(the) Europeans

[TheParser]

Hello!

I'm a bit confused about the use of 'the' with nationalities ending with 'ans', as grammars seem to have different opinions on this point.

Should I say/write:
the Europeans or Europeans?
the Americans or Americans?
the Russians or Russians?
(Sting sang 'the Russians', but Murphy says 'the' should be omitted).

I'd appreciate it if anyone could help.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Verona,

An outstanding teacher at this website told me that I could quote

extensively if I gave complete credit, which I shall do at the end.

(1) The German is a good musician. Very formal; predominates in

informative writing.

(2) A German is a good musician. The most concrete and colloquial

way to express a generality. Used most appropriately when the

context is specific: I think a husband should help out with the housework.

(3) The Germans are good musicians. Used only to express generic

(in general) facts about a religious, political, national, social, or

occupational group. Group affiliation is critical.

(4) Germans are good musicians. Less formal than #1. Certainly in speech

it occurs more frequently than #1. It is important because it can be

used in all contexts and because it ranges from semiformal to

informal in register.

All of this information is hereby credited to:


Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book/ An

ESL/EFL Teacher's Course (Rowley, London, Tokyo: Newbury House

Publishers, Inc., 1983), pages 180 -181.


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

P.S. On page 560, they further admit:

"What differentiates the Germans and Germans is sometimes

difficult [my emphasis] to detect: the former views the members of the

group collectively whereas the latter generalizes via pluralization and is

more informal than the German."