What’s Up With The “The”?

December 24, 2017

Has anybody else noticed the proliferation of the word “the” in news articles?

Examples: “The actress Jane Glamorous announced yesterday…”

                   “As a young man, John Doe met the poet Ezra Pound…”

In other languages, it’s correct to use the article “the” before a noun, but American news has typically just written sentences as, “Actress Jane Glamorous announced…” “…John Doe met poet Ezra Pound…”

So the first time I read an article using the extra “the” I thought it had been written by a foreigner. But now it’s becoming standard practice.

There’s nothing wrong with it. I just wonder why writers started doing it.