Definite article with abstract nouns [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• Use (or non-use) of articles before abstract nouns 2 answers

Is there a way one can determine whether to use the definite article before an abstract noun? For example:

• little room for imagination

• such concepts as subjectivity and imagination

• the power of the imagination.

Why is there no article in the first two examples? I'm aware that 'the' points to a specific instance, and it is clear to me why one would say

the imagination of the author or a reticent imagination.

However, in all the three examples that confuse me imagination is used in a general sense, and yet it takes the definite article in the 3rd instance.

Answer 1

The definite article serves to specify a particular instance. It is used to mark an object as before mentioned or already known, or contextually particularised (OED).

Abstract nouns are not, by definition, particular to a time or place.