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I don't understand why they wrote in the sentence below "swept away repressive dictators" instead of "swept away THE repressive dictators"? Any idea?

"Some local pundits liken the protests with the Soweto uprising of 1976, when children protested against apartheid, or talk of a South African spring, alluding to the protests that swept away repressive dictators in the Middle East in 2011."

K4l44
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    For the same reason you don’t need to say *the* children – Jim Apr 10 '20 at 15:24
  • I am confused … If I use the same reason for children, they shouldn’t write “the local districts” below but “sent people to local districts”? No? “In the closing weeks of his race and two other campaigns in Virginia that hinged on guns, the NRA and gun control groups all sent people to the local districts to rally voters.” – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 15:36
  • You’re right and you could. These are writing choices not grammatical rules. – Jim Apr 10 '20 at 15:39
  • Then is it grammatically correct to say "swept away the repressive dictators? – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 15:41
  • Yes, that is grammatical. – Jim Apr 10 '20 at 15:42
  • I didn't know it was an option to use the definite article or to omit it before nouns like children. Many thanks for the reply ! – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 15:47
  • There is a subtle difference between "swept away dictators" and "swept away the dictators". Try these links: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/530077/usage-of-definite-article AND .https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/529930/use-of-the-definite-article-and-different-meanings AND https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/515707/definite-article-required-or-not – Centaurus Apr 10 '20 at 16:08
  • Thank you for the links, I think it is more clear now but I'm not really sure ... This definite article drives me crazy !! – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 16:27

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Both are grammatically correct, however there is a small but important difference.

alluding to the protests that swept away repressive dictators in the Middle East in 2011.

implies that that there were multiple repressive dictators and some portion of them were removed from power.

alluding to the protests that swept away the repressive dictators in the Middle East in 2011.

implies that that there were multiple repressive dictators and all of them were removed from power.

Kevin
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  • Don't you mean the opposite? "the repressive dictators" is a specific set of all of them and "repressive dictators" is about all of them? – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 16:25
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    No, I don't mean the opposite. "The repressive dictators" does refer to a specific set, the ones in the middle east. – Kevin Apr 10 '20 at 17:11
  • Oh I just get it!!! "the repressive dictators in the Middle East" = 100% of them in the Middle East ; "repressive dictators in the Middle East" = a portion of them in the Middle East. – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 17:25
  • So maybe to help myself, I can apply the following trick : when we use “the”, we can put “all” instead; when we omit “the” we can put “some” instead. “swept away some repressive dictators in the Middle East”. “sent people to all local districts”. referring my previous examples – K4l44 Apr 10 '20 at 17:42