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.