Learn all about the word 'the' and how to use it with abstract uncountable nouns.

OF ALL the novelties of France under President Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the more arresting is the decline of the abstract noun. In the past, no French leader would make a speech without liberal ...

Perhaps this is the legacy of declaring war on an abstract noun, rather than an identifiable enemy. Perhaps a war on al-Qaeda would have been more coherent than a war on terrorism.