allowed himself (the) <liberty><liberties>

[baktbd]

1.He allowed himself the liberties of reading her letters.
2.He allowed himself the liberty of reading her letters.
3.He allowed himself liberty of reading her letters.
4.He allowed himself liberties of reading her letters.

I am confused in what circumstances I should use the plural form and am able to omit "the".

 

[Glasguensis]

In this example only 2 works

 

[Keith Bradford]

In the sense "take a liberty" which means "behave impertinently" it is a countable noun. Version 2 is the only one which works, because "reading her letters" is a single impertinence. If he did other similar things, we might say for example "he was always allowing himself liberties with her possessions".

 

[baktbd]

In the sense "take a liberty" which means "behave impertinently" it is a countable noun. Version 2 is the only one which works, because "reading her letters" is a single impertinence. If he did other similar things, we might say for example "he was always allowing himself liberties with her possessions".

Thank you very much.
Then the next question is why can't I omit "the" in Version 2 ?

 

[Glasguensis]

Most of the time nouns in English require a determiner. This is one of those times, and the appropriate determiner is “the”.

 

[baktbd]

Most of the time nouns in English require a determiner. This is one of those times, and the appropriate determiner is “the”.

If this is so , then why can the following sentences omit "the" :

You can't take photographs here without the permission.
We have obtained the permission to take pictures.

 

[Glasguensis]

Permission here is an abstract non-countable non, and doesn’t need an article. Liberty can be an abstract non-countable noun, but in your example it is countable.

 

[baktbd]

Permission here is an abstract non-countable non, and doesn’t need an article. Liberty can be an abstract non-countable noun, but in your example it is countable.

WOW, english is so darn hard, there are so many exceptions I have to notice 😱 🥴

 

[Keith Bradford]

It's not such a great exception. In the sentences that include "the", one specific liberty or permission is mentioned, which is defined within that same sentence.

• He allowed himself a liberty. What liberty? The liberty of reading her letters.
• We have obtained permission. What permission? The permission we needed to take pictures.

This is not very different from other everyday examples that I'm sure you know:

• I saw a man. What man? The man I was talking about this morning.

 

[baktbd]

It's not such a great exception. In the sentences that include "the", one specific liberty or permission is mentioned, which is defined within that same sentence.

• He allowed himself a liberty. What liberty? The liberty of reading her letters.
• We have obtained permission. What permission? The permission we needed to take pictures.

This is not very different from other everyday examples that I'm sure you know:

• I saw a man. What man? The man I was talking about this morning.

How do you know permission is an abstract non-countable noun, whereas liberty is not ?
Can I say "We have obtained the permission" ?

 

[Keith Bradford]

I know because I've never in my life heard anybody say "the permissions", whereas I have heard people say (e.g.) "He's been taking liberties".

Yes, you can say "We have obtained the permission..." IF the sentence continues with (e.g.) "... which we applied for." Like I said above, one specific permission is mentioned, which is defined within that same sentence.

 

[baktbd]

I know because I've never in my life heard anybody say "the permissions", whereas I have heard people say (e.g.) "He's been taking liberties".

Yes, you can say "We have obtained the permission..." IF the sentence continues with (e.g.) "... which we applied for." Like I said above, one specific permission is mentioned, which is defined within that same sentence.

As a non-native English speaker, I don't have the real surroundings where I can observe the way native english speakers talk, I can only do a research when it comes to this kind of question.