Grammar spot. ARTICLES with nouns in apposition

Which is correct: The President Obama or President Obama?

Lionel Messi, a first-class foorball player or Lionel Messi, the first-class foorball player?

The writer Joanne Rowling or Writer Joanne Rowling? 

Read our post to find it out.            

Have you ever heard of George Bernard Shaw, THE IRISH PLAYWRIGHT? He wrote more than 50 plays including ‘Pygmalion’ and is the only man in history to be awarded both the Nobel Prize and an Oscar. Besides, he had a reputation for being a wit. Anecdotes abound featuring Shaw responding in an amusing and clever way to all sorts of situations he found himself in. Here are some of them:

ANECDOTE 1
THE DANCER Isadora Duncan once wrote to George Bernard Shaw suggesting that they should have a child together:
“Think of it!” she remarked. “With my body and your brains, what a wonder it would be.”
“Yes,” Shaw replied. “But what if it had my body and your brains?”

ISADORA DUNCAN

ANECDOTE 2

Shaw decided to invite Winston Churchill, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN, to the premiere of his play. He wrote in his letter to Churchill: ‘I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend ... if you have one."
Churchill, who was as witty as Shaw, responded:’ Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second…..if there is one.’

Winston Churchill

ANECDOTE 3

George Bernard Shaw, A STRICT VEGETARIAN, refused to attend a testimonial dinner because the menu enclosed with the invitation was a vegetarian one.
‘The thought of two thousand people crunching sticks of celery at the same time horrified me’, he said.

George Bernard Shaw

Let me draw your attention to the following sentences:

1. Have you ever heard of GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, THE IRISH PLAYWRIGHT?

2. THE DANCER ISADORA DUNCAN once wrote to George Bernard Shaw suggesting that they should have a child together.'

3. Shaw decided to invite WINSTON CHURCHILL, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN, to the premiere of his play.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, A STRICT VEGETARIAN, refused to attend a testimonial dinner.

What is special about the sentence parts written IN CAPITALS? - They consist of nouns or noun phrases that follow one another and describe the same person.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW(a name) + THE IRISH PLAYWRIGHT (an identifying expression)
THE DANCER (an identifying expression) + ISADORA DUNCAN (a name)

We call such an arrangement of nouns\noun phrases apposition. What are the rules on using articles before identifying phrases in apposition?

If the identifying expression follows the name, …

….use ‘A’ before it to say ‘one of a group, class, type of people’ E.g. Lionel Messi, A FIRST-CLASS FOOTBALL PLAYER, is reported to have earned more than €14 million since the beginning of his sporting career (RULE A)

….use ‘THE’ before it to say that the person is well-known and won’t be mistaken for anybody else. E.g. Van Gogh, THE post-impressionist painter, dreamed of setting up a commune of artists. (RULE B)

….use NO ARTICLE before it if the identifying phrase describes a unique job, position or role E.g. John Solomon, Head of Sales at Apple, previously worked for HP. (RULE C)

If the identifying expression precedes the name, …

use ‘THE’ before it. E.g. THE American writer Alvin Toffler addresses the problems of communication, digitalization and corporate expansion in his books. (RULE D)

Use NO ARTICLE before titles like president, queen, professor, etc. E.g. President Lincoln was an ardent animal lover and would never hunt or fish. (RULE E)

TASK 1 Go back to sentences 1-4 from our text about Bernard Shaw. Which rules (A-D) do they illustrate?

TASK 2 Have more practice. Fill in the gaps using the right article where it is necessary*:
1. ………President Obama announced a new strategy yesterday.
2. ……..independent candidate, Pat Buchanan, is losing support.
3. Nikki, ………former aerobics teacher, is keen to encourage all her former students.

4. I live in Aswan, ………town in the south of Egypt.
5. Beethoven, ………..German composer, had no respect for authority or social rank.
6. David Cameron, …………Prime Minister of the UK, was born in 1966.

* examples 2,3,4 have been taken from ‘An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage’ by Geoffrey Leech, Benita Cruickshank and Roz Ivanic Longman 2007