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Do the following sentences have the same or different meanings?
1. People can buy clothes in the department.
2. People can buy clothes in departments.
3. People can buy clothes in a department.
4. People can buy clothes in the departments.
hello,
people can buy clothes in the departments it is a general term,that is that you are saying that everybody can go to a clothes department and buy whatsoever he/she wants.People can buy clothes in departments is another way to say the same thing as the departments.People can buy clothes at a department is singular.
bye
Carlos
the use of "the" 
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