(the) literary critich Harold Bloom was born in 1930

[ademoglu]

Hi all,

- The literary critic Harold Bloom was born in 1930.

Do we need 'the' before 'literary' in the sentence?

Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes, and we need to spell critic correctly.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would consider "the" optional there.

"Literary critic Harold Bloom..." would be fine.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

I think in BrE only journalists would omit 'the'.

 

[MikeNewYork]

[Withdrawn]

 

[Matthew Wai]

'US President Barack Obama was born in 1961.'
Should 'The' be added or optional?

Not a teacher.

 

[SoothingDave]

'US President Barack Obama was born in 1961.'
Should 'The' be added or optional?

Not a teacher.

No "the."

I would say "former US President Bill Clinton" for example, with no article.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Why 'the' is needed before 'literary critic Harold Bloom' but not before 'US President Barack Obama'?

 

[SoothingDave]

Why 'the' is needed before 'literary critic Harold Bloom' but not before 'US President Barack Obama'?

It's optional, not required. "Literary critic" is not an office or a title like "President of the United States" is.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Movie star Peter Chan was born in 1980.'
'Movie star' is not an office or a title, is 'The' optional too?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, optional.

 

[TheParser]

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


Hello, Ademoglu:

May I add my two bits? (very humble opinion)

1. The "correct" arrangement is "Harold Bloom, the literary critic, was born in 1930."

2. Then -- as Roman alluded to in his post -- an American newsmagazine in the 1920's felt that such a sentence was too formal.

The magazine wanted SNAPPY writing. The arrangement in #1 was felt to be too BORING!

3. So it simply changed "The literary critic" to a TITLE: "Literary critic Harold Bloom was born in 1930." Some people even today feel that such a sentence is too "newspaperish."

4. Some people feel that "The literary critic Harold Bloom was born in 1930" is fine.

5. The bottom line:

a) In formal writing, you might consider #1 or at least #4.
b) You should reserve #3 for those times when you want your writing to be "snappy" (that is, NOT formal and NOT boring).

(i) Why say "Jackie Chan, the Hong Kong action star, will be visiting us" or "The Hong kong action star Jackie Chan will be visiting us" when we can simply say that "Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan will be visiting us"? In the world of journalism, it is necessary to grab people's attention quickly.



James

 

[MikeNewYork]

I think that is what several of us said by "optional".