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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Abstract nouns and 'the'

Hello. I have read that the definite article 'the' is not used with abstract nouns such as life, love, and power.

Examples:

Life is a wonderful journey.

Power without money is not power at all.

Is this right?

Do you know other conventions about when one should not use 'the' with uncountable nouns?

Thank you!
  

Top answer

Anonymous I have read that the definite article 'the' is not used with abstract nouns such as life, love, and power. Is this right? It is.

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous I have read that the definite article 'the' is not used with abstract nouns such as life, love, and power.
  • Is this right?
  • It is.
  • Anonymous Do you know other conventions about when one should not use 'the' with uncountable nouns?
  • Nothing immediately comes to mind, but there are numerous prepositional phrases that are special expressions which may be missing a "the" or an "a" which you might think should be there.
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5 Answers
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AnonymousI have read that the definite article 'the' is not used with abstract nouns such as life, love, and power. ... Is this right?
It is.
AnonymousDo you know other conventions about when one should not use 'the' with uncountable nouns?
Nothing immediately comes to mind, but there are numerous prepositional phrases that
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Life, love, and power can be used with "the." For example:

He was the power behind the throne.

She was the love of my life.

Now I can live the life I've always dreamed of.
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AnonymousLife, love, and power can be used with "the." For example:He was the power behind the throne.She was the love of my life.Now I can live the life I've always dreamed of.
Yes, but those are all specific instantiations of life, love, and power, not the conceptual abstractions.

CJ
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AnonymousI have read that the definite article 'the' is not used with abstract nouns such as life, love, and power.
I suppose it depends how you define "abstract noun". I would certainly call "love" an abstract noun in a phrase such as "the love that I feel", for instance, so I would deem this statement to be incorrect.
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The love is difficult to define. ?
The life is to be lived to its fullest. ?

To me, the statements above contain uses 'love' and 'life' as abstract nouns, not as instantiations, and therefore would not take 'the'.

CJ
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