Parliaments

Glikeria   Fri May 26, 2006 4:44 am GMT
Please, could anybody explain the following:

Parliament resides in Westminster Palace.
Why no article?
Can we ever say the Parliament?
Does the use of the article depend on the country – say, in Britain we don’t, in other countries we do - the Bundestag, the Knesset, the Duma and others?
The same with King or Queen.
Lazar   Fri May 26, 2006 5:08 am GMT
When you're referring to a specific Parliament, you usually omit the article. The same usually applies to the US Congress - most of the time, people will just say, "Congress voted on [whatever]" or "Congress approved [whatever]".

As for the Knesset, the Bundestag and Bundesrat, and the Duma, I think that those words would always be preceded by the article in English. Maybe it's because they're perceived as more foreign sounding.

<<The same with King or Queen.>>

No, it isn't really the same with those words. If "King" or "Queen" is not followed by a name, then it will always be preceded by the article. If "King" or "Queen" is followed by a name, then it will never be preceded by an article. For instance,

"The king gave a speech today." / "The King gave a speech today."

but

"King Juan Carlos gave a speech today."
Parla Merda   Fri May 26, 2006 6:37 am GMT
Io parlo molto in il parlamento inglese, claro en español.
Damian in Edinburgh   Fri May 26, 2006 7:09 am GMT
Most countries have a specific name for their Parliaments, as has been pointed out above.

As far as this country is concerned (UK) the location of Parliamentary buildings is used to identify the whole governing body. The City of Westminster is a borough in Central London....probably the most important in the whole of London because it contains most of the main tourist spots and the most well known areas. It also contains the Houses of Parliament, and that is universally known as Westminster. When we say "Westminster" it's generally assumed to mean the UK Parliament.

The same goes for the Scottish Paliament here in Edinburgh.......it's called Holyrood as that's the name of the area and it's close to the historic Holyrood House, the former home of the Scottish monarchs, including Marie, Queen of Scots where whole succession of historic events took place. It's the Edinburgh home of Queen Elizabeth whenever she stays here. When we say "Holyrood" it's generally assumed to mean the Scottish Parliament.

In Northern |Ireland the Parliament is called Stormont, the name of the building in Belfast.

Off hand I don't know what they call the Welsh Parliament (Assembly) in Cardiff. I think it's near the Millennium Stadium, but I'm not sure.
Guest   Fri May 26, 2006 9:22 pm GMT
<As far as this country is concerned (UK) the location of Parliamentary buildings is used to identify the whole governing body. The City of Westminster is a borough in Central London....probably the most important in the whole of London because it contains most of the main tourist spots and the most well known areas. It also contains the Houses of Parliament, and that is universally known as Westminster. When we say "Westminster" it's generally assumed to mean the UK Parliament. >

In New Zealand our parliament (we only have one house as oppose to two which we abolished the upper house in 1951 - no bloodly point!) is also refered to Westminster for obvious reasons as well.
D6266KE   Fri May 26, 2006 10:15 pm GMT
I thought you folks called it "The Beehive."

Ha ha!
Guest   Fri May 26, 2006 11:55 pm GMT
<I thought you folks called it "The Beehive."

Ha ha!>

yeah that too... pretty ugly thing though. Not as pretty to other national parliaments such as the British or US parliament buildings.
Glikeria   Sat May 27, 2006 5:21 am GMT
Thanks to all of you.