The Definite Article: When to use “the” with abstract nouns in English

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to www.engvid.com.

I'm Adam.

Today's lesson is a grammar lesson about everybody's favourite grammar point - articles.

More specifically, the definite article "the".

Now, I'm joking about the favourite part thing, I know.

What we're going to look at is one part or one usage of the definite article.

There are so many different rules and so many different usages of the articles "the", "a",

or "an" or "no article", so I can't obviously look at everything.

I'm going to look at one very specific element or usage of the article.

I'm going to look at how to use or when to use or when not to use the article "the" with

abstract nouns, and then I'm also going to look at the same or similar situation with

singular and plural nouns that basically encompass or they include a whole collection of things.

And you'll understand a bit more when I get to that.

So, we're going to start with an abstract noun.

Now, first of all, what does this mean?

What is an abstract noun?

So, an abstract noun has a few different features, okay?

Different ways to recognize that it is abstract.

First of all, it is intangible.

What does this mean?

It means that it is...

It cannot be sensed, it cannot be...

You can't use the five senses to notice this thing.

You can't touch it, you can't see it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it, okay?

So, you can't use any of these senses, you can't hear it, but it's definitely still a

real thing, okay?

Usually it's because this real thing is just an idea or a concept.

Basically it's in your mind.

It's not a real thing physically or that you can't touch it, but it's in your mind, it's

a real thing.

And generally it is unquantifiable, it means you can't measure it, you can't count it,

okay?

So, some examples are love, happiness, society, technology, and education.

Now, before you tell me, "Well, society is a real thing" or "Technology is a real, concrete

thing", it's not.

Society is a collection of people, okay?

The people are real, society is an idea.

Technology, you can talk about devices, you can talk about the internet, you can talk

about smartphones, you can talk about computers, but technology is just all of these things

together.

It's an idea that develops and evolves and changes.

Education, you can talk about schools, students, and teachers, but education itself is a process,

it's an idea that we use to learn things and develop things, okay?

So, all of these are abstract nouns.

Now, when you're using them in a sentence, are you going to put "the" in front of these

or not?

Well, yes, that's your answer.

Some cases, yes, you will use the definite article, in other cases you will not, okay?

So, when you're talking about these things in a general idea, you're just talking about

love as an idea, as a concept, you're not going to use the article.

If you're talking about love as a qualified thing, then you will use "the".

Now, what do I mean by qualified?

If you make it very specific, to a very specific person or a very specific situation, then

you're making it a single thing that belongs to that situation or that person, okay?

Let's look at an example.

The modern technology is changing the society.

Now, is this sentence using "the" correctly or incorrectly?

The answer is that it is incorrectly.

You do not need "the" here.

Modern technology, I'm not talking about smartphones, I'm not talking about computers, I'm talking

about everything that is part of technology.

It's just one general abstract idea, so I'm not talking about anything specific within

that technology.

Is changing "the" society?

Well, technically, there are many different types of societies.

There's like Asian society, and Western society, and Northern society, and Southern society,

so all of these things are different aspects, but when you're talking about society as an

idea, you don't need the article.

Modern technology is changing society.

"Where", "when", that you can get into specifics in the following sentences, okay?

Let's look at another example.

Technology of the future will change societies that embrace it.

Now, do I need any articles here?

Well, here, we're talking about a specific technology.

Technology 100 years from now will be very different than technology today, so then you

can look at it as two different specific technologies.

So, here, I need "the".

The technology of the future.

Now, you'll notice that I'm using "of" as a way of qualifying the technology that I'm

talking about specifically, so this is one way of qualifying.

You can use "of" or you can use a defining adjective clause.

The technology of the future will change societies that embrace it.

But as soon as you have an identifying adjective clause, then you need a definite article,

because now I'm talking about very specific societies.

Only the ones that embrace it, then they're separately are the ones that don't embrace

it.

So, now that I have a specific group of societies, then I'm talking about a definite group, therefore

I need "the".

Here, general idea, no article; here, specific and qualified nouns, abstract nouns, I do

need the definite article, okay?

Now, the same sort of thinking, the same sort of rules applies to when we're talking about

something in general or we're talking about a whole group of this something.

So, let me give you a couple more examples.

Okay, so now we're going to look at a different context for the same basic idea.

Lions are fierce animals.

The lion is a fierce animal.

Both of these sentences are correct.

If I talk about lions, I'm talking about all lions.

If I'm talking about the lion, I'm talking about this specific type of animal.

In this case, both work because here I have a plural and I'm including all of them, right?

The lion, though, when we're talking about, like, the genus, basically, or the family

of animal, I can say "The dog is the most domesticated animal", for example, or "Dogs

are the most domesticated".

In this case, it's okay because if I say "The lion", I can picture all lions.

If I say "The dog", I can picture all dogs.

But I probably wouldn't say "The dog" when I'm talking about all dogs.

Let me give you an example why.

Whales are the largest sea mammals, okay?

A mammal is, like, a type of animal, like, humans are mammals as well, so whales are,

and I'm using...

I'm talking about all whales.

Now, here I could say "The whale is the largest" when I'm talking about this particular type

of animal.

Why would I not...?

Sorry, let me give you a little pointer.

Technically, this is correct, but I would not ever write "The whale" because...

If you think about all the different whales, what types of whales can you think of?

Do you know what a humpback whale or a blue whale is?

Do you know what an orca is?

Okay?

"Orca" is spelled like this, if you want to look that up.

If you want to look them up, look at a blue whale, look at an orca.

These two whales are completely different from each other.

The blue whale is huge; it's, like, the biggest animal on the earth.

Orcas are big, but not that big.

Orcas eat meat, or they eat other fish, I should say; they're hunters.

Blue whales eat plankton, like, they're vegetarians.

So they're very, very different animals, although technically both are whales.

So because there are such differences, I would just stick to "whales" without the article.

"Lions", generally there's not too many types.

There's a mountain lion, there's a regular safari lion, like jungle lion, but generally

they're all the same, and then I can talk about the lion as a general term about this

specific animal.

"Whales", because there's so many, I would just stick to the plural without the definite

article.

Make it a little bit more abstract, even though I know what a whale is.

Because I know "whales" includes all of them, it's more abstract because I'm not talking

about any particular type of whale.

Okay?

So, I know articles are a little bit tricky, but again, it's all about practice.

And remember, the more you read, the more you'll see articles being used correctly,

and the more you'll start to have a feel for them, to understand when to use them, when

not to use them, etc.

But practice also, and a little bit of an explanation always helps.

So, go to www.engvid.com right now, you can take a quiz to practice.

I'm going to give you a whole bunch of different sentences, and see if you understand.

Use the article or don't use the article for each one, and of course, don't forget, you

can ask me questions in the comments section, I'll be happy to answer those for you.

In the meantime, if you like the video, please give me a like.

Don't forget to subscribe to my other channel.

Oh, I should mention one more thing, sorry, before I go.

There are a few other very good videos about articles by other teachers on engVid.

Don't forget there's a search box on your engvid.com website.

Punch in the word "the", and you'll see all the other videos that are available.

Maybe those as well.

Okay?

Until then, have a lovely day.

Bye-bye.