Subj : Old stuff
To   : Ardith Hinton
From : Alexander Koryagin
Date : Sat Feb 05 2022 16:58:52

Hi, Ardith Hinton - Alexander Koryagin!
I read your message from 05.02.2022 01:26

 AK>> Is "the" in "Bill Clinton, the President of United States of
 AK>> America" correct?

 AH> The article is optional with words like "president".

 AH> The definite article is required in "The United States of America"
 AH> because that is the official name of the country. In the common
 AH> parlance we often say "the US" or something similar... i.e.
 AH> retaining the article. "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
 AH> Northern Ireland" is treated in the same manner. Colloquially, we
 AH> often refer to it as "the UK".

 AH> WRT official titles like "President of the United States", or
 AH> even "former President of the United States", the article may be
 AH> left out. Among Fidonetters this title may be abbreviated as "the
 AH> POTUS". But AFAIK none of them are journalists, who say things
 AH> like "US President Joe Biden". In such cases they are using the
 AH> abbreviated name of the country as an adjective. I can't think of
 AH> anybody else, however, who would actually say that... [grin].

 AH> In case my last paragraph left you & others a bit confused, I will
 AH> share with you my own experience as an actress in an elementary
 AH> school play. Years ago, when only formal English was allowed in the
 AH> classroom, one of the lines I memorized was "I'm So-and-So,
 AH> president of the Ladies' Flower Club." IOW... I regard this usage
 AH> as well established & therefore have no objection when others
 AH> employ it in reference to some author, movie director, etc.

If I were invented English rules, I put it simpler. The article "the" can be omitted if you are sure that the thing or person, you are speaking about, is unique in general. In other words -- we don't need "the" before "author" from my example because the author of a particular book is unique as a rule. The same with American president, prime minister, head master.

So: I went to school to meet with headmaster. Capital of the US is Washington. Composer of "Moon sonata" is Beethoven. After school I went home. Head is part of body.

Are there any examples how to disprove my rule?
;-)

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2022
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