The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 335) says:
A count noun denotes a class of individuated entities of the same kind. Boy, for example, denotes the class of boys.
For example, in (1) the count noun boy denotes the class of boys but is combined with A to denote an individuated entity. And the same is true with the count noun human.
(1) A boy is a young male human.
But when used alone (without any determiner such as a), as in (2), the count nouns boy and human cannot seem to denote the class:
(2) *Boy is young male human.
Why is that?
(Although this is a why question, I hope this is detailed enough to be answerable.)
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