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Unread Sep 8th, 2010, 10:17 am
susan53 susan53 is offline
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Default Re: Generic reference the

No. Generic reference can be expressed by "the", but only to refer to a species or group- eg : One animal in danger of extinction is the tiger.

Here you are not talking about owning a whole species, but just one animal. So "a + singular" is the correct form.

Theoretically the plural could also be used The advantages and disadvantages of owning dogs. But this would make the title ambiguous - it could also be interpreted as meaning The advantages and disadvantages of owning more than one dog. So "a+singular" is more likely.
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