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Kenny1999 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Definite article before country names

while the U.S. consists of a number of provinces so we use "THE united states" instead of "united states", and the philippines consists of a number of small islands so we called it "THE Philippines", but why we don't say "THE China"? China is a country consisting of about 20 to 30 provinces within the country.

Thanks
  

Top answer

Hi, There is no standard logic involved in this. It's just that some things we say, some things we don't say. I suppose you'd have to ask the Chinese government why they use one name and not another.

— Clive

  • Hi, There is no standard logic involved in this.
  • It's just that some things we say, some things we don't say.
  • I suppose you'd have to ask the Chinese government why they use one name and not another.
  • Clive Clive
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11 Answers
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Hi,

There is no standard logic involved in this.
It's just that some things we say, some things we don't say.

I suppose you'd have to ask the Chinese government why they use one name and not another.
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according to your logic, everything needs not understand why. Don't try to foxconn me !
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kenny1999according to your logic, everything needs not understand why. Don't try to foxconn me !

I don't know what "foxconn" means but Clive is completely correct. Sometimes we have to accept things simply because they are the way they are.

There is no logic that can be applied without any exceptions. The Bahamas, the Netherlands, the United Arab
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Grammar Geeke user="kenny1999"]according to your logic, everything needs not understand why. Don't try to foxconn me !
thanks and sorry for my misunderstanding
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Geographical proper nouns that have a plural s take the definite article:

the United States
the Philippines
the Alps
the Netherlands
the H
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Hi,



thanks and sorry for my misunderstanding

You're welcome. No problem.
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There is a rule. If it is a single name country like Italy there is no article. If the country contain OF like The United States of America or the country is an island country like The Phillipines then there is an article THE. And there is "the " article befor China because the country name is The Republic OF (see above) China.
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Hi,

Jamaica and Cuba are examples of island countries, but we don't say The Jamaica or The Cuba.

Ans we never say eg He lives in The China.

Clive
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When is THE required or optional?

-I read a book about the history of (the) USSR.

If THE is not used, will the meaning be different?
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If 'the' is omitted, the sentence will be incorrect.
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