0

Some other examples:

  • Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • President of Russia
  • President of the Russian Federation
  • Emperor of Japan
Mari-Lou A
  • 91,183
27182818
  • 47
  • Although the linked question above is closed, I find the answers clearer to read, simple and more relevant to your case than the canonical question and its answers: Using the definite article before a country/state name – Mari-Lou A Apr 05 '18 at 11:01
  • Tsar of All the Russias – GEdgar Apr 05 '18 at 11:22
  • Both do and neither does, depending on the context. "The President is George Washington" gets its article from the phrase’s position in the sentence, not his position in society. Whether "George Washington is President" needs an article can't be clear without context. Any president, of a country or a mere corporation, sometimes does and sometimes doesn't warrant an article… in English. Am I mistaken in thinking Russian doesn't use articles, and doesn’t that make the concept strange, at least? – Robbie Goodwin Apr 05 '18 at 11:43
  • 2
    @RobbieGoodwin when a country is called a republic or is a collection of unified states or territories the definite article is always used. The United Kingdom, the USA, the United Arab Emirates, the ex-USSR, the Republic of China. The question is about the use of articles with a country's name not about its leader, or his or her position. You could have also said "Sarkozy was Prime Minister" No article there. – Mari-Lou A Apr 05 '18 at 11:51
  • The Question was clearly about the leader’s positions, not the country’s name. You seem to be suggesting “a union of ” means “a collection of unified”. What did I miss, please? Is the United States of America, or of Mexico “a collections of unified states or territories”?Underneath any of that, the Question was about not the states but rather, their presidents. Of course it’s the United Kingdom, the USA, the United Arab Emirates. It might be the Republic of China but that’s outside my ken… So what? The Question was clearly about the leader and his or her positions, not the country’s name. – Robbie Goodwin Apr 06 '18 at 19:57
  • @RobbieGoodwin what did you miss? Let's start with the title of the question: Why does the President of THE United States have the article, but not the President of Russia? The question is about the definite article used with countries. The definite article is obligatory for some countries, it cannot be dropped. We could be talking about the capital city of the Philippines or of Wales. The OP didn't realize that the question was connected to the country's name, not the title of its leader. – Mari-Lou A Apr 07 '18 at 19:31
  • Thanks, Mari-Lou. I did mis-read the Question as being about the presidents, not the countries… which in fact it seems to be, despite the wording.

    I don’t follow how anyone could ask the now-obvious actual Question.

    ‘Why does “the United States” have a “the”… but “Russia” doesn’t? Who takes that seriously need only ask a search engine for a list of countries…

    Again, isn’t Russian a language with no use for articles?

    How is it not clear that “Russia” isn’t “The Russian Federation” and even if they were equivalent, neither could translate to English as “All The Russias…”

     – Robbie Goodwin Apr 07 '18 at 20:20

0 Answers0