The use of an article

Question

Here is the sentence:

In 2002, as defense minister, he had, according to French prosecutors in an ongoing case, taken a 114-million-euro bribe to buy French submarines.

May I ask why there is no article before the word defense? If I add the article the, how would the sentence's meaning change?

According to federal indictments, Goldman was drawn into the plot early in 2009, when two senior employees—Tim Leissner, head of investment banking for Southeast Asia, and Roger Ng, a managing director—first met Low.

Why isn't there an article - the - before federal indictments?

Blankfein told employees in a 2014 meeting, around the time federal prosecutors launched a criminal investigation of Vella’s dealings in Libya.

Similar for this, why isn't there an article before the word federal?

According to a 2019 federal indictment, Low sent Michel $21 million, much of it to be laundered into a number of Democratic campaigns.

Wheres for this sentence, there is an article (an) before federal.

Can someone explain?

Does this answer your question? Why do people omit the definite article? — Edwin Ashworth, May 17 '20 at 13:52
The use of an article in all of these examples is optional. Although there is a subtle change in meaning if they are are added, the sentences would still say essentially the same thing. Using an articles specifies that the thing in question is specific (the) or one of many (a). Without an article, it's a generalization. For example as defense minister can be though of as in his role of defense minister. — Jason Bassford, May 17 '20 at 15:01
Does this answer your question? Are there any simple rules for choosing the definite vs. indefinite (vs. none) article? — Jason Bassford, May 17 '20 at 15:02

DW256 · Answer 1 · 2020-05-17T14:13:59.697

The noun phrases in your examples are bare role NPs. These occur as the predicative complements of verbs like be, become, appoint, elect, as oblique predicative governed by as, and as complement of the preposition of following nouns like role, part or position. They are always replaceable by their counterparts with the because the interpretation is always definite. (CaGEL p409)

If you added the definite article in the first sentence, the meaning would be exactly the same.

In the second example given, federal indictments is indefinite and therefore does not need a definite article - the readers are not expected to be able to pick out specific indictments, and none are referenced in the article.

Also in the second example given, head of investment banking for Southeast Asia is an ascriptive supplement to NP anchor Tim Leissner. The relation between the two is comparable to that between a subject and predicative complement in a be clause (CaGEL p1357) which is why it allows a bare role NP. Here as well, the definite article could be added with no change in meaning.

Note that in the second example there is another ascriptive supplement a managing director to an NP anchor Roger Ng. In this case the indefinite article may not be omitted as that would change the interpretation to one where there is only one managing director.

@kitcat They are bare in the sense that they do not contain a determiner (CaGEL p328) — DW256, May 17 '20 at 12:11
Masters called such anarthrous strings examples of the use of the null (as opposed to the zero) article. 'More definite even than the definite article' to paraphrase, often more reverential ('He is Lord'). — Edwin Ashworth, May 17 '20 at 13:54
@kitcat: NP stands for noun phrase. The bare role noun phrase is a noun phrase that is a title or a position, and it can appear bare—without a definite article—as described above. — Tinfoil Hat, May 17 '20 at 15:04

The use of an article

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