The use of articles with proper names

Geographical Names	No article	The Definite Article	Notes
Continents, countries, cities, villages	As a rule Africa, Asia, France, London When modified by a prepositional attribute Latin America, Central Asia BUT: the village of Petrovka	When having a particularizing attribute The Philadelphia he was born in… Gone is the Moscow of the merchants and aristocrats In his books W. Scott described the England of the Middle Ages	The following geographical names are always used with the: The United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Hague, the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Sudan, the Lebanon, the Congo, the Argentine (but Argentina), the Cameroon, the Senegal
Oceans, rivers, seas, channels/ canals, bays, deserts.	Hudson Bay Baffin Bay	The Pacific, the Black Sea, the Neva, the Sahara, the English Channel, the Suez Canal
Lakes	Lake Baikal Lake Ontario	The Baikal The Ontario
Mountains	Peaks: Everest Elbrus	Mountain chains The Alps The Urals
Islands	A single island: Madagascar Sicily	Island groups: The Bermudas The British Isles
Regions	North America Latin America Central Asia	The Middle East The North of England The Arctic The Antarctic	But: Western Canada Southern Spain
Cardinal points		The South The North The West The East	But: From East to West From South to North
Names of persons	As a rule no article is used There was a letter from Susan… Modified by attributes old, young, little, dear, poor etc,: She was a widow of poor George…	a)with a name in the plural to indicate the whole family : He is very different from the rest of the Kents. b)with the name modified by a particularizing attribute: Is he the Sheldon who is a writer?	a)One member of a family: I have always wondered if Tim was a Smith. b)when names of persons become nouns indicating typical features of a well-known name: You are quite a Monte Cristo. c)names of persons when meaning “a certain”: I heard it from a John.
Nouns of relationship	a)Followed by a proper name: Uncle John Aunt Polly b)not followed by a proper name and used only by the members of the same family: She went into the hall: “Is Mother back?”	a)if other people’s relations are meant: The son was as clever as the father. b)Mind the expressions: Lomonosov was the son of a fisherman. Becky was the daughter of an artist.
Nouns denoting ranks, titles, profession followed by a proper name	Professor Brown Doctor Brown Count Brown Mr/Mrs Brown	Nouns denoting profession followed by a proper name: The painter Warhol left many fine pictures.
Nouns of places, buildings, public organizations etc.
Historical events		The French revolution
Public/ Political organizations	NATO, Parliament	The Senate, the Houses of Parliament, the United Nations
Public/ historical buildings	Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace	The Bank of England, the Winter Palace, the Tower Of London
Documents		The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence
Parties		The Labour Party, the Tory
Names of papers and periodicals		The Times, the Washington Post
Businesses and chains of shops	General Motors, Sony, Shell
Ships, trains, spacecrafts	Appolo, Challenger	The Orient Express, the Titanic
Theatres, cinemas	Her Majecty’s	The Globe, the Bolshoy, the Odeon, the Arbat
Museums		The British Museum, the Hermitage, the Tate Gallery
Parks	Hyde Park, St. James’s Park	The Botanical Gardens, also parks in foreign countries: the Gorky Park (in Russia), the Tiergarten (in Berlin)
Schools, colleges, universities	Carnegy College, London University, Manchester Grammar School	The University of London
Restaurants	Leoni’s	The Cage Royal
Hotels	Brown’s	The Hilton
Stations and airports	Heathrow, Sheremetyevo
Streets, squares	Tverskaya street Trafalgar Square Piccadilly Circus	The High Street, the Strand