1.38 using the context

Other singular nouns can be used to refer to one thing only when it is obvious from the context what you are referring to. For example, if you are in Leeds and say 'I work at the university', you will almost certainly mean Leeds University.

However, in the following examples we cannot be sure exactly who or what the singular noun refers to, because we do not have enough context.

• In many countries the market is small numerically.
• Their company looks good only because the competition looks bad.
• You've all missed the point.

Unless we are told which goods or products are being talked about, we cannot be sure which group of potential buyers 'the market' refers to. Similarly we do not know exactly which company or group of companies 'the competition' refers to. In the last example, the speaker or writer is presumably going to tell us what he or she thinks 'the point' is.