Place names - the or zero article?

Whether to use the definite article the before place names or not can be a little confusing. Try these three quizzes first, and then read about some of the general principles involved.

Exercise 1 - If necessary, add The before the place name.

Continents, countries, regions and cities
The Latin America		The Venezuela
The Patagonia		The Buenos Aires
The Senegal		The Gambia
The Nigeria		The Central African Republic
Islands and groups of islands
The Majorca		The Balearic Islands
The Crete		The Aegean Archipelago
Mountains and mountain ranges
The Mont Blanc		The Alps
The Matterhorn		The K2
Lakes and groups of lakes
The Lake Ontario		The Great Lakes
The Lake Windermere		The Lake District
Rivers and canals
The (River) Thames		The (River) Amazon
The Panama Canal		The Hudson (River)
Seas and oceans
The Mediterranean (Sea)		The Atlantic Ocean
The Gulf of Mexico		The San Francisco Bay
Deserts
The Sahara Desert		The Gobi Desert
Points of the compass
The Northern Spain		The North / South Pole
The East / West (of England)		The Northernmost part

Random Idea English
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Europe and Britain

The or zero article?

Exercise 2 - If necessary, add The before the place name.

The Europe		The European Union
The Netherlands		The Holland
The Zuyder Zee		The Amsterdam
The Hague		The Rijksmuseum
The Slovakia		The Czech Republic
The Bohemia		The Prague
The Venice		The St.Mark's Square
The Grand Canal		The Vatican
The Paris		The Eiffel Tower
The Montmartre		The Champs-Élysées
The Great Britain		The United Kingdom
The British Isles		The Scotland
The Yorkshire		The Isle of Wight
The London		The City of London
The Oxford University		The University of Oxford
The Keble College, Oxford		The Cambridge
The City of Cambridge		The Cambridge Road, London

Random Idea English
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Streets, Buildings etc

The or zero article?

Exercise 3 - If necessary, add The before the place name.

The Oxford Street		The Picadilly Circus
The Leicester Square		The Hyde Park
The Portobello Road		The Mall
The Whitehall		The Strand
The Buckingham Palace		The Palace of Westminster
The Black Swan (a pub)		The Ritz Hotel
The Odeon Cinema		The Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Victoria and Albert Museum		The Tate Gallery
The Canturbury Cathedral		The Westminster Abbey
The Eton College (independent school)		The Woodlands Junior School

Random Idea English
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Some general principles

Update - I've now posted some tables with the main uses of articles with place names, which you can find here.

Here are some general priciples:

• If a place name consists of a real name, especially just one word, it usually takes no article:
  Europe, France, Normandy, Paris, Montmartre
• If a place name includes a unit of organisation (republic, kingdom, states etc), a geographical or other descriptive feature (islands, sea, river etc), it usually takes the:
  The United Kingdom, The Baltic Sea, The River Seine, The Kalahari Desert
• This is also the case when this feature is only implied:
  The Phillipines (= The Phillipine Islands), The Himalayas (= the Himalaya Mountains)
• But this is not the case when the name includes the singular word land:
  Scotland, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Poland
• If a place name includes of, it takes the definite article:
  The Straits of Gibraltar, The Bay of Biscay, The Isle of Man, The Museum of Modern Art
• Note that we can often name places two ways, one without of and without the article, and one with of (usually more formal):
  Poland / The Republic of Poland, Edinburgh University / The University of Edinburgh, Capri / The Isle of Capri
• When the first word of a place name is an adjective (as with most seas), we usually use the:
  The Mediterranean (Sea), The Arabian Gulf (but Central Park)
• When a place name starts with a possessive, it usually takes no article:
  St Paul's Cathedral, Sadler's Wells Theatre, Hudson's Bay
• When a place name starts with the name of the place where it is situated, it doesn't usually take an article:
  Morecombe Bay, London Bridge,
• Finally, note there are lots of exceptions, and that some place names, especially buildings, schools, etc are best learned individually.

Some exceptions to the general rules

• The Netherlands - this name is descriptive; it means The Low Lands
• The Gambia - takes its name from the Gambia River
• (The) Yemen, (The) Sudan - the names of these countries are occasionally used with the. In older texts you might see Argentina referred to as The Argentine, but this practice has largely died out.
• The Hague - from the Dutch Den Haag (= The Hedge)
• The Matterhorn (= The Meadow Peak), The Jungfrau (= The Young Woman) - these names of mountains are descriptive in the original German
• The Strand (a street in London) - called after a small river
• The Mall (a road in London) - a mall (here) is like an esplanade, a long open space where people can walk

Answers

Related posts

• Articles with place names - table
• Indefinite articles - a or an?
• Random quizzes - articles - a few texts to test your skills at using articles

Links

• BBC Learning English
• Suite 101
• Useful English
• TSPU - pdf, from Alexander, Longman Grammar