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I tried to search in Google of the combinational expressions of 'The many things' and "the many books", and I found most of cases these expressions are followed by an attributive clause, like:

The many things people got wrong

Thank You for the Many Things You've Done

I suspected that "The many books have included this topic." (without modifier) is wrong, and the article 'the' is redundant here. Can anyone further explain the reason behind, or share different understandings?

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The pattern is:

the + noun + restrictive clause

The many items sold on eBay...

The few birds we saw today...

The thousands of students pouring into Ft. Lauderdale...

This pattern can even be extended to proper names:

The John Monroe I knew in college would never have said that.

P.S. Attributive usually means before the noun.

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  • So can we say "The many items have been sold on eBay."?
    – Dave Hwang
    Commented Jan 9, 2018 at 13:43
  • No, only "The many items that have been sold on e Bay." There has to be a restrictive relative clause.
    – KarlG
    Commented Jan 9, 2018 at 15:41
  • Thanks KarlG for the answer. It clarified my doubt. BTW: I think 'attributive clause' is the correct expression which can be found a lot when googling it.
    – Dave Hwang
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 14:42

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