because internet.", the implication being that the Internet is seductive. Another example is  where "because sex" is used to imply that a group of people have a simplistic attitude to how sex affects people's lives.  The odd grammar causes a clang in my head when I read it, but of course that is the point; the author is showing how this word will stop the conversation dead in its tracks, so it is quite effective.   Is this a new or emerging usage, or have I just started noticing it?
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I was reading about articles in Wren &amp; Martin and found the following explanation:  1)Use the definite article when a singular noun is meant to express a whole class.       The cow is a useful animal     [Or we can say, "cows" are useful animals]  2)Use the indefinite article in the sense of "any" to single out an individual as the     representative of a class; as,       A cow is a useful animal.   Can you please explain me the difference between 1 and 2.    I also found a given below sentence in wren &amp; martyn's exercise.        __ lion is ___ king of beasts   As per above given explanation of definite and indefinite article, I am not sure which one should be correct: "The lion" or "A lion", or both are correct.  Could you please help me understand the difference better.
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This is intended as a generic statement:     *A madrigal is popular.   This means that being popular is a requirement for being a madrigal.    ...of course this conclusion is wrong, so I've marked the example with a star.     *A tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.       The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.      Tigers are in danger of becoming extinct.      The Indefinite Generic a tiger is ungrammatical with the predicate become extinct, because that extinction can only happen to a species, and it means that every member is dead. In contrast, we we can use the Definite Generic because the predicate is characteristic of the species. We can also use a Plural Generic because we're speaking of tigers in aggregate.   I read those examples and explanations in a grammar book (or, more likely,  ).  Would anyone please explain those in a more simple way, so that I could get it? I cannot tell what the explanations mean very well.  Or could you possibly explain that with another example that is easier to understand?
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I learned in class that:  a. A tiger is a dangerous animal. b. Tigers are dangerous animals. c. The tiger is a dangerous animal.  These three sentences are used generically. But I just saw:   The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct. Tigers are in danger of becoming extinct. A tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.   the previous sentences and number '1' and '2' are used generically but example 3. is not. Is there anyone who can tell me why the latter examples are different from the former ones?  Also, is there any difference in meaning depending on the article?
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I think the question is rather philisophical. I wonder if articles are used to make what we say more clear and using zero/indefinite article with the noun known or already introduced can be the reference to that noun or any other since we do not specify. Like here:  I was walking with some friends. Friends were very funny. We made a stop. After making a stop, we moved on.  The grammar tells us - use &quot;the&quot; when referring to something known. But what if I do not use &quot;the&quot; - can it refer to those friends/stop, since I do not specify? Will it be a lie to talk like this, and what do native speakers think in such situations? Will it really be a grammatical mistake? Thanks.
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My mother language does not have articles, so I still struggle to choose when to use the indefinte and definite article. The other day, I learned:   "The dog is an animal" is acceptable. "The iron is a metal" is not acceptable. (By the iron, I mean the metal, not the device.)   Is that true? If so, could anyone explain why?
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Usually, we do not use the definite article, the, before names of countries but we use the before "United States of America".   Is there a specific reason for using the article before the country "United States of America"?
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I can’t for the life of me figure out where to use a and where to use the — and where there is no article at all. Is there a simple rule of thumb to memorize?   The standard rule you always hear:     “If a person knows which item you are talking about then use "the"   . . . doesn’t clear things up for me, as I have no idea whether or not they know.
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I saw a bear, a lion and a donkey.   Is the usage of the article a necessary before each word in a list like this?      Biggs set out Monday morning for one of his usual hiking and   gold-panning trips near Whiskey Flats when he came across a mother   bear, yearling, and cub sitting on a stream bank.   Why is there no article before cub?
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There is a  with a similar title, however it then focused on two specific examples. The main question is when we should use "the" before an Of-phrase.   Is "the" used for the first part or the whole phrase?  for example, is it [the history ] of the internet. Or the [history of the internet ].  Some examples by searching google:        the International Day of the Girl Child   the study of Pattern Recognition    The Charter of the United Nations   More than 60 United Nations Member States have never been Members of the Security Council.   the Word of the Day   The history of the Internet   Transactions of the American Mathematical Society   Proceedings of the Royal Society    Types of problems and tasks      For example in     Machine learning is a subfield of computer science that evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computational learning theory in artificial intelligence.   Why "the study". Please note there is not much context for the "study" and I suspect the possessive construction has a role.   Apart from these examples, I feel in Of-phrases the domain of objects become limited, and it allows to use "the" for the noun before "of". For example you can't say "the mouse"! which mouse? but you can say "the mouse of a computer" because in the domain of a single computer, mouse is specific.    For another example we may say "The manager of a shop" (even without any context) but not "the customer of the shop" (again without any context). maybe "the customers of the shop" or maybe just "customers of the shop". "the door of the house" but not "the window of the house", because without any context we don't have one window but one door. Similarly, "the head of a human" but not "the hand of a human" (maybe the left hand of a human).  Does this analysis creditable?