Please take a look at this quote by Elon Musk:
“If Canadian government is suppressing peaceful protests, that’s where fascism lies.”
Shouldn’t it read “If the Canadian government is suppressing…”
Vielen Dank
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I would think so.
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The Canadian government would be the most common way of saying it. But I think it can be said without the article.
“If the Canadian government” strongly implies the federal government.
“If Canadian government” can be non-specific and mean all governments within Canada, including provincial and various local governments. This could also be worded. “If Canadian governments are”.
The plural ‘governments’ is also (rarely) used to refer to current and past governments with different memberships, agendas, etc.
I don’t know his intention, but I suspect he did mean “The” Canadian government. (Should Government be capitalized here?)
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Your explanation makes perfect sense and is another example of how complex the issues of countable/uncountable and article/non-article are in English.
The entire sentence is kind of odd. He’s trying to be poetic and a statesmen.
A LOT of uncountable nouns can actually be countable in some situations. It might even be the majority. But the plural can usually (always?) be eliminated by rewording the sentence.
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Elon Musk is known for making controversial and sometimes outlandish statements. Here is another example:
In a court filing, the billionaire says the Securities and Exchange Commission has engaged in “outsized efforts” to monitor the firm that “seem calculated to chill his exercise” of free speech.
He has his fans. I’m not one of them.
I wonder what he was referring to with that statement. As CEO of public companies, he is restricted by the SEC on the things he can say. It comes with the territory.
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Yes, it should, Torsten.
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Then we can also say, ‘If a/any Canadian government …’.
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Yes. The original sentence could be interpreted that way. You can also remove “Canadian” entirely and make it even more general.
If government suppresses peaceful protests…
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We cannot go to make a reference in general (out of Canada) as long as the question is very clear - whether or not to use the definite article. Then comes, as you have observed, the capitalization of the word ‘government’, which is not necessary.
I think ‘the Canadian government’ can mean only the national or the federal government in the sentence since suppression is likened to fascism, which cannot be thought of as being resorted to by the federating units.
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