Linguistical question: empire

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!

@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!

@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!

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

Cheers!

The post that was quoted here has been removed

@divegeester said
Impossible; it was a long time ago in a galaxy far away.

@indonesia-phil said
Made me smile you have.

@divegeester said
I have no idea what you are on about but I looked up Dutch Empire and you guys had one believe it not. That must have been fun times in the flatlands I bet.

In fact it seems like almost everyone has had an Empire at some point, except maybe Hawaii and Antarctica. Even Romania had one for a while. The Italians have had a couple of big ones I’m talking BIG here! Those p ...[text shortened]... nd, oh and (coughs) the Germans of course.

(I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it.)

@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.

@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!

@divegeester said
I have no idea what you are on about but I looked up Dutch Empire and you guys had one believe it not. That must have been fun times in the flatlands I bet.

In fact it seems like almost everyone has had an Empire at some point, except maybe Hawaii and Antarctica. Even Romania had one for a while. The Italians have had a couple of big ones I’m talking BIG here! Those p ...[text shortened]... nd, oh and (coughs) the Germans of course.

(I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it.)

The post that was quoted here has been removed

@athousandyoung said
Ireland didn’t.

@kevcvs57 said
Never been to Scotland then