Usage of articles (The voyage was very dangerous and difficult...)

[Penuel]

Hello everybody!
Please explain me the usage of articles in the following:
1. ....The voyage was very dangerous and difficult. On the 12th of October his ship reached land. When they landed.... - why isn't there any articles before "land" ?
2. He took a taxi and gave the address to the driver. - why is there "the" before "address"?

Many thanks in advance!

[Alan]

Hi Penuel,

Interesting questions. If you said: 'his ship reached the land', you would be referring to a particular piece of land, which is not meant here. 'Reach land' is an expression which in fact means 'land' and therefore needs no article. It is similar to 'eat breakfast' 'make sense' 'take trouble' where the verb and noun form a combined idea.

In the second sentence you need 'the' before address because we are referring to 'the address' the driver has to drive to.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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