by government or by the government

Question

I'd like to know whether it's okay to leave out the definite article in the following. What's te difference between using a definite article and not using one here?

A czar is a person appointed by the government to advise on and coordinate policy in a particular area

In this usage government is not a mass noun, but a particular body. — Weather Vane, Jul 09 '21 at 16:41
That was not what you quoted. Government as a mass noun is a concept, and can't do any appointing. Officials are appointed by people – the government. — Weather Vane, Jul 09 '21 at 16:43
It's perfectly grammatical with or without the article. And so far as I'm concerned in your exact context the choice makes no difference whatsoever to the meaning. It's just possible that in some very similar contexts, including *the* might specifically be justified on the grounds that it refers to *one specific contextually-established government, but for the most part I'd say no such implication exists. In practice the meaning is the same regardless of whether syntactically* it's article-less "government" functioning as an "abstract uncountable mass noun", or not. — FumbleFingers, Jul 09 '21 at 17:22
Does this answer your question? “the top levels of government” -- why not "of THE government"? Also in government vs. in the government and Zero Article of Countable Noun e.g. government — FumbleFingers, Jul 09 '21 at 17:25
Yes, you need the to refer to a specific instance of government (i.e. the government of whatever country you're discussing). Government with no article is just a concept. It doesn't appoint jack. That your source left out the suggests to me that the source writer made an error. — FeliniusRex - gone, Jul 09 '21 at 19:23

by government or by the government

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