Korean Job Discussion Forums

otopo · Joined: 31 Aug 2006

Doesn't usage of "the" depend on the context?

insamjunkie · Joined: 04 Oct 2006

xtchr · Joined: 23 Nov 2004

otopo · Joined: 31 Aug 2006

insamjunkie · Joined: 04 Oct 2006

insamjunkie · Joined: 04 Oct 2006

Woland · Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: Seoul

One way to handle this professionally is to write out the name of the office when you first refer to in the text and then parenthetically mention the abbreviation that will cover it for the rest of text, like this:

1st use in text:

...can be found at the Korea Intellectual Property Office (hereafter, KIPO), located at...

(You don't even really need the "hereafter"; good readers know what parenthetical reference is.)

After this, just use 'KIPO' as a proper noun in the text, which means it wouldn't take "the" in your example sentences.

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

I'd skip the "the" -- its tidier that way. I work for EPIK (English Program in Korea) but I'd never say "the EPIK." A few common acronyms call for "the" by convention, like the CIA. the UN, the FBI, etc, but lesser known ones do not.

insamjunkie · Joined: 04 Oct 2006

insamjunkie · Joined: 04 Oct 2006

Woland · Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: Seoul

No rule or link, sorry.

But, if you look at schwa's examples, which you cite as the ones they use for arguing for using 'the', you'll notice that in all of them, the acronym is pronounced by naming the letters.

However, you say that KIPO is pronounced as a word (Keep-o). Just off the top of my head, it seems to me that when an acronym is pronounced as a word, we treat it as a proper noun and do not use 'the' with it (e.g., UNICEF, WHO, FIFA, etc.). Perhaps this is the argument to make with them, if you can back it up with more examples.

This pattern would explain why 'the' feels wrong to me, as it does to you.

Okay, I went searching and found something that may help you at this site for the Rennselaer Polytechnic University Writing Center:

http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/esl.html#Definiteness

Here's the quote. Note the final two examples listed:

Indeed, the use of articles with singular proper nouns is complex and hence difficult to learn, as indicated by the examples below. For this reason, the best thing to do is to memorize whether the proper nouns that you use frequently are used with or without the.

Examples:

State Street
the Empire State Building
Delaware County
Great Britain
the Soviet Union
the University of Virginia
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
the United Nations (the U.N.)
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(but "OPEC," not "the OPEC")

I hope this helps. If they insist on the 'the KIPO', let them know that native speakers will find it weird (or won't pronounce it as they expect).

CBP · Joined: 15 May 2006 Location: Korea

I was going to suggest that you use "the" if that's how you'd precede the full name in the non-acronym form. But now I agree with Wolf. It seems tidier to omit "the" when using an acronym.

Read this example in a grammar book recently: "He has the HIV virus."

You would need to precede HIV with "the" if you follow it with "virus." But it's incorrect to say "HIV virus" because that would be redundant, since "virus" is what the "v" stands for. So it should read: "He has HIV."

That has nothing to do with the OP's question. Just thought I'd toss it out there. Cheerios.

JeJuJitsu · Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Location: McDonald's

CBP · Joined: 15 May 2006 Location: Korea

That makes sense. No rules govern the use of "the" when preceding an abbreviation or acronym. In some cases you can argue that it's tidier to eliminate "the," but really it's a matter of how you would use them in conversation and what's become the accepted norm.