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United States / United Kingdom

English translation: use the definite article

17:30 Jun 10, 2016
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Journalism / usage of article with country in a list
English term or phrase: United States / United Kingdom
My question has to do with whether the definite article should be used with the nations typically abbreviated as US and UK when these form part of a list, as in the following sentence:

The following countries were among the most popular destinations of African migrants during the year 2012: Australia, Canada, [the] United States, France, Germany, [the] United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia.

My thought is that the article should be omitted, but I'm not 100% sure, and I can't find authoritative references one way or another.

Easy question, I know.
Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 04:48
Selected answer:use the definite article
Explanation:
This is continuous prose rather than a shorthand list of bullet points, though it contains features of the latter, which may have confused you.

I don't think the writer should have used a colon. It would be more elegant to say: "The most popular destinations of African migrants in 2012 included Australia, Canada, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia."


Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States
Grading comment
Thank you, Phil.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +15use the definite article
philgoddard


  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +15
united states / united kingdom
use the definite article


Explanation:
This is continuous prose rather than a shorthand list of bullet points, though it contains features of the latter, which may have confused you.

I don't think the writer should have used a colon. It would be more elegant to say: "The most popular destinations of African migrants in 2012 included Australia, Canada, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia."




philgoddard
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you, Phil.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  katsy
2 mins
agree  Peter Simon: Completely agreed with the suggestion as well. And also use 'the' with some other countries too in such texts (the Netherlands)
5 mins
  -> Yes, we could get into an interesting discussion here. The area of New Orleans where I live is usually called "the Marigny" for some reason.
agree  Helena Chavarria: It's easier if you imagine you're talking to someone, 'I've been to Australia, France, the UK, Germany, the moon,etc.'
11 mins
  -> Exactly!
agree  Jack Doughty
18 mins
agree  Veronika McLaren
21 mins
agree  Björn Vrooman: I'd prefer an alphabetical listing, unless this is a ranking of sorts (e.g., which puts the US in a more popular spot than Germany). An oft-misused "the" is the one before Ukraine (which doesn't take a definite article).
40 mins
agree  Arabic & More
1 hr
agree  Margarida Martins Costelha
2 hrs
agree  Louisa Tchaicha
2 hrs
agree  David Hollywood
3 hrs
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: no doubt
3 hrs
agree  Gamal hassan habib
4 hrs
agree  Charles Davis
5 hrs
agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
12 hrs
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin
1 day 3 hrs
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