English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

B3.6 Generalising with noun phrases
B3 Articles
Section B Development

If you want to make a generalisation about all the members of a ’class’ there are several ways to do it. The most common way with count nouns is to use a plural noun phrase with no article:

Dogs are our best friends.

Not of course Dog . . . because this would be interpreted as a noncount noun (see C2).

The equivalent for noncount nouns would be without an article:

Cheese is made from the milk of cows and other animals.

It is also possible to use both the definite and indefinite articles with a singular noun phrase for generic reference, as we saw in the lists above. The indefinite article can be used to pick out a typical member of a class:

A dog is for life, not for Christmas. (We could also say Dogs are . . .)

The definite article is often used with musical instruments and dances:

Can you dance the tango?

But it usually has an academic tone, when people are writing about something professionally:

The invention of the wheel was the most important development in transport.

In such cases the responsibility lies with the employer.

This use is quite common in grammatical description (as in this book):

The indefinite article has two forms. . .

The definite article is also used with generic plural noun phrases in two situations:

□ with generic adjectives, e.g. the poor, the long-term unemployed (cf. A3)

□ with nationality nouns, e.g. the French, the Chinese