A problem concerning the use of 'the'

Hi, May123,

According to the key of the book (which you can find here), the answer is "no article" (zero article) in both noun phrases:

Actually, we can say either "the world opinion" or "world opinion" depending on whether the opinion is about something specific that has already been mentioned or not.

When "aggression" is used generically (i.e. not referring to a particular case of aggression), the zero article is the only option.

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:

According to the key of the book (which you can find here), . . .

Great find, Gustavo. I just found a pdf of the book itself here.

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:

. . . the answer is "no article" (zero article) in both noun phrases:

Yes, and the applicable Eckersley rule for this exercise is Rule 1 at the bottom of page 58: "[The definite article is not used:] Before abstract nouns used in a general sense, e.g. - Life is very hard for some people (NOT: 'the life'). We will have freedom or death (NOT: 'the freedom,' etc.)."

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:

Actually, we can say either "the world opinion" or "world opinion" depending on whether the opinion is about something specific that has already been mentioned or not.

I agree. Incidentally, it is much more common now, at least in American English, to speak of "public opinion" instead of "world opinion," which may have been more common when the Eckersleys' books were published (in the 1950s). On COCA, "public opinion" returns 7385 results and "world opinion" only 292.