Article "the" and generalization

[toloue_man]

I know that one can use "the" in order to make generalizations in some circumstances for e.g. "the computer changed our lives.", but I cannot really understand how "the" in the following image can mean generalizations


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[konungursvia]

I think the book is wrong. A generalization using the article would read as follows:

The European swallow is migratory.

 

[toloue_man]

I think the book is wrong. A generalization using the article would read as follows:

The European swallow is migratory.

What do you think about "one unit of a class"? What is it? And, don't you think that it is because of this that the book has classified this sentence in generalization category?

 

[gurpreetgill4u]

I am not a teacher

I don't think second sentence in any of the above "one unit of a class" is generalization.

 

[toloue_man]

I am not a teacher

I don't think second sentence in any of the above "one unit of a class" is generalization.

Do you all agree with the above sentence?

 

[Raymott]

Do you all agree with the above sentence?

Regarding "one unit of a class", I think the book is wrong, or at least confusing. It merits ignoring. Taking the last few lines, "Furniture from Denmark is very attractive" is a generalisation. "The furniture from Denmark ..." is a generalisation of a different sort, since it implies that all the items are of comparatively equal attractiveness. On the other hand, "The chair over there ..." is not a generalisation. It's the opposite, since it specifies which chair you are referring to.

Referring to "one unit of a class" would seem usually to be a specification. But you could write "The chair over there demonstrates the attractiveness of Danish furniture." That would be a generalisation, but not in the sense that I think that page means.

I just don't think the page is a good explanation of the use of "the". The concept is uses seems to need too much analysis and explication to be of much use.