[Grammar] Omission Of The Definite Article Before The Noun "People"

[Jexis]

Hi there!

Could you take a moment to look at these sentences:

"I’ve had a lot of help from the people in Durban in the past few days."
Source: nationalgeographic.com

"But she's received the most help from people in Grande Prairie, a place where she and Jean have lived for just over a year."
Source: huffingtonpost.ca

"A witness describes how he tried to warn the people in the house near Hull by shouting through the letterbox."
Source: news.sky.com

"The National Weather Service warned people in South Florida to watch out for cold-stunned iguanas dropping out of trees."
Source: nytimes.com

Why do the second and the last one not have the definite article before the noun people? Even though the people are being referred to as specific groups and not as people in general.

I think the articles are just left out because it's clear from their context that they are referring to specific groups of people.

Could you please clear this up for me?

 

[teechar]

Why do the second and the last one not have the definite article before the noun people even though the people [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] being referred to [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] are specific groups and not [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] people in general?

No. The reference in those two sentences is still general (not to a specific group).
In the third sentence you quoted, the definite article is needed because the reference is clearly to a specific group (those in the house).

Note, however, that sometimes you'll encounter "the people" when the reference is not to a particular group of people. Usually, the definite article can (and should) be omitted in such contexts, but sometimes it is included for emphasis or to highlight a point.

 

[Jexis]

No. The reference in those two sentences is still general (not to a specific group).
In the third sentence you quoted, the definite article is needed because the reference is clearly to a specific group (those in the house).

If I understand you correctly, when we say "people in South Florida", we're referring to people in general but only in that particular area. In the third sentence, the definite article separates the people in the house from the people in some other places because more than one place is mentioned.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[jutfrank]

As teechar says above, the reference in the second and fourth sentences is to people in general, not to specific people.

You're probably thinking: "People in Grand Prairie? People in South Florida? That sounds pretty specific to me!" Well, it isn't. The speaker in each case has in mind no clear idea of who those individuals are. They're just generalised groups of people.

A useful way to understand this is to think of people in Grand Prairie as a general category rather than as a specified set of individuals, in much the same way that you conceptualise 'people with one leg' or 'people who smoke'. In these cases, you are defining a group of people rather than specifying it. Be careful not to confuse defining with specifying.

 

[jutfrank]

If I understand you correctly, when we say "people in South Florida", we're referring to people in general but only in that particular area.

Yes, that's right.

In the third sentence, the definite article separates the people in the house from the people in some other places because more than one place is mentioned.

Not really, no. It doesn't matter about other places.