The definite noun phrase the following examples contains enough information for the reader to identify which examples are being talked about. The examples that the definite noun phrase refers to are the ones that are about to be mentioned.
My example sentence may be inappropriate for this question. I would like to know whether "the following" is omittable even when a set of colon and semicolon is used to list some words, phrases, or sentences.
Which of the following statements is grammatically incorrect? And why? (I don't know the answer. Ignore the marks) Meats and vegetables are so expensive these days. We'd better eat out. I'd rather go
Nonessential words and phrases are elements of a sentence which do not contain information essential to the meaning of the sentence as a whole. Jan, the second of three children, always feels left out ...