{"id":209352,"date":"2019-10-31T04:39:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T09:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/grammar-using-the-with-common-and-abstract-nouns"},"modified":"2019-10-31T04:39:45","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T09:39:45","slug":"grammar-using-the-with-common-and-abstract-nouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/grammar-using-the-with-common-and-abstract-nouns","title":{"rendered":"Grammar: Using THE with widespread and summary nouns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div readability=\"138.737860838\">\n\t\t<!-- adman_adcode_beginning --><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/McQnOYChcGs?rel=0&amp;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>An abstract noun is a word that means a general concept or idea, like \u201clife\u201d or \u201cfriendship\u201d. We can use \u201cthe\u201d with common nouns, as in \u201cthe sky is blue\u201d. But can we use \u201cthe\u201d with abstract nouns? For example, would you say \u201chappiness is important\u201d or \u201cthe happiness is important\u201d? If you are not sure, watch this lesson to learn when to use \u201cthe\u201d with general and abstract nouns. Don\u2019t forget to take the quiz afterwards to test your understanding!<br \/>http:\/\/www.engvid.com\/grammar-the-common-abstract-nouns\/<\/p>\n<p>TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>Hi. I\u2019m Rebecca from engVid. Many English learners have trouble deciding when to use \u201cthe\u201d or no \u201cthe\u201d, so I understand that problem, I know it can be a little bit confusing, but I believe that by the end of this lesson, you\u2019re going to find it much easier. Okay?<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s start with a little quiz first to see where you stand regarding that word \u201cthe\u201d. So, let\u2019s look at this first example. Should you say: \u201cLife is beautiful.\u201d or \u201cThe life is beautiful.\u201d? Okay. Think about it. Decide. Another one: \u201cFriendship is precious.\u201d or \u201cThe friendship is precious.\u201d? Which one is right? Think for yourself. We\u2019ll do one more, and then I\u2019ll give you the answers. \u201cHappiness is important.\u201d or \u201cThe happiness is important.\u201d? Which one is correct? Do you know? How do you know?<\/p>\n<p>How do you decide which one is right? I\u2019ll tell you. When we\u2019re talking about something which is a general concept or idea, then we do not use \u201cthe\u201d. Okay? For example, let\u2019s take the first one. \u201cLife is beautiful.\u201d Now, life is a general concept, so we do not need \u201cthe\u201d. So, this is the correct answer. All right? Not this. \u201cLife is beautiful.\u201d Because life is a general idea, a general concept. Okay? We\u2019re not talking about anything specific. If we say: \u201cThe life of wise people is beautiful.\u201d that is something specific, and then we would be correct to say: \u201cThe life\u201d. Okay? But if we\u2019re just talking in general, then no \u201cthe\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the next example. \u201cFriendship is precious.\u201d Again, friendship is a general idea or a general concept, so this is correct. Okay? In this example, this one was wrong. But if I said, for example: \u201cThe friendship between those two children is precious.\u201d then that would be fine, because now I\u2019m specifying which friendship. Right? The friendship between those two children, so then it becomes specific, and then we would use \u201cthe\u201d. But in this example, this is correct. Okay? Just like this was, and this is wrong, because this is a general idea. Okay?<\/p>\n<p>Next one: \u201cHappiness is important.\u201d By now you know, again, happiness is a general idea, a general concept, so this is correct. In this example, it would be wrong to say: \u201cThe happiness\u201d, because: The happiness of what? So, if we say: \u201cThe happiness of my family is important.\u201d that\u2019s fine. That\u2019s very good. That would be a perfect sentence. But in this case, we cannot say: \u201cThe happiness is important.\u201d because we didn\u2019t specify which happiness. Okay? So, in this case, that\u2019s wrong, and this is correct. Okay?<\/p>\n<p>Now, the same principle applies to these. See if you can figure it out. Okay? \u201cI want to make money.\u201d or \u201cI want to make the money.\u201d? Which one do you think is right? Are we speaking in general, or are we speaking specifically? Well, we are speaking in general right now, so this is correct, because we\u2019re just talking about money; we didn\u2019t say which money. I want to make money. Right? General idea. If I said, for example: \u201cI want to make the money I need to pay my rent.\u201d that\u2019s specific, so then I could say: \u201cthe money\u201d, because I\u2019m explaining after that which money. Okay? But in this example, no.<\/p>\n<p>Next one: \u201cShe wants to lose weight.\u201d or \u201cShe wants to lose the weight.\u201d? Is it general or is it specific? What do you think? It\u2019s still general. Good. By now you\u2019re getting really smart. \u201cShe wants to lose weight.\u201d is a general term. Right? We\u2019re just talking about weight in general; not any specific weight. But if I say: \u201cShe wants to lose the weight she put on during the holidays.\u201d that\u2019s specific, and then I need \u201cthe\u201d. Okay? But not in this example.<\/p>\n<p>So, last one here: \u201cHe needs to earn respect.\u201d or do we say: \u201cHe needs to earn the respect.\u201d? Is it general or is it specific? By now you know, you\u2019ll really know. It\u2019s general. Very good. Okay? Because we didn\u2019t talk about any specific respect; we\u2019re talking about respect in general. So: \u201cHe needs to earn respect.\u201d But if this was being used, it would be something like: \u201cHe needs to earn the respect of his peers.\u201d Peers are people your age. Okay? Or: \u201cHe needs to earn the respect of his employees.\u201d for example, or \u201cof his parents\u201d. Then it becomes specific. Which respect? The respect of his parents, the respect of his employees. All right?<\/p>\n<p>So, if it was specific, then we could say \u201cthe\u201d, but when we\u2019re just talking in general, we don\u2019t need \u201cthe\u201d. \u201cLife is beautiful.\u201d, \u201cFriendship is precious.\u201d, \u201cHappiness is important.\u201d, \u201cI want to make money.\u201d, \u201cShe wants to lose weight.\u201d, \u201cHe needs to earn respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=McQnOYChcGs\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- adman_adcode_after --><\/p>\n<p class=\"dpsp-share-text\">Sharing is caring!<\/p>\n<p class=\"gasd_author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/etrafficlane.com\/newline\/about-me\" rel=\"author\" title=\"Profile for Dalelorenzo Johnson\">Profile for Dalelorenzo Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/etrafficlane.com\/newline\/grammar-using-the-with-common-and-abstract-nouns\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An abstract noun is a word that means a general concept or idea, like \u201clife\u201d or \u201cfriendship\u201d. We can use \u201cthe\u201d with common nouns, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}