Grammatically the countries seem identical and baffled why these few countries have “the” especially since it’s not like there are many other Netherlands/USA/Congo out there which then demands an article to clarify we are taking about THE USA not just USA.
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Countries that are plural have the. The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands. Japan, China, Russia are all singular.
Countries that are plural have the. The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands. Japan, China, Russia are all singular.
In German, names of countries that are plural or feminine get a definitive article (“the”). And I imagine English has or had a similar unspoken rule.
In German, names of countries that are plural or feminine get a definitive article (“the”). And I imagine English has or had a similar unspoken rule.
In German, names of countries that are plural or feminine get a definitive article (“the”). And I imagine English has or had a similar unspoken rule.
This is mostly a generic application of the article usage rule in the English language. Not A kingdom, not a generic kingdom (kingdom, any old kingdom) but a particular kingdom, THE United Kingdom. THE United States (not the Confederated States, not the Republic of associated states, and not just “states” but specific states, THE States (United ones). The term is descriptive, the name is the phrase that describes the place. It is not really the name of the place applied to the region occupied by the country (Like how Canada supposedly got its name, as the word used by the natives for the place itself; note it is not THE Canada (there are not many and this one particular one is THE Canada). The Netherlands is the same thing, with a small twist, that Netherlands means the lands out in the low region (Les Pays Bas or the low countries).
Congo is an oddity. It used to be just the region of the Congo River, so called Congo, but then it was Belgian Congo (portion of Congo “owned” by Belgium so THE Belgian Congo), then Zaire (not THE Zaire, zaire is also a word meaning the congo region if I recall correctly so just Zaire) and now back to Congo; there is no other Congo option so no need to say THE one.
The idea here is that nouns of common meaning (multiple possibilities) have to be defined as THE noun rather than noun generic meaning any or all of that noun label, and not A noun meaning one of them but not a particular or specific one.
It is how we use nouns in our language. Erik the Red; Which Erik, the red one. not a blond one from over there. the RED one. Not any red, not a red one, but THE red one.
If you’re looking for consistencies in language, don’t go looking for them in English, my friend!
This is mostly a generic application of the article usage rule in the English language. Not A kingdom, not a generic kingdom (kingdom, any old kingdom) but a particular kingdom, THE United Kingdom. THE United States (not the Confederated States, not the Republic of associated states, and not just “states” but specific states, THE States (United ones). The term is descriptive, the name is the phrase that describes the place. It is not really the name of the place applied to the region occupied by the country (Like how Canada supposedly got its name, as the word used by the natives for the place itself; note it is not THE Canada (there are not many and this one particular one is THE Canada). The Netherlands is the same thing, with a small twist, that Netherlands means the lands out in the low region (Les Pays Bas or the low countries).
Congo is an oddity. It used to be just the region of the Congo River, so called Congo, but then it was Belgian Congo (portion of Congo “owned” by Belgium so THE Belgian Congo), then Zaire (not THE Zaire, zaire is also a word meaning the congo region if I recall correctly so just Zaire) and now back to Congo; there is no other Congo option so no need to say THE one.
The idea here is that nouns of common meaning (multiple possibilities) have to be defined as THE noun rather than noun generic meaning any or all of that noun label, and not A noun meaning one of them but not a particular or specific one.
It is how we use nouns in our language. Erik the Red; Which Erik, the red one. not a blond one from over there. the RED one. Not any red, not a red one, but THE red one.
This is mostly a generic application of the article usage rule in the English language. Not A kingdom, not a generic kingdom (kingdom, any old kingdom) but a particular kingdom, THE United Kingdom. THE United States (not the Confederated States, not the Republic of associated states, and not just “states” but specific states, THE States (United ones). The term is descriptive, the name is the phrase that describes the place. It is not really the name of the place applied to the region occupied by the country (Like how Canada supposedly got its name, as the word used by the natives for the place itself; note it is not THE Canada (there are not many and this one particular one is THE Canada). The Netherlands is the same thing, with a small twist, that Netherlands means the lands out in the low region (Les Pays Bas or the low countries).
Congo is an oddity. It used to be just the region of the Congo River, so called Congo, but then it was Belgian Congo (portion of Congo “owned” by Belgium so THE Belgian Congo), then Zaire (not THE Zaire, zaire is also a word meaning the congo region if I recall correctly so just Zaire) and now back to Congo; there is no other Congo option so no need to say THE one.
The idea here is that nouns of common meaning (multiple possibilities) have to be defined as THE noun rather than noun generic meaning any or all of that noun label, and not A noun meaning one of them but not a particular or specific one.
It is how we use nouns in our language. Erik the Red; Which Erik, the red one. not a blond one from over there. the RED one. Not any red, not a red one, but THE red one.
If you’re looking for consistencies in language, don’t go looking for them in English, my friend!
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