The home life

Question

English idiom forbids the definite article before HOME LIFE, except when an OF postmodifier follows.

eg She tries to balance home life and career.
eg This showed the conflicts or unpleasant quality of home life in a realistic way.
eg The effects of stress at work can spill over into home life.
eg This word is used to represent an idea of perfect home life.

But in a post-war novel is part of a conversation:

'You know, I'm not going to lose sight of that girl. I've got a pretty sound theory about those adolescent criminal tendencies. If you look into the home life, you nearly always find - '

Is it a typing mistake?

Enoon · Accepted Answer

It's right. He meant the aspect of the criminal's makeup that her home life is. He could have said "her home life".

Johnson13 · Answer

enoonHe could have said "her home life".

Some sentences:
-I am grateful to you for writing about Helen. I understand very well the renewal of pain that comes when you see her, and the dread of entering the real life, with its tortures, after the numbness of routine.

1.REAL LIFE is not usually used with THE. In this case, does the 'possessive pronoun replacing definite article' rule apply?

2 The writer says THE REAL LIFE but not simply REAL LIFE; am I correct in saying that in this case the two are interchangeable and it simply depends on whether the writer regards it as new information or already shared knowledge?

Enoon · Answer

Johnson13enoonHe could have said "her home life".Some sentences:-I am grateful to you for writing about Helen. I understand very well the renewal of pain that comes when you see her, and the dread of entering the real life, with its tortures, after the numbness of routine.1.REAL LIFE is not usually used with THE. In this case, does the 'possessive pronoun replacing definite article' rule apply?2 The writer says THE REAL LIFE but not simply REAL LIFE; am I correct in saying that in this case the two are interchangeable and it simply depends on whether the writer regards it as new information or already shared knowledge?

I'd say that your theory #1 does not apply, and #2 is slightly off.

If I understand that sentence, I would not have used the article there. It's my guess that the writer used "the real life" by analogy with "the real world", somewhat in defiance of convention but well within permissible creativity. I would not take it as an example of proper English, though, if I were you. Just be aware that that sort of thing is possible.

The home life

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