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"iPhone is king"

I am referring here to the article being missed.

As far as I know that when a noun is used in a singular form, then we should add an article a/an for the first time, if the noun has been mentioned previously then you can add the.

However, in some cases (like this case) I see no article in front of the noun even though it's a noun. Is there an exception or what?

Muaath Alhaddad
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    Does this answer your question? Why do people omit the definite article? Masters asserts that in 'He was crowned King', the null article (even more definite / prestigious than the definite article) is used. So 'He is King' is more prestige-attributing than 'He is the King'. Contrast the zero article in 'We had chicken last night'. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 15 '20 at 15:51
  • @MuaathaAlhaddad You have not given enough context. Please give some context and a full sentence. – Greybeard Jul 15 '20 at 15:51
  • The issue is Apple wants you to elide the article. It's part of a marketing scheme; at a guess, to make it seem like a phenomenon, rather than an object. Though I did read something years ago that said brands did this just as Twitter was booming, so more people could talk about their products in fewer characters, to fit into a tweet, and therefore get more tweets and organic marketing. Not sure if that was actually the motivation or apocryphal. – Dan Bron Jul 15 '20 at 16:15
  • @DanBron — Why elide? It's strange usage in this context as in most examples one is omitting a sound between two others. If you mean omit, surely it would be better to use the simpler more common word. (And really, you should contain your antagonism towards Apple, which is surely King.) – David Jul 15 '20 at 22:17
  • Related: Using “woman” without article: “I am woman” – Mari-Lou A Jul 15 '20 at 22:35
  • Can you confirm which definite article or articles you think is or are missing? I can see three alternatives "iPhone is the king", "The iPhone is king" or "The iPhone is the king". The people who have answered or offered answers in comments seem to have addressed at least the first two. – BoldBen Jul 15 '20 at 23:11

1 Answers1

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The Cambridge English Dictionary has the following entry under ‘king’:

king adjective [ before noun ]

UK /kɪŋ/ US /kɪŋ/

used as part of the name of something that is larger than the ordinary type: king prawns

You could argue that the ‘king prawn’ is not a good example of king as an adjective in the required sense. But, first of all, nouns in English are regularly used adjectivally. Similarly, we could rephrase the sentence, using the ‘noun’ key.

As we develop the latest iPhone, design is key.

Again you could object that my parallel is not perfect. You could easily insert the definite article in the ‘key’ example, but not in your original king example.

Nevertheless, I put it forward for what it is worth.

Tuffy
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