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I am a native English speaker and was recently checking some work before it got sent out to our company. I am unsure as to whether it is grammatically correct to say:

"I will see you at the Christmas dinner" or "I will see you at Christmas dinner".

Could anyone shed some light on this please?

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    Are you referring to a company Christmas dinner held some day other than the 25th, or to dinner on Christmas day? If you're identifying a specific Christmas dinner, then a definite article is called for.
    – Stuart F
    Dec 13, 2019 at 16:01
  • There are some circustances where American English will include the definte article and British English will not. This may be one such case.
    – Walter Mitty
    Dec 13, 2019 at 21:15
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    Both versions are correct. It depends on what is being expressed.
    – Jason Bassford
    Dec 15, 2019 at 20:47

2 Answers 2

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Because you are referring to a specific dinner, the article should be included.

See also this answer, which states:

The definite article "the" is used... to refer to a specific entity known to the reader

A similar question about dates was asked and a more detailed explanation was given, but I think the same logic applies here: https://english.stackexchange.com/a/258177/204043

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  • I also found another answer that talks about when "the" should be used: ell.stackexchange.com/a/18315/59526
    – Wesley Bowman
    Dec 13, 2019 at 11:15
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    The grammaring link actually contradicts your first sentence since it doesn't explain specific events, so you may want to add some more context that the link doesn't actually relate to the answer.
    – Jonathan
    Dec 16, 2019 at 20:03
  • I've updated my answer. Thanks for the comment!
    – Wesley Bowman
    Dec 17, 2019 at 10:53
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Normally the names of meals take zero article with them unless they are specified or defined by adjectives or clauses. (https://www.grammaring.com/the-zero-article-with-meals)

In this case the dinner is specified. It is not a usual dinner but a specified and defined one - a Christmas dinner at which a meeting is proposed. So, the definite article the is a must.

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