Talk:Netherlands

I would be pleased if experts contributed to this article (I'm only a citizen of this country and not an expert in anything geographical).--Paul Wormer 04:07, 22 August 2007 (CDT)

Hi paul, i just added the subpages to this page so you can see how it works. The checklist you added now lives at the metadata page (click the organge M) amongst other things, although there is still a visual representation placed here by the subpage template. On the article all the categories are placed by the subpages template too. Chris Day (talk) 04:47, 22 August 2007 (CDT)

Two houses of parliament?

Is that an upper and lower house (like the UK's house of commons and house of lords or the US congress and senate) - in which case the phrase should be changed to bicameral parliament?

I think you are right, in Dutch we call it eerste (first) and tweede (second) kamer (chamber). I didn't know the term bicameral. Thank you. --Paul Wormer 07:54, 22 August 2007 (CDT)

Workgroup The Netherlands

Let's start here. --Daniel Breslauer 06:40, 4 February 2008 (CST)

Daniel, thank you for inviting me here (see here). Like Paul, I'm a citizen of the Netherlands and not an expert on geographical or political subjects. However, if there's going to be a workgroup I would be happy to help out (although my time is limited). Regards, Martijn Lens 04:20, 5 February 2008 (CST)

Well, I'll try to contribute some too. I'm Dutch too, though I've been living in the United States for almost six years now. I just added a whole bunch of stuff. Michel van der Hoek 23:02, 28 April 2008 (CDT)

Ural Mountains

I copied verbatim the sentence containing "Ural Mountains" from the Oxford Atlas of the World, 11th ed. (2003). It is the first sentence in the entry "Netherlands". --Paul Wormer 03:56, 29 April 2008 (CDT)

I'm not challenging the veracity of the statement. I guess I'm just being nitpicky about the style of the sentence. To mention the "Ural Mountains" in an article about the Netherlands just seems ridiculous. It is mentioned in a subclause that specifies information about the European plain, but the subclause does not add anything to the description of the Netherlands. It would be the equivalent of saying, "California is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean which extends to Japan." True but pointless.Michel van der Hoek 10:15, 29 April 2008 (CDT)

Plural or singular?

The Oxford atlas writes The Netherlands lies (singular). The lead-in uses singular throughout, so would one say The Netherlands are a constitutional monarchy?--Paul Wormer 04:01, 29 April 2008 (CDT)

There is some disagreement among English speakers. In American usage it would be The Netherlands lies... and many Brits would also follow this usage. However, some people take the phrase "The Netherlands" as a collective plural in the same way as phrases as "the police" (Police are saying...). Some Brits also talk about The United States are..., though few if any Americans would say that. Unfortunately, the most authoritative dictionaries I own either don't have an entry for "Netherlands" (the Oxford English Dictionary OED) or carefully avoid sentences where they would have to indicate grammatical number (American Heritage Dictionary). The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia uses Netherlands as a singular. I would propose that we follow this custom and correct any preexisting text to conform to it. Michel van der Hoek 10:46, 29 April 2008 (CDT)

Prehistory and Conversion to Christianity

Nice section, well done.--Paul Wormer 04:08, 29 April 2008 (CDT)