Welcome to or in?

[Mher]

Hi. Which preposition to put here? "The president welcomed the high-ranked guests in or to our country."

 

[Barb_D]

You've been here a while now, Mher.

Which one do you think?

 

[Mher]

Nice approach. I think the "in" is the correct choice.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The preposition used after "visitor" is "to", so I think "to" is the correct one.
Not a teacher.

high-ranked guests

Is it better to say "honoured guests"?

 

[Barb_D]

Matthew is right.

We welcome people "to" a place, even when the prepositon for that place would be different for "I am..." (I am in your home, I am at the airport, I am on Easter Island.)
Welcome to our home, welcome to Pennsylvania, welcome to the Philadelphia International Airport, welcome to Easter Island.

I also agree that "high-ranked guests" is not a great pairing. Welcome the hono(u)red guests, or the VIPs.

 

[Mher]

The "high-ranked" officials may imply a president, a prime minister etc.. I do not think the word "honored" connotes that idea. Does it really sound strange to you?

 

[Rover_KE]

It sounds strange to me. I like 'highly-ranked' or 'high-ranking' better, but best of all I like VIPs ​(very important people).

 

[Barb_D]

I thought about "highly ranking" too, as well as "high-ranking guests," but thinking further, that doesn't suggest the president, which would be the most highly ranked.
Hmm. You can always go with "dignitaries" if VIPs is too informal.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"dignititaries"

Do you mean "dignitaries"?

 

[charliedeut]

that doesn't suggest the president, which would be the most highly ranked.

Not everywhere, I'm afraid. In Spain (as in all other monarchies), the President/Prime Minister is not the most highly ranked official. That would be the King/Queen.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Does the King/Queen count as an official?

 

[charliedeut]

Does the King/Queen count as an official?

According to #3 here: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/official, yes, it does.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The following is quoted from the same page.
1. a person appointed or elected to an office or charged with certain duties.

Can the King/Queen be appointed, elected or charged by someone else?

 

[emsr2d2]

I would not include a king or queen as an official. They are a monarch. They are certainly not elected and the next king or queen is usually appointed either by the outgoing monarch or simply by virtue of their place in line to the throne.

 

[bhaisahab]

Not everywhere, I'm afraid. In Spain (as in all other monarchies), the President/Prime Minister is not the most highly ranked official. That would be the King/Queen.

Are there any countries with both a president and a monarch, Charlie? I would have thought they would be mutually exclusive.

 

[charliedeut]

As far as Spain is concerned, the new monarch still needs to be officially recognized by Parliament. Sure, it is merely a formality, but even so there is always a chance (however slight) that events will not go as expected.

And, since the monarch (King, in this case), reigns, but doesn't rule, yes, we still need a president (not, of course, in the Republican sense) for the Government.

Now, if what we Spaniards call the President is referred to as Prime Minister in English, that would disentangle this debate a bit, of course.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Anyway, the OP said "high-ranked guests" so that would certainly include monarchs, if any were invited.

It was in post #6 that "officials" was introduced, which only served to confuse the proceedings.

 

[Tdol]

Surely, the president would welcome all the guests- using high-ranked suggests he didn't welcome the less important ones. I would use VIPs or dignitaries.

 

[SoothingDave]

If I were king, I wouldn't want to be lumped in with some other "high-ranking officials."

 

[Mher]

I thought about "highly ranking" too, as well as "high-ranking guests," but thinking further, that doesn't suggest the president, which would be the most highly ranked.
Hmm. You can always go with "dignitaries" if VIPs is too informal.

Of course, the "VIPs" is too informal. I do not mind about using the "dignitaries", but have you ever met this word in journalism? By the way, according to my dictionary, "dignitaries" are first of all high-ranking clergymen.