See above.Hi everyone,
I would like to kindly ask you for your help with the following sentences. I am still unsure about the usage of
thedefinite (and indefinite) articles.
The most satisfied guests visiting our guest house are usually visitors from big cities and families with children.
That’s why occasional bike riders, as well as
thelovers of long-distance cycling and, of course, thewine lovers, come oftenback to us often.
Are the articles in these sentences correct? Mostly, yes. See my amendments above.
I have read somewhere that if you refer to a group of some people (for example, the poor, the rich, the disabled), you will use the definite article “the”. Are “lovers of long-distance cycling” and “wine lovers” such groups? No. We say "the rich", "the poor" etc when the word being used is normally an adjective (rich, poor etc) - the shorter phrase replaces "all the rich people" or "all the poor people". "Lovers of long-distance cyling" isn't an adjective, it's a noun. You couldn't reword it as "all the lovers of long-distance cycling people".
And my second big confusion is about the use of the definite article with the words followed by the preposition “of”. Do you use a definite article when there is a preposition “of” every time? That concerns, again, the “lovers of long-distance cycling” and “wine lovers”… The word "of" doesn't appear in "wine lovers". It would appear in "lovers of wine". Is that the phrase you meant to use? In any case, I can't come up with any kind of rule where the use of an article is linked to the use of "of".
Thank you very much in advance!
Student or Learner