use of the in front of countries

[panosgr]

Hello all,

When do we use "the" in front of country names?

For example i have always heard people saying "I will go in the United States" or "In the UK people drink a lot of beer"

However, i have never heard or read "I will go holidays in the Greece"...

So what is the correct use of the in front of country names?

[IvanV]

In English most cities and countries never take the definite article, but there are many that do. It is commonly used with many country names which derive from names of island groups (the Philippines), mountain ranges (the Lebanon), deserts (the Sudan), seas, rivers and geographic regions (the Middle East). Such use is declining, but for some countries it remains common. Since the independence of Ukraine, most style guides have advised dropping the article, in part because the Ukrainian Government was concerned about a similar issue involving prepositions. Another example is Argentina which is now more usual than 'the Argentine' which is old fashioned.

The definite article is always used for countries whose names are descriptions of the form of the state rather than being purely geographical; for example, the United States, the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic.

The U.S. Department of State and CIA World Factbook show the definite article with only two countries: The Bahamas and The Gambia.

Source: Article (grammar) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[panosgr]

hmmm thanks for this clarification. However the question remainds.. do i say "in UK" or "in the UK" ?

i have heard both of them...

[Barb_D]

Say "in the UK"

The Bahamas
The Netherlands
The Ivory Coast
The United Arab Emirates
are a few others.

There aren't many, compared to the great number of countries in the world.

[abaka]

in the Ukraine.

[kiranlegend]

Is the sentence 'I will go in the United States' correct?:o I never heard people saying that.. Please throw some light on this.

Thanks,
Kiran

[bhaisahab]

Is the sentence 'I will go in the United States' correct?:o I never heard people saying that.. Please throw some light on this.

Thanks,
Kiran

No, the correct preposition is 'to', 'I will go to the United States'.

[IvanV]

in the Ukraine.

Ukraine or "the Ukraine"?

[Shawnock]

Never heard the Ukraine.

As IvanV correctly mentioned, the use of article 'the' is mostly used for countries whose names are descriptions of the form of the state rather than being purely geographical.

These are exceptions and do not follow any rule.

However, in case of the United States and the United Kingdom, it is said that the word 'United' makes the words 'States' and 'Kingdom' more specific. Therefore, we use 'the' in these cases.

[abaka]

Both "in Ukraine" and "in the Ukraine" are heard.

The article is a hangover from before the break-up of the USSR, but it is still used fairly commonly.