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I know this one by heart: it is Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

It sounds perfectly natural to me. I don't know why, though. Here:

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Behold: Twice, the post is referred to as "the office of the President," and four times as "the office of President."

Why?

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    Well, it consistently corresponds to the verb in this passage, in the sense that people are always elected "to the office of the President" but they hold "the office of President." Beats me why there's a difference in the use of the article between these two expressions, however.
    – herisson
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 10:14
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    Great question. I will be back after running 15 miles thinking about this. I think I can answer the question.
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 10:14
  • As a native speaker, who understands grammar by instinct rather than by rule, I would suggest that the only place the definite article is required, if at all, is in the first reference. Quite why the compiler included it a second time is unclear to me. Note that the article precedes office in every instance, which is perhaps significant. You could rewrite the whole piece, eliminating the office of throughout and no article would be required anywhere. You would need to change held to been in a couple of places however.
    – WS2
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 10:28
  • @WS2: Note that the article preceded office in every instance, which is perhaps significant. How's that? " ... has held office of ... " "... elected to office of ..." Doesn't make much sense without the article. I'm not sure I follow.
    – Ricky
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 10:34
  • @Ricky I'm not suggesting it is incorrect. But I'm just thinking that the article which precedes office is the one that is contextually driven. The definite article is there throughout emphasising that it is THE all important office of President which is under reference and not any old office of President. The the which precedes President is simply governed by the idiomatic phrase Office of President, or Office of the President - both of which work in any of the situations under scrutiny.
    – WS2
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 10:52

3 Answers 3

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The office of the President in the Amendment means the presidency which is defined as:

the job of a president or the period of time when a person is president

Note: the is not used before president even though it is not capitalized in the definition.

The reason to use the definite article the is to show that the President is unique or a particular member of its class as indicated in Merriam-Webster's definition:

The is used as a function word to indicate that a following noun or noun equivalent is a unique or a particular member of its class: the President, the Lord

However, when someone is elected to the office of the President, the noun President becomes a proper noun which doesn't require any articles before it as in:

King George, Queen Elizabeth, President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron, Prefessor Jones, Father Smith, Judge John, Sir Walter Scott, etc.

Note: There are exceptions; The Emperor Napoleon, The Czar Nicholas.

The reason we don't use the in the above examples is there is only one person who is called that way during his/her term as President, Prime Minister, Father, etc, which makes those nouns a proper noun.

When you read the Amendment, you will notice that President without the is referring to any existing President who has been elected to the Office of the President and all office of President's were used as objects of the verb hold and President's were used as objects of the preposition as.

The oath of office of the President of the United States has the following wording.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The reason why there is no the in the oath is the same as the 21st Amendment. President of the United States is just one person who can have maximum 2 terms.

[Merriam-Webster, Wikipedia]

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    I'm afraid that is about as clear as mud to me. Incidentally it is only Americans who say Prime Minister Cameron, Prime Minister Trudeau etc. In Britain we would say David Cameron, the Prime Minister. Or we might say The Prime Minister, David Cameron. (note the comma). Prime Minister is not actually a title of address in the way that *President *is. But these questions of forms and articles are just idiomatically driven, tradition being the only justification, in my view.
    – WS2
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 14:48
  • @WS2 What is the difference among Mr/Madam President, Mr/Madam Prime Minister, Mr/Madam Ambassador, etc. Aren't they all a title of address? I don't think President in the 21st Amendment and the oath is a title of address. It is a title of office, too I believe.
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 15:03
  • @Rathony Yes, I think President is both a title of office and of address. People do sometimes say Mr Prime Minister (We have only ever had one Madam Prime Minister, but the least said about her the better), but more often just Prime Minister. With Ambassadors, the formal method of address is Your Excellency, or His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States.
    – WS2
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 15:10
  • @WS2 I think I could see some pattern on how BrE speakers treat foreign leaders' titles. Anyway, is my explanation not clear about why the the is not used when describing President who is elected for 2 terms? Any better idea to explain it?
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 15:20
  • Instead of proper noun you mean the term President (Note capital letter) is a title? E.g., Queen Elizabeth II, His Holiness Pope Francis, Sir Elton John etc. I would day Tsar/Czar Nicholas without the article. Emperor of France, surely? Not The Emperor Napoleon. (But I'm not too sure about this one)
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 15:55
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Since there is only one elected (titular) 'President' at a time, the definite article is not needed. I would have omitted it everywhere, lest anyone think that the 'office' was merely referring to the room that he sits in, although that is where he goes when elected, and he certainly can't hold it in his hands.

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It seems that the office of the president refers to the president's immediate staff - e.g. the assistants to the president, arising from Roosevelt's reorganization act.

The office of president refers to the specific role of presidency.

This difference is highlighted by the restriction that

no person who has held the office of President ... [under certain conditions] ... shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

This seems to be a restriction on former presidents becoming new vice presidents, etc.

A possible example of this restriction:

During Hillary Clinton's 2016 candidacy, she said that she had considered naming Bill Clinton as her Vice President, but had been advised it would be unconstitutional." (Edition.cnn.com, cited in Wikipedia)

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  • I'm curious as to the reason for the down vote - I started with the assumption that the phrases were equivalent, but further reading suggested that this is not the case. The excerpt I extracted from the OP's quote is consistent with "office of the president" being different from "office of president".
    – Lawrence
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 1:02
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    I did not downvote you. I generally do not downvote answers. Downvoting answers just isn't my style.
    – Ricky
    Commented Dec 18, 2019 at 20:25

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