The Indians/Indians have.....

[Banglardon]

When we talk about nationalities, should we use the? What's the difference between the following two?

1 - The Indians have decided to ban chinese products.


2 - Indians have decided to ban chinese products.


Does the first one means that the Indians have been used here as a political entity?

 

[GoesStation]

When we talk about nationalities, should we use the? What's the difference between the following [STRIKE]two[/STRIKE] sentences?

1 - The Indians have decided to ban Chinese products.

2 - Indians have decided to ban Chinese products.

1. The group comprised of "Indians", acting as a whole, took the action.

2. Some people known as Indians took the action.

If the government of India banned the products, you should write India has decided to ban Chinese products.

Does the first one [STRIKE]means[/STRIKE] mean that the Indians have been used here as a political entity?

Not necessarily. Use my suggestion to make that clear.

 

[jutfrank]

I suppose that what you're trying to refer to is the group of people comprising the government of India, in which case you should say:

The Indian government has decided to ban Chinese products.
India has decided to ban Chinese products.

If you don't mean that, then tell us clearly who you're referring to, otherwise this thread could get unnecessarily complicated. Who exactly has decided to ban Chinese products?

As a general piece of advice on asking questions on the forum: do not make up sentences yourself and then ask us what they mean. You should either tell us what you mean to say so we can tell you the best way of expressing it, or give us a sentence that you heard/saw and ask us what we think the speaker/writer wanted to say.