Do we need "the" before "prime minister" words

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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Sergey
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Do we need "the" before "prime minister" words

Post by Sergey »

Hello,
Here is an excerption from today's Guardian: "The French president, François Hollande, visited the area on Wednesday afternoon with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy."
My question is why they don't use definite article "the" before "Spanish prime minister" as they do before "French president" and "German chancellor". I guess prime minister is the unique person in each country as well as president.
Thank you in advance
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Alan
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Re: Do we need "the" before "prime minister" words

Post by Alan »

When a name accompanies a title such as 'president' and is not separated by a comma, the article is omitted. It is essentially a stylistic choice.
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