the angels

@navi posted:

Tom says: Who is that guy communicating with.
Jack replies: Angels.

Can one tell if according to Jack, that guy is communicating with some angels or with all of them?

Hello, Navi—No, one can't. Jack's reply expands into the sentence "That guy is communicating with angels." All we know from Jack's assertion, assuming it is true, is that the beings with whom Jack is communicating are angels.

Thank you very much, David,

I get it, but if one uses 'the angels' instead of 'angels', that would would mean all of them, unless a specific set of angels has been defined, in which case 'the angels' would refer to that set. Is that correct?

For example, if we have:

Well, you see. There are angels in this room and he is talking to the angels.

then 'the angels' would refer to all the angels in the room. But if we only have 'He's talking to angels.' then the meaning would be he is talking to all the angels.

Have I got this correctly?

Gratefully,

Navi