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Linguistical question: empire

Linguistical question: empire

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I can’t find an answer and it’s doing my head in.

If one is talking about the British Empire and solely about the British empire, you could talk about “the enpire”.

But more often than not “the” gets dropped and people talk about “empire”.

Now, I’ve stumbled upon it in a very different place. The whole subject is about empires. So, it’s not referring to an obvious, singular entity.

And even here, they often drop “the”.

So along the lines of: “When people talk about empire, they often think them unsuccesful.”

To the best of my knowledge, the empire in that sentence should have “the” in front of it, or it should be plural.

Yet... often... it’s just like that!

Can anyone explain this to me? I can’t find a bloody answer anywhere and it is doing my noggin’ in.

Cheers!

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@shavixmir said
I can’t find an answer and it’s doing my head in.

If one is talking about the British Empire and solely about the British empire, you could talk about “the enpire”.

But more often than not “the” gets dropped and people talk about “empire”.

Now, I’ve stumbled upon it in a very different place. The whole subject is about empires. So, it’s not referring to an obvious, ...[text shortened]... explain this to me? I can’t find a bloody answer anywhere and it is doing my noggin’ in.

Cheers!
drugs can cause strange thoughts 😳



@shavixmir said
I can’t find an answer and it’s doing my head in.

Cheers!
If this is a serious question.

I'd consider "empire" without a definite article to be talking about the concept
of empire. "The Empire" would be talking about a specific empire.

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Made me smile you have.

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See. You write “an empire”.
But quite often that same sentence gets written without the “an”.

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@wolfgang59 said
If this is a serious question.

I'd consider "empire" without a definite article to be talking about the concept
of empire. "The Empire" would be talking about a specific empire.
It’s a very serious question.

So, you’re suggesting that empire (without a definate article) should be considered as an ism (like imperialism)?

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@shavixmir said
I can’t find an answer and it’s doing my head in.

If one is talking about the British Empire and solely about the British empire, you could talk about “the enpire”.

But more often than not “the” gets dropped and people talk about “empire”.

Now, I’ve stumbled upon it in a very different place. The whole subject is about empires. So, it’s not referring to an obvious, ...[text shortened]... explain this to me? I can’t find a bloody answer anywhere and it is doing my noggin’ in.

Cheers!
It’s like talking about “the Democracy” vs just “Democracy”.

“When people talk about Democracy...”

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Ireland didn’t.

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The post that was quoted here has been removed
They were space Nazis.

https://www.starwars.com/news/from-world-war-to-star-wars-imperial-officers

I guess there were Roman characteristics as well.

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@athousandyoung said
Ireland didn’t.
Never been to Scotland then

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@kevcvs57 said
Never been to Scotland then
Ireland never controlled Scotland. In fact it was the Scots who helped imperialize their Irish ancestors.

Do you consider England to be part of a German Empire?