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According to Macmillan Dictionary, the noun 'use' can be both countable and uncountable. How to understand whether it is countable or uncountable in a given context?

Here're some examples I saw that could be used with either of the determiners given in square brackets, and the choice really depend on whether 'use' there is a mass noun:

There is a clear correlation between [the/a/-] use of electrical appliances and time spent on household chores.

[The/a/-] use of email has increased.

Arseny Aleev
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    As commented within that earlier question, besides the definite and indefinite articles (*the* and *a / an). syntactically we can distinguish two different subtypes of 'invisible' article - the zero (Ø1)* and the null (Ø2). Examples: We had Ø1* chicken / a chicken for tea. She was hired as Ø2 special assistant / the special assistant to the president.* *Article usage is complex.* – FumbleFingers Oct 05 '22 at 11:21
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    I don't consider this a dupe of the other question. The answer at that other question isn't specifically about "use", and it qualifies with "tends to". – gotube Oct 05 '22 at 17:17
  • Did you notice that 'I wonder how to define whether…' couldn't really work, whatever the context?

    I suspect '… how to decide…' is what you wanted, but that's not the same thing.

     – Robbie Goodwin Oct 06 '22 at 23:05
  • @RobbieGoodwin thanks for being so attentive, but it is not what I asked. – Arseny Aleev Oct 11 '22 at 15:13
  • @ArsenyAleev Thanks yourself and did you notice how little "A/the/- use of + noun" might mean to Mr Average? Why not look again at Lambie's and Gotube's Answers? – Robbie Goodwin Oct 12 '22 at 21:32
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    Please be clear, you are not asking how to 'define' but rather, how to 'decide' whether to put an article before the word 'use'.

    Statistically, there might well be a clear correlation between electrical appliances and time spent on household chores but how could that matter?

    'The' use of email might have increased. To you, what might 'a' use mean?

     – Robbie Goodwin Oct 12 '22 at 21:54
  • This may be a better duplicate target: How to decide the countability of 'performance'? It doesn't specifically talk about "use", but it does explain how to decide whether you should use the countable or uncountable sense of a word and discusses how sometimes "abstract" and "uncountable" get confused in dictionaries. – ColleenV Nov 03 '22 at 20:26

2 Answers2

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That Macmillan page shows that some meanings of "use" are countable while others aren't, and some can be both.

Your two examples both have the meaning, the act of using something, which Macmillan lists as uncountable.

gotube
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Samples:

  • There is a clear correlation between the use of electrical appliances and time spent on household chores.

  • The use of email has increased.

The determiner "the" is used because this is specific to what comes after the of.

The point of answering is to be informative.

The king of the fair was David.
The use of hand-held tools takes time to learn.

Please note: the uncountable noun use can be replaced by a gerund: using

Lambie
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  • Can I add a follow-up quesiton? why there is no article "the” before the word "time", in "between the use of electrical appliances and [time] spent on household chores"? – Dada Oct 22 '22 at 12:44
  • @Dada Because in English, abstract nouns like time, wealth, poverty, etc. don't require a determiner. Only if surrounded by other things: The time [specific] I spent washing dishes last night. VERSUS Time [general concept] spent on household chores can be all consuming. – Lambie Oct 22 '22 at 14:00