The man or man

Nix the article, norwolf. It's unnatural - not idiomatic.

- A.

When "man" refers to the human race it's uncountable and thus requires no article.

So, to me, the following interpretations are possible

The man is a social animal. (one particular man)

Man is a social animal. (the human race)

IvanhrThe man is a social animal. (one particular man)

This would have an implication other than the traditional one, in my opinion.

- A.

Thank you both.

I would make it clear:

I imagined that I, an alien, treated men as a class of animal,like tigers, gorillars and so on.

Here I was using one man as a typical example of the class. For example:

The tiger is becoming almost extinct.

The gorilla is a shy retiring creature.

norwolfThank you both.I would make it clear:I imagined that I, an alien, treated men as a class of animal,like tigers, gorillars and so on.Here I was using one man as a typical example of the class. For example:The tiger is becoming almost extinct.The gorilla is a shy retiring creature.

This works in your examples because both "tiger" and "gorilla" cannot

Thanks a lot.

Can I refer generically to a race of people, using singular nationality words with the?

1# The German is a good musician.

2# Germans are good musicians.

Do the two above mean the same thing?

And is there something between them?

Why do we use plural nationality words in the sentence below?

3# The Ro

1) No unless you're talking about one person who just happens to be German.

2) Yes, this is good.

3) This is ok because the Romans refer to one specific group of people who defeated the Carhaginians (another specific group of people) in 202 BC (no generalizing here).

Note that this structure (the + singular, countable noun) can be used to generalize about categories/cla

Hey, kind of you, Ivanhr.

Here come the words, from a famous book, confusing me so much:

Singular or plural, definite or indefinite, can often be used without appreciable difference of meaning in generic contexts:

A German is a good musician.

Germans/The Germans are good musicians.

A fourth possibility might even be included:

In my opinion that's wrong.

Even "Germans are good musicians" is different from "The Germans are good musicians".

Let me take one of your previous examples

Only these versions work for me

The gorilla is a shy, retiring creature. (the class of gorillas)

A gorilla is a shy, retiring creature. (any gorilla)

Gorillas are shy, retiring creatures. (

I've heard expressions with the form "The German is a good musician" in scholarly works - though not too much recently.

Context would make clear whether we mean "The [typical/average] German is a good musician," or if we're referring to a particular individual, as, for example, George Frederick Handel when he was living in London and working for the British Crown. (Theoretically, su