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Consider the following sentence:

They both grew up in a rural area and dislike the urban life

I wonder if the sentence is yet correct without the bold the. If yes, will it's meaning change? I wonder how we say "I like history" instead of "I like the history", but in the example it said "they dislike the urban life"?

related: When to use 'the' before next/previous?

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    in a rural area and dislike (the) urban life. the is optional. They both grew up.
    – TimR
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 21:57
  • @Tᴚoɯɐuo thanks, If optional, I wonder why the speaker bothered himself say it.
    – Real Dreams
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 22:02
  • Because the underscores the idea that speaker and listener share a definition or understanding of "urban life". If I said to someone You know how the Persian thinks. it assumes that I and they have a shared belief about people from Persia. There is a creature "the Persian" whose attributes we agree on.
    – TimR
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 22:05
  • @Tᴚoɯɐuo regarding "to grow" I copied the sentence from "ptestudy.com/pratice/detail/?cate=35&pindex=3" is it incorrect?
    – Real Dreams
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 22:07
  • I think the speaker might actually be saying "They have both grown up..." but his accent is not good. "They are both grown up" is definitely incorrect.
    – stangdon
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 22:09

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In your example, there is no real difference between

They both grew up in a rural area and dislike the urban life.
They both grew up in a rural area and dislike urban life.

The nuance is i the first sentence, a particular urban lifestyle is understood, in the second it is urban life in general.

...dislike the urban life of an investment banker.

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