I am going to write down two similar sentences below.
(1) The class starts at noon.
(2) Class starts at noon.
This is my interpretation. You say (1) when you are talking about when a specific course starts. In contrast, you say (2) when you are talking about when all courses generally start. Is my interpretation correct?
Best Answer
You have interpreted #1 correctly. If someone says, "The class starts at noon," then we are talking about a specific class, and both the speaker and listener know which class is being talked about.
As for interpretation #2, I don't think that's accurate. If I wanted to talk about "when all courses generally start," then I would use the plural form:
As for the meaning of "Class starts at noon," that's tricky to explain. It pretty much means the same thing as the first sentence. When talking about the start time of an event, we can often omit the article all together and the resulting sentence sounds natural, understandable, and idiomatic. For example:
Sometimes that same structure is understandable and acceptable, but it sounds more "clipped" and informal:
I would understand those sentences – especially in a context like a brief email – but I think that determiners might make the sentences sound a bit more smooth: