The with Proper Nouns and other special cases

* ARTICLES OVERVIEW *

Proper nouns are the names of unique persons, places, etc. They are capitalized in English. They do not normally have adjectives or plural forms. Although they refer to unique things, they do not always have the or any of the other forms that identify definite nouns. Below are some guidelines for when to use the with proper nouns, but they are only guidelines. Since proper nouns are names, they can have very individual, local variations. Each time you encounter a proper noun, try to make a note of whether it has a the or not.

NOTE: Proper nouns do not always refer to one unique individual. In the infrequent cases where there is more than one referent with the same name, they can be treated as common nouns (with adjectives, plural forms, definite and indefinite articles, etc.):
            There are two John Smiths in my class. The tall John Smith from Chicago wrote a book.
            The pool is only open on Mondays. Can you ever get off work on a Monday?

NO the = name
WITH the = definite noun
title or class before name
people ... Queen Victoria
large lakes ... Lake Victoria
single mountains ... Mt. Fuji
"name" = number ... Chapter 6
                                 ... Flight 167
with "of"
the University of Illinois
the Republic of Korea
the Museum of Modern Art
plurals
families ... the Kennedys
countries ... the Netherlands
mountain ranges ... the Andes (Mountains)
island chains ... the Virgin Islands
number ranges ... the Sixties
other
individual people ... George Bush
                                    Maggie
continents ... Asia
countries (no word like Union, Republic, etc.) ... Canada
states ... Illinois
cities ... Chicago
months ... October
days ... Halloween
languages ... Korean
other
countries (with a word like Union, Republic, etc.) ... the Ottoman Empire
oceans ... the Pacific (Ocean)
seas ... the Black Sea
rivers ... the Nile (River)
canals ... the Suez Canal
deserts ... the Gobi (Desert)
zoos ... the Brookfield Zoo
some buildings ... the Empire State Building
languages (with "language") ... the Korean language
titles (no name) ... the President
                               the Sun King
streets, avenues, etc. ... Lincoln Avenue
small lakes ... Homer Lake
single islands ... Staten Island
colleges/universities ... Harvard (University)
parks ... Hessel Park
magazines ... Rolling Stone (Magazine)
some buildings ... Davenport Hall
(for this last group,
the "class" has somehow become PART of the name)
newspapers ... The Daily Illini
regions ... the Midwest
ships ... The Mayflower
German mountains ... the Matterhorn
(possessives instead of the ):
MacDonald's (Restaurant)

Where is the needed?:
  1. Apartment 4C
  2. Canary Islands
  3. Dr. Livingston
  4. 1820s
  5. Hill Street
  6. June 14th
  7. Lake Geneva
  8. Mississippi River
  9. Mount Hood

  1. Parkland College
  2. Queen
  3. Republic of Ireland
  4. Singapore
  5. South Africa
  6. Nautilus
  7. United Kingdom
  8. University of London
  9. New York Times

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Ann Salzmann
Intensive English Institute
University of Illinois