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How is correct to say:

  1. This book was written by the French author Michel Hope.
  2. This book was written by French author Michel Hope.

I know that that is called restrictive appositive, but I have observed that some people drop the definite article before names of people with some modifiers, and others don't.

For example: "Psychologist Mike Manson phoned me this morning," or "The psychologist Mike Manson phoned me this morning."

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What you've noticed, that some people* do it and some don't, shows you that it's a stylistic choice, not a grammatical one. Typically journalistic writing eschews definite articles in these appositives, even when they contain modifiers or multiple appositives. Examples:

Renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin ...
Famous author and raconteur extraordinaire Oscar Wilde ...

But you could as easily render them with the article:

The renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin ...
The famous author and raconteur extraordinaire Oscar Wilde ...

(Note that in the case of multiples you would leave it at a single article to govern them all.)

* And by "some people" I mean capable writers, not just anybody on the Internet.

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  • Shouldn't it make a bit more sense by using a comma? Renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is going to visit... The renowned historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin has always rejected such...
    – Michael Login
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 20:00
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    Stylistically that's awkward, turning an appositive into a parenthetical. But if you do that, you should use two commas: "... renowned historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, ..." But it really doesn't work unless you make it a true parenthetical. For example, "My favorite historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, is ..."
    – Robusto
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 20:22
  • For me these seem to be different cases. In "The renowned historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin has always rejected such..." the phrasing before a comma is a short cut for: Being the renouned historian, DKG has always rejected... There is no such a causative sense in my first sentence or your example, imo.
    – Michael Login
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 20:37
  • Those both sound awkward to my ear, sorry.
    – Robusto
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 21:09
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I'm not a native speaker but "The psychologist Mike Manson phoned me this morning" strikes me as clearly incorrect. A proper name itself has got a definite sense, no additional article is needed. There is an exception - the use of "the" with a person's name to mean "the well-known". My name's James Bond. ~ What, not the James Bond?

Alas, it's not so simple - see the discussion below.

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  • You're attempting to draw a distinction where none exists in the latter case. And your judgment in the former case case is based on ... what? I am a native speaker and a careful writer, and it sounds just fine to me.
    – Robusto
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 21:16
  • What shade of a meaning is added by using "the"? You do not say "the Mike Manson", right? Is "the psychologist Mike Manson" any better? As for the latter case, that's not my example actually. It's from Michael Swan's Practical English Usage - 64. articles (4): more about the - 6. proper nouns (names). Perhaps it's just difference between BrE and AmE.
    – Michael Login
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 21:30
  • No, you don't say that. But you do say "The psychologist Mike Manson." Not is it BrE vs AmE. The premier British financial publication The Economist uses that kind of construction all the time. (And do you see what I did there?)
    – Robusto
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 21:44
  • You didn't answer my question - What's added by adding the? Otherwise, it's just senseless verbosity.
    – Michael Login
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 21:59
  • The same thing that's added by using the definite article in any instance: a sense of specificity. If your native language doesn't use articles, perhaps this is a nuance you can't appreciate
    – Robusto
    Commented Aug 13, 2017 at 22:11

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