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Hi everybody,I have to write a small essay about a topic: The original sentence of the topic I have to write about: In some countries, more and more people are becoming interested in finding out about the history of the house or building they live in.Please take a look at these sentences: 1.....finding out about the history of the house or building they live in. (the + singular form) 2......finding out about the history of the house or building they live in. (without the article "the"+ singular form)) 3......finding out about the history of the houseS or buildingS they live in. (the + plural form) 4......finding out about the history of the houseS or buildingS they live in. (without the article "the"+plural form)) all 4 sentences are correct and have the same meaning.Is it right? All 4 sentences DON'T refer to how many houses a person might have (a person may be have 1 house or 2,3 house), but it refers to a person's houses in general. Is it right?For example, If I want to refer to people,  and it doesn't matter how many houses a person have (a person may be have 1 house or 2,3 house). Which sentence should I use?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

LE HANH 2383In some countries, more and more people are becoming interested in finding out about the history of the house or building they live in.

Correct.

LE HANH 2383Please take a look at these sentences:

1.....finding out about the history of the house or building they live in.
(the + singular form)

2......finding out about the history of the house or building they live in.
(without the article "the"+ singular form)) ???
You can't omit "the" with a singular countable noun.
If you intended "history of house or building", then what you intended is wrong.

3......finding out about the history of the houseS or buildingS they live in.
(the + plural form)

4......finding out about the history of the houseS or buildingS they live in. (without the article "the"+plural form)) ???
Supposing that you intended to omit "the", this would be OK.

all 4 sentences are correct and have the same meaning. Is it right? No. If I read sentence 2 as I think you intended it, it's wrong. The others are OK.

Sentences 2 and 4 are confusing. I think you intended to omit "the" as shown above.

LE HANH 2383All 4 sentences DON'T refer to how many houses a person might have (a person may be have 1 house or 2,3 house)

Sentence 1 assumes that each person lives in only one house or in one building, but to my ear, it doesn't exclude the possibility that a person might live in more than one house or building.
Sentence 2, as mentioned above, is impossible.
Sentences 3 and 4 do not make any particular assumption about the number of houses and/or buildings that each person might live in. That's because the plural may be taken as agreement with the plural "people" earlier in the sentence. But these sentences specifically include the possibility that a person might live in more than one house or building.
However, sentence 4 is a bit strange. It's strange to omit "the" when there is a relative clause that modifies the noun phrase: Which houses? Which buildings? The houses or (the) buildings (that) they live in. Omitting "the" is not impossible; it just seems a little strange in this context.

LE HANH 2383For example, if ~~I want to refer to people, and~~ it doesn't matter how many houses a person has (a person maybe has 1 house or 2,3 houses), which sentence should I use?

Sentence 3 is good, but sentence 1 is also OK.

LE HANH 2383All 4 sentences DON'T refer to ...

By the way, here's a grammar point for you:

Sentences with a subject of "all" or "both" which contain a negation ("don't") are ambiguous. You need "None of the four sentences refer to ...".

CJ

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