DEFINITELY

posted by James Reel

    On my way to the studio this morning, I heard C24’s John Zech introduce a piece being played “by Combattimento Consort of Amsterdam.” Apparently, C24 has banished from its satellite feed the use of the definite article (as well as the names of conductors; Zech pointedly omitted them from two other announcements during the 20 minutes I was listening). The disappearance of “the” is a worsening problem. I think it began with the movie Titanic, in which James Cameron was so busy writing stilted dialog that he forgot that people referred to ships with the definite article (think of Mutiny on the Bounty, or how on Star Trek—the original series—they talked about the Enterprise). These days, I’m running across copy all the time that drops the “the,” as in “a performance at Tucson Music Hall” or “Emerson Quartet will perform next week.” It’s as if everybody just got off the boat from some homeland where the articles are so bound up with gender, number and case that they’re too traumatized to bother with the very simple articles in English.
    Here’s a simple rule for how idiomatic users of English ought to employ “the,” specifically in arts writing:
    If the name of a composition, ensemble or place includes a generic term (such as “orchestra,” “consort,” “theater”—and note the proper American –er ending of that last word), preface it with “the.”

• the Tucson Symphony Orchestra
• the “Pastoral” Symphony
• the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall

    There are many exceptions, of course. “The Arizona Theatre Company” (note the pretentious –re ending, as if the company were French or British) sounds a little silly after all these years of being article-free, and some place names, like Verizon Hall, fall much more gracefully from the tongue without the article. Still, the safest practice with articles is the opposite of the comma rule: If in doubt, leave it in.
    (By the way, using “the” in front of a place or business name that begins with an article in another language is redundant and awkward. Think about that the next time you’re about to say “The El Rio Neighborhood.”)