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154
The atom was known to the ancient Greeks.
Singular nouns preceded by the generic definite or the generic indefinite article correspond to plural nouns
with no article.
The tiger lives in the jungle.
Tigers live in the jungle.
The generic use of the definite article occurs with nouns denoting social classes (both singular and plural
forms), for example: the proletariat, the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, the gentry, the workers, the public, the
peasants, the intelligentsia. The same applies to people belonging to some school or movement in literature or
art, for example: the romanticists, the impressionists.
The use of the definite article before substantivized adjectives in their collective or abstract meaning is also
generic: the poor =- all who are poor, the strong = all who are strong, the obvious = all that is obvious, the
beautiful = all who are beautiful or all that is beautiful, beauty:
Take Charley, for example. He has associated with the learned, the gentle, the literate and the reasonable
both in France and America. Three things will never be believed - the true, the probable and the logical.
§ 194. Set expressions with the definite article:
the other day
the day after tomorrow
by the dozen (the score, the hundred)
by the hour
in the morning
in (during) the night
in the afternoon
in the evening
in (the) summer
in (the) springtime
in the singular
in the plural
in the past, in the present
in the future (but: in future = from this time on)
on the whole
out of the question
to pass the time
all the same
just the same
by the by
by the way
to take (seize) smb by the shoulder
(by the arm)
to pull smb by the hair
to kiss smb on the cheek
(on the forehead, etc.)
to be wounded in the knee
(in the arm, etc.)
to keep the house (but: to keep house)
to play the piano (the guitar, etc.)
to tell the truth
to tell the time
§ 195. List of proper nouns regularly used with the definite article.
I. Astronomical names.
The Milky Way, the Great Bear, the Little (Lesser) Bear.
II. Geographical names.
1. The North Pole, the South Pole, the Arctic, etc.
2. Mountain ranges:
the Alps, the Pennines, the Urals. But single mounts take no article.
3. Rivers:
the Thames, the Hudson, the Amazon, the Rein, the Nile, the Neva, the Danube, etc.
4. Seas and oceans:
the North Sea, the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic (Sea), the Arctic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the