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I'd really appreciate some help in regards to this situation:

"I was lucky enough to see the One Direction in concert".

As native English speakers we know that the "the" is superfluous in this sentence, but I'd really appreciate the rules around the omission of it in some contexts.

For example, It's perfectly fine to say: "I was lucky enough to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert" +the. However: "I was lucky enough to see Take That in concert" -the.

I would love for someone to give me the general rule here. I'm sure the answer is staring me right in the face!

Ozy
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    "The" is a proper part of the name "The Red Hot Chili Peppers". – Dan Bron Oct 28 '14 at 19:04
  • Okay granted, but you wouldn't say "I was lucky enough to see the bullet for my valentine". Why? – Ozy Oct 28 '14 at 19:10
  • What is "the bullet" in this instance? – Dancrumb Oct 28 '14 at 19:15
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    Because "The" isn't part of the proper name "Bullet for my Valentine". In short, you use it with the TRHCPs because it's part of their name, and you don't use it for BFMV, OD, TT, etc, because it's not part of their name. Just like you wouldn't call me "The Dan" -- unless my name was, indeed, "The Dan". – Dan Bron Oct 28 '14 at 19:15

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Thankfully there is a short and simple answer to your question.

Proper nouns do not need determiners!

So no matter which band, group, movie, show etc, you go to see you will never need to add 'the'.

It just happens to be an idiosyncrasy that 'the' can be added before probably all pluralised proper nouns. The Artic Monkeys, The Dead Kennedys, The Dire Straights etc, none of which have The in their band name!

You can find more useful information here:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/when-to-use-articles-before-nouns

Joe Dark
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