[Grammar] Phrase containing "of the ... of the ..."

"They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."

Can I understand that "the" before "independence" is optional?

Snappy said:

"They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."

Can I understand that "the" before "independence" is optional?

Click to expand...

Well, I think "the" is mandatory because the word "independence " has been specified.

Snappy said:

"They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."

Can I understand that "the" before "independence" is optional?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't use that "the" at all.

Snappy said:

"They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."

Can I understand that "the" before "independence" is optional?

Click to expand...

********** NOT * A * TEACHER **********

Snappy,

(1) I would not use "the" before "independence," either.

(2) Your question reminded me that one of the most precious

pieces of paper in the United States is something called

The Declaration of Independence. As you know, the Americans

in 1776 declared independence from/of the United Kingdom. That is,

we respectfully asked the Mother Country to let us go out into the

world on our own. After a few years of unpleasantness, the United

Kingdom graciously granted our humble request.

(a) As far as I know, it would not be idiomatic to use "the"

in your sentence. For example, in 1876 we celebrated the 100th

anniversary of our declaration of independence. Our dear friend

France sent us the Statue of Liberty as a birthday gift.



(idiomatic = the way native speakers use the language.)

***** ONLY * MY * OPINION **********

P.S. But you would use "the" in a sentence like this:

I, Sir Charles Anderson, do now declare the independence of

X-land from this day forward.

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)

1 . THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE 10

1 . INDEPENDENCE OF THE 1

Hi, 2006 and Sparser. I'm confused about this point. I got the above results from the COCA. Could you tell me why in some cases there is the 'the' in front of 'independence of the' while in others there isn't. (Isn't it the same grammatical structure?)

Thank you in advance.

joham said:

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)

1 . THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE 10

1 . INDEPENDENCE OF THE 1

Hi, 2006 and Sparser. I'm confused about this point. I got the above results from the COCA. Could you tell me why in some cases there is the 'the' in front of 'independence of the' while in others there isn't. (Isn't it the same grammatical structure?)

Thank you in advance.

Click to expand...

Can you write out some complete sentences for us?

"They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."
I would say it is correct with 'the' or without. I think the difference is one of focus.
Without 'the':
1) They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the country." In bold is a noun. Paraphrased I would write:

They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the country's declaration of independence.

With 'the':
2) They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."

Paraphrased you could write:
They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the independence of the country's declaration. (Which is not very good English so maybe below is a better paraphrase.)
They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the independence of the country being declared.

2006 said:

Can you write out some complete sentences for us?

Click to expand...

Could we add 'the' to the beginning of the first sentence below without changing the meaning? Thanks again.

Independence of the two measures was helpful in the analysis of other affiliation-related traits.
The independence of the republics that broke away from the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, must not be tacitly downgraded by the West's acquiescence to Russia's desire for hegemony.
The independence of the people in this particular Republic can be provided for from my point of view with the membership of this Republic in the federation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the basis of a new treaty which has to be negotiated.

Pedroski said:

"They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."
I would say it is correct with 'the' or without. I think the difference is one of focus.
Without 'the':
1) They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the country." In bold is a noun. Paraphrased I would write:

They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the country's declaration of independence.

With 'the':
2) They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the country."

Paraphrased you could write:
They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the independence of the country's declaration. (Which is not very good English so maybe below is a better paraphrase.)
They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the independence of the country being declared.

Click to expand...

I agree with pedroski that the sentence I have underlined is not very good English.
I also agree with the other things he wrote here, a common-sense response to the original question.