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Prejudice is still prevalent in this generation, and it is one of the engines that fuels the novel to transcend time with such popularity, affecting (the) people who suffered similar discrimination presented in the story.

I just do not know if I have to use the definite articles in the given position.

The use of definite article seems justified, for it is people who suffered similar discrimination out of all usual common people.

However, the use of zero article seems more adequate when I consider that I am referring to all people who suffered similar discrimination.

I think it is just from which perspective we frame this people.

But which one should I use?

whitedevil
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  • I feel like you're missing part of the sentence... "suffered similar discrimination as is presented in the story." perhaps? – Catija Aug 08 '16 at 23:13
  • More context would be nice. Many times, the use of articles is dependent upon information found outside the sentence it is used in. – Alan Carmack Aug 09 '16 at 00:02
  • I think it has something to do with the relative clause being a specified occurrence vs a generalization. "I want to kill the people who stole my bike." vs. "I don't trust people that have stolen bikes." – Leo Aug 09 '16 at 04:21
  • @whitedevil Could you tell us what novel is reviewed in the text you cite here? Is the review itself available online? – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Aug 09 '16 at 04:38

2 Answers2

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Maybe both are OK, but since you have defined the "people" as being a specific group "presented in the story", I would use the.

However, if you left off "presented in the story", and the "people" were not previously defined, I would not use the.

user3169
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Sarah Costa, in a post at our sister site ELU, proposed a guideline which is germane here, and which I will gently paraphrase as:

Without a context that clarifies whether the sentence relates to a specific group, the zero article is preferred.

Her entire answer, and the question to which is a response, can be found here. The commentary following her answer is also of interest,

In this case, because the context does define a specific group, the sentence, under this guideline, should include the definite article.

Community
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P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
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  • It is just people in general who suffered similar discrimination that was presented in the story. So is it generalization? Or are we still specifying a group of people? – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 13:39
  • @whitedevil People in the sentence refers to those readers who have suffered similarly to characters in the novel. That is a specific group; thus, the definite article. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Aug 09 '16 at 16:32
  • Do you think the indefinite article will pass? – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 17:46
  • Or is it simply unacceptable? – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 18:26
  • @whitedevil The indefinite article will not work here. The definite is called for. "A people" here would be understood as referring to "a people" such "the Russian people." People is a special case with many idiomatic uses. See this link. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Aug 09 '16 at 21:53
  • Sorry, I meant zero article. – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 21:53
  • @whitedevil Since "people" refers here to a specifically defined group, the zero article is not the best option. Read my answer and follow the link. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Aug 09 '16 at 21:55
  • I did. But user3169's answer yields the use of zero article, because they are not previously defined according to him/her. But you said that it should refer to a group of the readers of this novel, so the definite article should be used. I think a native speaker will just glance over it and feel nothing wrong with it, but I don't know. – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 21:58
  • @whitedevil - No, user3169's answer is the same as mine. "People" here means the readers who suffered discrimination similar to that presented in the story. If you omitted that part of the sentence, the zero article might work. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Aug 09 '16 at 22:03
  • OK. So does zero article sound completely horrendous? – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 22:16
  • Um, by "similar to that presented in the story", are you referring to the people, or discrimination? I intended it to refer to discrimination. – whitedevil Aug 09 '16 at 22:17
  • @whitedevil The whole sentence could be written more clearly: Prejudice is still prevalent in this generation, and it is one of the engines that fuels the novel to transcend time with such popularity, affecting the people who suffered discrimination similar to that presented in the story. "People" refers to the specific group of readers who we suffered the same discrimination as presented. Here the definite article makes that clear. With the zero article, it's certainly acceptable; it's just not as clear. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Aug 09 '16 at 22:32