How to logically apply the definite article in a multiple noun context

Question

Hi. Please help me. Please look at the partial sentence below with the underlined part that has some phrases which seem to be in the form of "of-genitive" (if I am not mistaken - not sure, though) and some words that seem to be uncountable nouns, namely "prophecy" and "interpretation," and the noun in plural, "tongues."

... used him in the gifts of the Spirit, tongues, prophecy, interpretation, word of knowledge, word of wisdom and the gift of faith.

If I were to write it out (for the more clear illustration of the logical application of the definite article "the" in the first phrase "the gifts of the Spirit") it would be this: ... used him in the gifts of the Spirit, the gifts of tongues, the gifts of prophecy, the gifts of interpretation, the gifts of the word of knowledge, the gifts of the word of wisdom and the gift of faith.

I feel it would be better if the part underlined (in the original partial example sentence) is written like this (I am not sure this is correctly written, though):

... used him in the gifts of the Spirit, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and interpretation, prophecy, and the gift of faith.

I hope my question is asked in a manner that makes sense. Any help would be appreciated.

How about this? I think the word "feature" is countable, but here it seems that it is used as an uncountable noun, like the word "size."

It is almost the same in feature and size.

Ivanhr · Accepted Answer

1. The initial article is enough for the rest of the enumeration. But you can parse it like

the gift of the Spirit,

the gift of the word of knowledge,

the gift of prophecy,

the gift of interpretation,

the gift of faith,

the gift of the word of wisdom etc

Note that it's always "gift of", not "gifts of". "Gifts of" (the plural) is created in the final enumeration .

2.

"Feature" and "size" are both uncountable in your example because they represent properties of something.

Compare

The height of the building is astonishing. (one specific height; that of the building; countable)

The two buildings differ in height and color. (height and color are just properties used to distinguish between the buildings; uncountable)

Verbs can be inflected for tense, aspect and number. (tese, aspect and number are just properties; uncountable)

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you so much. Can you help me further?

In this partial example sentence I wrote, would you say it would be better, or possibly be correct, to write the definite articles in the places indicated? Please note that the articles in bold letters were not in the partial example sentence.

... used him in the gifts of the Spirit, tongues, prophecy, interpretation, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom and the gift of faith.

How about this? Here, in addition to the problem of the article before the word "special," I would like to know how the indefinite article "a" attaches itself to the words that follow it. (I hope I wrote it correctly to reflect what I wanted to say - not sure, though.) I think the questions asked here might not be easy to answer but any help would be appreciated.

He always carries a pencil, a (the?) special pencil that a person can use to write on a wall, a refrigerator door (if needed to), paper, etc.

Would it be better if the word "paper" which is uncountable was put in first before the phrase "a wall," making it "He always carries a pencil, a (the?) special pencil that a person can use to write on paper, a wall, a refrigerator door (if needed to), etc."?

Ivanhr · Answer

Anonymousused him in the gifts of the Spirit, tongues, prophecy, interpretation, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom and the gift of faith.

I'm not aware of any rule governing this usage so you may choose to leave the original as it is or use your own version. I don't have any preferences regarding that.

Anonymous He always carries a pencil, a (the?) special pencil that a person can use to write on a wall, a refrigerator door (if needed to), paper, etc. Would it be better if the word "paper" which is uncountable was put in first before the phrase "a wall," making it "He always carries a pencil, a (the?) special pencil that a person can use to write on paper, a wall, a refrigerator door (if needed to), etc."?

He always carries a pencil, a special pencil..... ("the" isn't appropriate here; "a" is used because you continue to generalize)

I wouldn't put paper at the beginning of that list because it makes more sense to first mention walls, refrigerator doors and such, that is things that you normally don't write on. But remember this is a special kind of pencil.

How to logically apply the definite article in a multiple noun context

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