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the national day

 
 
WBYeats
 
Reply Sat 28 Sep, 2013 11:24 pm
1. Do I need to use THE?:

-Tomorrow is (the) National Day, so we have no class/don't have to work.

2. From Wiki:

-The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country.
-National Day in France is 14 July and known as the Fête nationale (known outside of France as Bastille Day) commemorating the Storming of the Bastille.
-In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March, has been the National Day and a Public Holiday for many years.

Why is THE used erratically?
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contrex
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Reply Sun 29 Sep, 2013 02:21 am
@WBYeats,
WBYeats wrote:


-National Day in France is 14 July and known as the Fête nationale (known outside of France as Bastille Day) commemorating the Storming of the Bastille.

Why is THE used erratically?


Inconsistent or eccentric style is common in Wikipedia, which anyone can contribute to or edit. I have added a "The" in the place you indicated. I have not corrected another problem in the Wikipedia entry, namely the persistent capitalisation of "National Day", "Public Holiday" etc when used in a generic or descriptive sense.

You would use "the" if you were talking about a national day in a generic sense, and you would not capitalise, e.g. "In France the national day is July 14th", but if the day is actually called "National Day" (as it may be in some countries including Singapore) then there would be no definite article ("the") and the two words would be capitalised. ("What will you do on National Day"). The list in the Wiki shows that most countries' national days are not called "National Day".



WBYeats
 
  1  
Reply Mon 30 Sep, 2013 07:23 am
@contrex,
Thank you, C.

From Wiki:

-Table tennis is governed by the worldwide organization International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 218 member associations.

Is this also an example of Wiki's being guilty of using THE in a wrong way and we must add THE before the last ITTF?
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Mon 30 Sep, 2013 11:09 am
@WBYeats,
WBYeats wrote:

Is this also an example of Wiki's being guilty of using THE in a wrong way and we must add THE before the last ITTF?


In my opinion, yes to both questions. Wikpedia consists of material from all kinds of people, with varying levels of competency in English.
izzythepush
 
  2  
Reply Tue 1 Oct, 2013 02:05 am
Today is China's national day. My daughter, who is studying at Xiamen University, has the rest of the week off.
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WBYeats
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Oct, 2013 08:47 am
@contrex,
Quote:
Wikpedia consists of material from all kinds of people, with varying levels of competency in English.


From Wiki:
Francis George Fowler (1871–1918), familiarly known as F.G. Fowler, was an English writer on English language, grammar and usage.

To refer to a language nowadays, we usually say English or THE English language; is THE in that Wiki entry omitted because of parallelism?
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Oct, 2013 03:05 pm
@WBYeats,

Quote:
is THE in that Wiki entry omitted because of parallelism?


Quote:
an English writer on English language, grammar and usage.


He was a writer on the English language. He wrote on English language, grammar and usage.
In the second sentence, "language, grammar and usage" are grouped together and so adding "the" before "English" would be awkward and unnecessary.
In the first sentence it effectively acts as part of the noun, and in the second, as an adjective.

WBYeats
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Oct, 2013 06:05 am
@McTag,
Thank you~
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