Class nouns are used with the definite article:

1) When the noun denotes an object or objects which the speaker singles out from all the objects of a given class.

An object is singled out in the following cases:

a) when the speaker and the hearer know what particular object is meant.

How did you like the play?

b) when the speaker uses an attribute pointing out a particular object.

This is the house that Jack built.

c) when the situation itself makes the object definite.

The wedding looked dismal. The bride was too old and the bridegroom was too young. (Dickens)

As a rule the definite article is not translated into Russian. However, there are cases when it must be rendered by этот.

I don't like the idea. – Мне не нравится эта мысль.

2) When the noun denotes a thing unique (the sun, the moon, the universe) or a class.

The sun was getting warmer.

The bourgeoisie is cowardly. (London)

The indefinite article can be used when we mean a certain state of the sun, the moon, the sky. In this case an attribute is used.

A pearl-white moon smiles through the green trees. (Ch. Brontё)

3) With nouns used in a generic sense. A noun used in a generic sense denotes a genus taken as a whole, a thing taken as a type, a genre.

The tiger has always had the reputation of being a man-eater.

The telephone was invented in the 19th century.

The tragedy and the comedy first appeared in Greece.

When the noun man is used in a generic sense no article is used.

He felt that his trust in man had been cruelly destroyed. (Eliot)

When the noun woman is used in a generic sense it is used with the definite article or without an article.

He had always been interested in that mysterious being – the woman. (Bennett)

Woman is man's helpmate.

A noun used in a generic sense should not be confused with a noun used in a general sense. A noun used in a general sense denotes an object regarded as an individual representative of a class.

A detective story helps to while away the time. (Every or any detective story is meant here.)

A noun in a generic sense denotes the whole class.

Conan Doyle is a master of the detective story. (the detective story is regarded here as a certain genre.)

Additional notes on the use of the definite article

The definite article is used:

1) with nouns modified by adjectives in the superlative degree.

She had the softest voice that ever was heard. (Dickens)

2) with nouns in word-groups the first component of which is some, many, none, most and the second is a noun with preposition of.

Most of the gentlemen looked both angry and uncomfortable. (Voynich)

3) with nouns modified by the pronoun same and the adjectives wrong (не тот), right (тот), very (именно тот, тот самый).

You are the very person I need!

4) with substantivized adjectives and participles.

The listeners noted something beyond the usual in his voice.

5) with names of nationalities: the French, the Dutch.

Exercise 1. Insert articles where necessary.

1. Not … word was spoken in … parlour. (Caldwel) 2. … room itself was filing up, so was … staircase. (Snow) 3. I think that … man’s life is worth saving, whoever it belongs to. (Shaw) 4. Though … earth was cold and wet, … sky was clear and … sun rose bright and beautiful.(Dickens) 5. He made them provide not one car, but half … dozen. (Snow) 6. … compass was invented in ancient China. 7. Not … word was spoken, not … sound was made. (Dickens) 8. … sky outside … window was already dark, secretaries had gone home, all was quiet. (Snow) 9. Edward remained … week at … cottage. (Austen) 10. I tell you, he’s as … man can reasonably be. (Snow) 11. After that they would meat, perhaps, two or three times … year. (Galsworthy) 12. Dinny looked up at … house; and suddenly saw … face in … window of … dining – room. (Galsworthy) 13. You know I never cared for … drama. 14. “It is not … large house,” I said. ”We don’t want …large house.”(Jerome K. Jerome) 15. He looks older than he is, as …dark men often do. (Dickens) 16. Roger looked at him and, without … word, took out his wallet and gave him … ten – shilling note. (Snow) 17. As … man sows, so shall he reap. 18. This morning … tobacconist was at his door. (Bennett) 19. It was Sunday afternoon, and … sun, which had been shining now for several hours, was beginning to warm … earth. (Murdoch) 20. I have … long story to tell you. Come and sit down on … sofa and let us have … comfortable chat. (Marryat) 21. It was … cottage built like … mansion, having … central hall with… wooden gallery running round it, and … rooms no bigger than … closets. 22. And what … beautiful moth there is over on … wall. (Murdoch) 23. … old could help … young. (Galsworthy) 24. Thank you, Stephen: I knew you would give me … right advice. (Shaw) 25. … woman will only be the equal of … man when she earns her living in … same way that he does. (Maugham) 26. … man who entered was short and broad. He had black hair, and was wearing … grey flannel trousers with … red woolen shirt, open at … neck, whose collar outside … lapels of his dark tweed jacket. (Clark) 27. … old man quitted … house secretly at .. same hour as before. (Dickens) 28. I hadn’t yet learnt how contradictory is human nature; I didn’t know how much pose there is in … sincere, how much baseness in … noble, or how much goodness in reprobate. (Maugham) 29. I believe I can tell … very moment I began to love him. (Galsworthy)

The use of articles with class nouns modified by attributes

The definite article is used when a noun is modified by an attribute which shows that a particular object is meant, i.e. by a particularizing attribute. A particularizing attribute is used to single out an object of the class, to point out one particular object or group of objects. Its use implies the idea of "тот, который", "именно тот, этот".

A particularizing attribute can be expressed by an of-phrase or an attributive clause. It is always used in post-position.

He knocked at the door of a very neat house.

The letters that I have here have come to me by accident.

A particularizing attribute should not be confused with a descriptive attribute. A descriptive attribute is used to describe an object or to give some additional information about it.

In a fortnight I got a long letter, which I considered odd.

The post on her left was occupied by Mr. E, an old gentleman of considerable charm and culture.

The use of a descriptive attribute does not affect the use of the article. The same articles would be used if there were no attribute whatever.

He returned a book which he had borrowed. (the object is presented as belonging to a class)

I have just spoken to the woman, who seems to have changed her mind. (the speaker and the hearer know what particular person is meant)

They went towards the hedge, where the May flower was in full bloom. (the situation makes the object definite)