1

Some people do not think interior design is an important part of life.

Please look at the sentence above. The 'interior design' does not have a definite article in the sentence. Should I put 'the' in front of it? If I do not place anything in front of it, is it still correct?

In addition, please look at the end of the sentence. Should 'part of life' be 'part of their lives'? Or is 'part of life' still correct? If so, what makes 'part of life' and 'part of their lives' different to each other?

|improve this question
  • The question about "part of life" vs "part of their lives" deserves its own question in my humble opinion. The difference is subtle. – Neil Dec 20 '17 at 9:10
0

With interior design, you would only add the article the if you're talking about a specific instance of interior design. For example, if an interior designer has been working on your home, you would say the following:

He has been working hard on the interior design of our home.

We are talking about a specific home or a specific place that employs interior design, and so we use the article the. More info here: https://www.ef.edu/english-resources/english-grammar/definite-article/

Some people do not think interior design is an important part of life.

In this sentence part of life and part of their lives are both acceptable. Since we know that we are talking about some people, it's grammatical to say part of their lives. However, part of life is slightly preferable, because you are trying to say that in general people don't value interior design. The way of referring to things generally is to omit the definite article.

|improve this answer
  • Thank you very much. Sometimes I thought that a noun without an article looks weird. So sometimes some noun dose not need an article, right? Thank you. – James Dec 20 '17 at 7:48
  • You should read that article link I included above. It gives you all the information you need to understand the definite article "the." It's important to understand in English, so I hope you read it. – Ringo Dec 20 '17 at 8:00
  • Even with the guidance you give here, I can see how this would be tricky for a leaner. For example, I'd say: "Some people do not think interior design is an important part of their lives" (no article before interior design), but I also might say: "Some people do not think the interior design is an important part of their house" (article included, because the meaning of the first part can shift with that one word change). Yet it'd also be grammatical to say: "Some people do not think interior design is an important part of their house" because we can also refer to design in general again. – J.R.♦ Dec 20 '17 at 10:27
  • @J.R. I suppose you're right. There might be someone out there who can answer it better. I admit, I had a lot of trouble writing this answer, when I initially thought it would be easy. – Ringo Dec 20 '17 at 16:26
  • 1
    RE: I had a lot of trouble writing this answer, when I initially thought it would be easy. I love it; that's often the surest sign of a great ELL question :-) – J.R.♦ Dec 20 '17 at 17:16

Your Answer

By clicking "Post Your Answer", you acknowledge that you have read our updated terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy, and that your continued use of the website is subject to these policies.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.