[Grammar] When to use "THE" before plural nouns?

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jhelum

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Hi everyone,

I'm very confused about the use of "the" before nouns in their plural forms, such as in these sentences:

"The higher levels of the buildings in the district are mostly used as flats."

"The trees, the grass, along with the people passing by, form a lovely scenery."

Are these "the" required or should be deleted, or can be either used or omitted?
 
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Barb_D

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They are needed. They indicate to the reader that you are talking about specific levels (the higher ones), specific buildings (the ones in this district), and trees, grass, and people in this particular place.

You can omit the "the" only when you are talking about the entire class of things.
Dogs are popular pets.
Bicycles are becoming a popular way to get to work.

Compared to:
The dogs in this picture are playing poker.
The bicycles in this shop are expensive, but they come with life-time repairs.
 

jhelum

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Thanks for your reply Barb_D, but according to what you have said, should not the sentence in your post be like this:

"They indicate to the reader that you are talking about the specific levels (the higher ones), the specific buildings (the ones in this district), and the trees, the grass, and the people in this particular place."
 
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Raymott

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Thanks for your reply Barb_D, but according to what you have said, should not the sentence in your post be like this:

"They indicate to the reader that you are talking about the specific levels (
the higher ones), the specific buildings (the ones in this district), and the trees, the grass, and the people in this particular place."
Barb's gone, so I'll have a go. You'll note that there is a 'the' in the two parenthetical phrases after the first two examples. Concerning specific levels in general, the speaker is talking about the higher levels in particular. In the trees sentence, it's not necessary to specify which trees using "the" because the specification comes in "in this particular place). So all the specific indicators are actually there. However, 'the' could have been added as you've done, and I probably would have for the trees example.
 

jhelum

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Barb's gone, so I'll have a go. You'll note that there is a 'the' in the two parenthetical phrases after the first two examples. Concerning specific levels in general, the speaker is talking about the higher levels in particular. In the trees sentence, it's not necessary to specify which trees using "the" because the specification comes in "in this particular place). So all the specific indicators are actually there. However, 'the' could have been added as you've done, and I probably would have for the trees example.

Thanks for the explanation Raymott. So when a noun in its plural form has a specific indicator, such as saying "people in this place", is it acceptable or grammatically wrong to omit the "the"?
 

Raymott

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Thanks for the explanation Raymott. So when a noun in its plural form has a specific indicator, such as saying "people in this place", is it acceptable or grammatically wrong to omit the "the"?
It's really hard to generalise; there would be exceptions. Sometimes you need "the", eg. in "You'll find that the people in this place are helpful." would suggest that all are helpful, while "You'll find that people in this place are helpful." suggests only some or most of them.
I can only suggest that you take note of examples like this when you're reading.
 

jhelum

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Thanks for your thorough explanation Raymott!
 
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