in the, in the...

English translation: Ukraine not the Ukraine....

13:30 Aug 13, 2002

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary

English term or phrase: in the, in the...

I have before me a piece of text which looks like this:

"...we have representative offices in Germany, the Baltics and in the
Ukraine"

I can't stand the multiple "in" and "the" here, but I don't see a way to get rid of them or say it in other words. I need the text to sound smooth and literary, and this seems to spoil everything. :(

Any ideas?

zmejka KudoZ activity Questions: 1643 (1 open) (17 closed without grading) Answers: 416
Local time: 17:11

Selected answer:Ukraine not the Ukraine....

Explanation:
For starters Zmejka you can scrap the definite article for Ukraine which should help.

It used to be the standard thing to say the Ukraine, but now the fashion is simply Ukraine!

As for the rest - you only need one "in"

we have representative offices in Germany, the Baltics and Ukraine"

Selected response from:

Libero_Lang_Lab
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:11

Grading comment

Thank you, Dan! :)
And thank you all for your ideas and comments.
I'll go with "Germany, Ukraine and the Baltic States".
Thanks!!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +6

Ukraine not the Ukraine....

Libero_Lang_Lab

4 +1

Proposal

Kim Metzger

4 +1

in Germany, Ukraine and Baltic countries BUT...

Arthur Borges

we have representative offices in the following countries: Germany, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia ..

swisstell

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

Ukraine not the Ukraine....

Libero_Lang_Lab
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 137

Grading comment

Thank you, Dan! :)
And thank you all for your ideas and comments.
I'll go with "Germany, Ukraine and the Baltic States".
Thanks!!!

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Proposal

Explanation:
I don't see any problem with the following solution.

We have representative offices in Germany, the Baltics and the
Ukraine. The latter country is now officially called Ukraine rather than the Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-08-13 13:37:44 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry: it should read \"we have representative offices in Germany, the Baltics and Ukraine.\"

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 08:11
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 2249

6 mins confidence:

we have representative offices in the following countries: Germany, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia ..

Explanation:
. and Latvia

is one way out of your "dilemma" although you are well advised to wait for further suggestions

swisstell
Italy
Local time: 16:11
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in pair: 170

37 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

in Germany, Ukraine and Baltic countries BUT...

Explanation:
Baltic is funny.
Definitions are:
Baltic = Germany(!), Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
Scandinavian = Sweden, Denmark and Norway
Nordic = Scandinavia + Finland and Iceland.
If, as I suspect, your text only means Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, you should name them.
So you may only want: Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

Arthur Borges
China
Local time: 22:11
PRO pts in pair: 23

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