The Use of Articles with Geographic Names

In the use of articles with geographic names there are two prevailing tendencies: some of them
are traditionally used without any article, others require the definite article.
Geographic names that generally take no article may be occasionally found with the definite or
indefinite articles. This occurs in the following cases.
1) The definite article is found when there is a limiting attribute. e.g. In Ivanhoe Walter
Scott described the England of the Middle Ages.0072
2) The indefinite article is found when a geographic name is modified by a descriptive attribute
which, brings out a special aspect.
e.g. The flier went on to say: "There will be a different Germany after the war.
" It was a new Russia that he found on his return.
Note. The definite article is always used with the pattern: a common noun + of + a proper name,
e.g. the City of New York, the village of Grasmere, the Cape of Good Hope, the Gulf of Mexico, the
Straits of Gibraltar, the Straits of Malacca, the Straits of Dover, the Bay of Biscay, the Bay of Bengal,
the Gulf of Finland, the Lake of Geneva, the Island of Majorca, etc

the zero article the definite article

1) Names of continents are used without any 1) Names of oceans = the Pacific (ocean), the
article, e.g. Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Atlantic (ocean), the Indian (ocean),the Arctic
South America, North America. (ocean);

No article is used either when names of
continents are modified by such attributes as
northern, southern, western, eastern, central,
minor, south-west, south east, Latin,
e.g. Northern Europe, North America,
Central Africa, Asia Minor, South East Asia,
Latin America, etc.
*But we say the Arctic and the Antarctic
(regions) meaning the sea and the land round
the North and South poles.
2) seas (b), = the Baltic (sea), the Mediterranean
(sea), the Black Sea, the Adriatic (sea), the
North Sea, the South Seas, etc.;
3) straits (c), the Magellan Strait, the Bering
Strait, the Torres Straits, and also the Kattegat,
the Bosporus, the Dardanelles, the Skagerrah,
etc.;
4) channels (d), the English Channel;
5) canals(e), = the Kiel Canal, the Suez Canal, the
Panama Canal, etc.;
6) rivers (f), = the Volga, the Thames, the Nile,
the Amazon, the Mississippi, etc.;

7) lakes (g) usually take the definite article, = the

Leman, the Baikal, the Ontario, etc

* But when names of lakes are preceded by the noun lake

(which is often the case), no article is used, e.g. Lake
Baikal, Lake Ohio, Lake Como, Lake Superior, Lake
Ladoga, etc .

2)- Names of countries (a),

e.g. a) France, Great Britain, China, Brazil, 8) Names of deserts are generally used with the
etc
definite article, e.g. the Sahara, the Gobi, the
-states or provinces (b), KaraKum t etc
e.g. California, Kashmir, Brittany, Katanga,
etc.
- cities (c), Moscow, Oslo, Rome, Delhi, etc.

- towns (d) - Brighton, Hastings, Tartu, etc.

- villages (e) are, as a rule, used without any
article. - Grasmere, Patterdale, Appledore, etc.
 No article is used either when these
nouns have such attributes as north(ern),
south(ern), east(ern), west(ern), ancient, old,
new, central, industrial, medieval, modern,
e.g. West Germany, Old England, Ancient
Greece, Southern France, etc.

EXCEPTION:
Some of these nouns, however, are traditionally
used with the definite article (though nowadays
there is a tendency to omit the article with
some of them), e.g.

a) countries:
the USA, the FRG, the Argentine (but:
Argenti-
na), (the) Lebanon, the Netherlands (the
Low Countries), the Cameroon, the Senegal,
(the) Congo,
b) provinces: the Ukraine the Crimea, the
Caucasus, the Ruhr,
the Tyrol, the Transvaal, the Riviera, the Soar,
c) cities: the Hague.

3)Names of peninsulas have no article if the

proper name is used alone, e.g. Indo-China,
Hindustan, Kamchatka, Labrador,
Taimir, Scandinavia, etc.
*But we find the definite article if the
noun peninsula is mentioned, e.g. the Balkan
Peninsula, the Kola
Peninsula, etc.

4) Names of separate mountain peaks (a)=
Elbrus, Mont Blanc, Everest, Vesuvius, etc.;
5) separate islands (b)= Sicily, Cuba, Haiti,
Cyprus, Newfoundland, Madagascar, etc.;
=Names of mountain chains (a) = the Rocky
Mountains, the Andes, the Alps, the Pamirs, etc.
=names of mountain passes:
the Saint Gotthard Pass
=and groups of islands (b) = the Philippines, the
Azores, the Bahamas, the East Indies,the Canaries,
the Hebrides, the Bermudas, etc
are used with the definite article, e.g.

6) Names of bays generally have no article, *geographic names having the plural form:
e.g. Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, etc. the Midlands, the Netherlands, the Yorkshire Forests
7) waterfalls (c) are used without any article,
= Niagara Falls, etc.

*124. Fill in the blanks with articles before names of peninsulas, deserts, mountains,
islands, falls, passes if necessary.
Ex. 124. 1. —. 2. the. 3. the. 4. —. 5. —. 6. —. 7. the. 8. the. 9. the. 10. —. 11. the. 12.- 13. -. 14. the, the. 15.
—. 16. the. 17. the. 18. the, the, the, 19. the, the. 20. —. 21. the. 22, the, the, the. 23. the.

1. She's lived on …. Long Island twenty years and never saw New York City before. 2. He told stories to
beautiful girls about his fighting in …Solomon Islands, in Casablanca. 3.J&A Rocky Mountains extend from
Mexico to Canada. 4. We were going to climb …. Monte Solaro, dine at a tavern we favoured, and walk down
in the moonlight. 5. He took her for a ride on the river under ….. Niagara Falls and held her hand lovingly when
they walked in the sunlight of the Northern summer. 6. We could very well have done … Mount Everest the
rate we were doing. 7. On the edge of …Sahara we ran into a plague of locusts and the chauffeur explained
kindly that they were bumble-bees. 8. In December Nicole seemed well-knit again; when a month had passed
without tension, without the tight mouth, the unmotivated smile, the unfathomable remark, they went to ….
Swiss Alps for the Christmas holidays. 9. Symbolically she lay across his saddle-bow as surely as if he had
wolfed her away from Damascus and they had come out up on … Mongolian plain. 10. Here was another item
detailing the wrecking of a vessel in ice and snow off Prince's Bay оn …. Staten Island. 11. He had a small
house in ... Bermudas. 12. The shell was found overturned, the next day, near ... Bear Mountain. 13. The
photographer gave us the picture of me, my hair limp over the rail on the boat to ... Capri. 14. No one should
leave the park without visiting the outlook station on the rim of ... Great Canyon for a view of ... Lower Falls of
the Yellowstone River. 15. ... Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,700 feet high and is said to be the
highest mountain in Africa. 16. Of course she had read novels about ... Malay Archipelago and she had formed
an impression of a sombre land with great ominous rivers and a single silent impenetrable jungle. 17. We shall
try to break through direct for ... North Cape. 18. ... Strait of Georgia had gale-force winds, in the high
elevations of ... Sierra Nevada and ... Cascades there was snow. 19. The main part of the United States presents
four physical divisions two elevated and two lowland regions. The elevated are ... Appalachian Mountains in
the east, and ... Rocky Mountains or Cordilleran system in the west. 20. The Kalambo River, part of the border
between Zambia and Tanganyika, passes over ... Kalambo Falls in a spectacular 704 feet drop. 21. The People's
Democratic Republic of Yemen lies on the southern tip of ... Arabian Peninsula. 22. Spain is a country of about
194,883 square miles (including ... Balearic Islands and ... Canary Islands) occupying the larger part of ...
Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. 23. Mongolia spans a huge steppe plateau and ... Gobi Desert.

*125. Fill in the blanks with articles before geographic names it necessary.
Ex. 125. 1. —, the, the, —. 2. —, —, the, the. 3. the. 4. —, the. 5. —. 6. the, —. 7. —. 8. the. 9. the. 10. the. 11.
the. 12. the, -. l3. —. 14. the. 15. —, —. 16. —. 17. the. 18. the, —. 19. - . 20. the. 21. an, —. 22. the, —. 23.
the. 24. —, —, 25. the. 26. —. —. - ' 27. the. 28. the, —, 29. the, the, the.

1. ... Manhattan is the name of an island which forms the heart of New York. The island is 13 miles long, 2
miles wide and lies at the mouth of ... Hudson River. East of it runs ... East River, which divides the island from
... Long Island. 2. ... Switzerland was an island washed on one side by the waves of thunder around ... Gorizis
and another by the cataracts along ... Somme and … Aisne. 3. Do you know what it's like when there's sixty
degrees of frost in ... Arctic—and it still doesn't freeze! 4. In 1919 I happened to be in ... Chicago on my wa4
to ... Far East. 5. "She came from ... Bavaria," she said; 6. On the pleasant shore of ... French Riviera, about half
way between ,.. Marseilles and the Italian Border stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. 7. I thought if the
test turned out to be good, I could take it to ... California with me. 8. I had, indeed, a mind to see ... city. of
Peking, which I had heard so much of. 9. After attj it was the completest thing, and perhaps the deadest, in ...
London of today. 10. He had agencies in many of* the islands of ... Pacific. 11. Descending to another ledge^
she reached a low curved wall and looked down seven" hundred feet to ... Mediterranean Sea. 12. He came
to. ... Seine, crossed it, and entered one of the less reputable quarters of ... Paris. 13. The Bancrofts are at
present^ living at their summer home on ... Lake Meticito. 14. The region around ... Great Lakes has not an
excessive humidity. 15. It may be in .., Coney Island or ... Pelhanugay, but I'll find a room. 16. I haven't had a
thing since breakfast. Just got in from ... Rock Island. 17. They knew that Davidson had worked in ... Canaries
for five years before he met his wife. 18. Behind ... Pyrenees too, the way to peace is through military detente in
... Europe, 19. It was a matter of chance that I should have rented a house in one of the strangest communities in
... North America. 20. They settled down in a handsome villa in ,,. Tyrol and in a short time became
conspicuous in the social life of the province. 21. The church stood in ... ancient village in ... Devonshire. 22.
Go to ... Hague, or to ... Amsterdam. 23. He has his National Trust and preservation councils for just about
every hill and valley south of ... Caledonian Canal. 24. ... Victoria Falls on the northwest border of ... Rhodesia
is a mile wide and 420 feet high. 25. They reached the place of destination that evening and next morning they
saw the sunrise in ... Saint Gotthard Pass. 26. ... Moscow is a city of museums. It was in ... Moscow that the
first museum collection was formed in ... medieval Russia. 27. Most of the Slavic peoples now in ... Balkan
Peninsula arrived in the 6th and 7th centuries. 28. ... White Nile River originates in ... Lake Victoria. 29. ...
Jordan River and ... Dead Sea are on the Israel border. Steep cliffs rise on both sides of ... Jordan Valley.
the zero article
1) Names of streets (a), parks (b) and
squares (c) tend to be used without any
article
a)Oxford Street, Kingsway, Piccadilly, Fleet
Street, Whitehall, Wall Street, etc.
But : e.g. the Strand, the High Street and
some others.
Note. Names of streets in foreign countries
are sometimes used with the definite article,
e.g. the Rue de Rlvoli (in Paris), the Via
Manzoni (in Milan), etc.
b)Hyde Park, Central Park, Memorial Park,
Regent's Park,
But: the Snowdonia National Park, the
Botanical Gardens, etc.
Note. Names of parks in foreign countries are
often used with the definite article, e.g. the
Gorki Park (in Moscow), the Tiergarten (in
Berlin), etc.
c) Trafalgar Square, Russel Square, Hyde
Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester
Square, etc.
2) There is no article with names of
universities and colleges,
e.g. London University, Cambridge
University, Oxford University, Harvard
University, Trinity College, etc.
Note. The definite article is used in the
combinations: the University of London, the
University of Moscow, etc.
Subjects: History, Maths,
3) names of airports and railway stations,
e.g. London Airport, Moscow Airport, Victoria
Station, etc.
the definite article
1) Names of theatres (a), museums (b), picture
galleries (c), concert halls (d), cinemas (e), clubs (f)
and hotels (g) and ZOOs are used with the definite
article
a) the Coliseum Theatre, the Opera House, the
Bolshoi Theatre, etc.;
b) the British Museum, the Scottish National
Museum, etc.;
c) the National Gallery, the Tate {gallery), the
Tretiakov Gallery, the Hermitage, the Louvre, etc.;
d) the Festival Hall, the Albert Hall, the
Carnegie Hall, theChaikovsky Hall, etc.;
e) the Empire, the Dominion, the Odeon, etc.;
f) the National Liberal Club, the Rotary Club, etc.;
g) the Ambassador Hotel, the Continental Hotel, the
Savoy, etc.
***But in newspaper announcements and
advertisements the article is usually not found with
these nouns.
5)2) Names of newspapers and magazines, historical
documents are generally used with the definite
article,
e.g. The Times, The Guardian, The Lancet, etc.
The Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, the Constitution
Note, however, Give me a Times, please.
3) Names of territories consisting of a word
combination in which the last word is a common noun
are generally used with the definite article, e.g. the
Lake District, the Yorkshire Forests, the
Kalinin Region, the Virgin Lands, etc.
4) Names of months (a) and the days of the
week (b) are used without any article,
e.g. a) January, February, March, etc.
b) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.
4) Names of state institutions, organizations and
political parties are used with the definite article, e.g.
the Liberal Party the National Trust, the Church, the
London City Council, the Conservative Party, the
Democratic Party, the House of Commons etc.

Compare, however: We met on Friday

('Мы встретились в прошлую пятницу)
and
We met on a Friday ('Мы встретились
однажды в пятницу').
Note.
Parliament (in Britain) is used without any article (b u t:
the British Parliament).
The definite article before congress (in the USA) may be
dropped, but it is equally correct to use

5) Names of languages are used
without any article unless the noun
language is mentioned,
e.g. English, French, Japanese, etc.
But: the English language, the Italian
language, the Polish language, etc.
5) We find the definite article with names of
some grammatical categories, such as names of
tenses, moods, voices, cases
and others,
e.g. the Past Indefinite, the Passive Voice, the
Conditional Mood, the Genitive Case, etc.

Note. If the name of the language is an

adjective : Translated from the German and

What is the French for "book"?

6) names of (a) buildings, (b) bridges: 6) names of ships and boats: The Titanic, the Queen Mary

(The use of articles with names of separate

buildings varies from name to name and
should be remembered as a special item)
(a) Scotland Yard, Westminster Abbey,
Buckingham Palace, Colosseum, St. Paul's
Cathedral, etc.

(b) Westminster Bridge, Tower Bridge

But: the Old Bailey, the Tower, the Royal

Exchange, the White House etc.

7)Before the names of companies used as nouns 7)Motorways, Highways

Fiat, Sony, Phillips e.g. The China National Highway.

126. Fill in the blanks with articles before miscellaneous proper names if necessary.
Ex. 126. 1. the. 2. the. 3. the, the, —. 4. the. 5. —. 6. the. 7. —, the, —, —. 8. the. 9. —, —. 10. the. 11. —. 12. —, —. 13.
the, the. 14. the. 15. —. 16. the. 17. —, —. 18. the. 19. the. 20. the. 21. the. 22. —, —, —, —. 23. —, —. 24. the. 25. the.
26. —. 27. the. 28. —. 29. the, —. 30. the, —. 31. —, —. 32. the. 33. —, the. 34. —, the. 35. the, the. 36. —, —, —. 37.
the. 38. —. 39. the. 40. —. 41. —, —. 42. the, the. 43. the, —. 44. the, the, the, the. 45. the. 46. —. 47. the. 48. the. 49.
—, —. 50. the. 51. the, the. 52. —, a. 53. —, the, the, the.

1. When they put out from the port in a hired launch it was already summer dusk and lights were breaking out
in spasms along the rigging of .,. Levante. 2. Well, tomorrow then. I'm living at ... Chelsea now. 3. On the other
bank of ... Potomac lies ... Arlington National Cemetery, where ... President Kennedy was buried. 4. Tom and
Miss Baker sat at either end of the long couch and she read aloud to him from ... Saturday Evening Post. 5.
Sensation at ... London airport. Attempt to smuggle 12 jewels worth three quarters of a million. 6. His own
ideas of a riotous holiday meant picnicking on the grass of ... Green Park with his family and half a dozen paper
bags full of food. 7. After that, if the night was mellow, I strolled down ... Madison Avenue past ... old Murray
Hotel, and over ... 33d Street to ... Pennsylvania Station. 8. Why, yes, didn't you know that? Why, he's manager
of ... Grand Opera House. 9. Then still keeping 159 a hundred yards behind, we followed into ... Oxford Street
and so down ... Regent Street. 10. It was close on midnight when a man crossed ... Place de la Concorde. Ц. j
graduated from ... New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of a century after my father. 12. I meant it might be nice
for you to take a house in ... London for the spring season—I know a dove of a house in ... Talbot Square you
could get, furnished. 13. ... Jefferson Memorial was built in memory of the third President of ... USA, Thomas
Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence. 14. ... White House is the President's
residence. 15. At half past six on a Friday evening in January, ... Lincoln International Airport, Illinois, was
functioning, though with difficulty. 16. He turned on the radio. Mozart, unworried and spring-like,
accompanied them as far as ... Bronx. 17. Hurstwood wrote her one morning asking her to meet him in ...
Jefferson Park, ... Monroe Street. 18. He remembered having seen her sitting in ... Botanical Gardens waiting
for Bosinney. 19. This was in ... Broadway Central, which was there one of the most important hotels in the
city. 20. She asked Charles if he would take her to ... National Gallery. 21. The girls of ... Lotus Club wondered
what had become of him and worried Jan with questions. 22. Across ... Fifth Avenue, through ... Madison
Square by the winding paths, east on ... Twenty Third Street and down ... Third Avenue wound the long
serpentine company. 23. He has been to ... Eton and ... Oxford and he doesn't forget to let you know it. 24. I
presume that it was committed in the cloakroom of ... House of Commons. 25. "But I happen to know most of
the members of … Racquet Club," he said. 26. From the instant you land at ... El Dorado International Airport,
you feel a privileged guest in the warm respective city. 27. And feeling that he must finish with it now, he took
a cab into ... West End. 28. Then he sat in ... Bryant Park, a block away, waiting. 29. Well, I am connected
with ... Wellington—the new hotel on ...,Broadway. 30. ... National Theatre said on ... Tuesday it would close
one of its three auditoriums. 31. The conversation was in ... German, for it developed that he had been educated
at ... Gottingen. 32. The largest and tallest among the buildings was ... Capitol with its great Hall of
Representatives and Senate Chamber. 33. I know a girl who studies ... French and she pays 17 shillings an hour.
And I'm going 160 (о take lessons in ... English language, which is my native language, so I won't give you
more than a shilling. 34. He had an idea that anything accepted by a paper was published immediately, and as
he had sent the manuscript in on ... Friday, he expected it to come out ... following Sunday. 35. Every morning
her mother had read two newspapers from cover to cover: ... Daily Telegraph and ... Daily Mirror. 36.
Approaching ... Malta Street, ... Soho, Soames thought with wonder of those seven years at ... Brighton. 37.
And he went back into ... City to do what still lay before him. 38. He stood by the window of the sitting-room
which gave view over ... Hyde Park. 39. He leaned on the ship's rail as the tugs nosed ... Victoria into the wharf.
40. There were tearful scenes at ... Gatwick Airport. 41. Request weather and runway information—... Detroit
Metropolitan and ... Lincoln International Airport. 42. My advice is to leave this hotel—by way of the bar if
you want. Go to ... Chambord, or if you need a lot of service, go over to ... Majestic. 43. They drove off
eastward, down ... Strand and into a little side street, by ... Charing Cross. 44. He turned off ... Avenue de
Орёга up ... Rue des Pyramides, through the traffic of ... Rue de Rivole and through a dark gate into ...
Tuileries. 45. He spoke now of the lectures which an English poet was giving at ... Auditorium. 46. I am a
marine biologist. I took a degree in it at ... Cambridge. 47. They have a nice home in ... High Street. 48. He paid
careful attention to the announcements in ... Times. 49. You want to see ... Lincoln Park and ... Michigan
Boulevard. They are putting up great buildings there. 50. It must have been ... Harward Club. 51. ... Savoy is a
luxury hotel in ... Strand in London. 52. Dick was about to retort by commenting on the extraordinary suits of a
cut and pattern fantastic enough to have sauntered down ... Bealy Street on ... Sunday—when an explanation
was coming. 53. Charlie was a youngish man of thirty-five, graduate of ... Stanford University, member of ...
Nile Club and •.. Unity Club, a conservative speaker for ... Republican Party during campaigns, in short, a
rising man in every way.

*128 Fill in the blanks with articles wherever necessary paying particular attention to the use of articles
before geographic names. Retell the text. Describe the geography of another country.
Geography of ... United States

... United States of America is located on ... North American continent. ... western third of ... country consists
mainly of ... high plateau broken by ... numerous mountain ranges, ... chief of which are ... Rocky Mountains.
To ... west of this region lie ... Great Plains. This is ... region of ... very flat ground extending from ... Canadian
border to ... Gulf of ... Mexico and eastward as far as ... Appalachian Mountains. ... Appalachians are ... range
of ... low mountains and ... hills running parallel to ... Atlantic Coast and about one to two hundred miles in
land. Along ... center of ... Great Plains; flowing ... south from ... Canadian border to ... Gulf of ... Mexico is ...
Mississippi River. This river together with ... Missouri which joins it from ... west and ... Ohio which joins it
from ... east, forms ... central river system of ... United States. In ... north are ... five Great Lakes—... Lake
Superior, ... Lake Huron, ... Lake Michigan, ... Lake Erie and ... Lake Ontario which empty into ... Atlantic
Ocean through ... St. Lawrence River. ... Colorado River in ... southwest and ... Colombia in ... northwest are ...
other principal rivers of ... country. .... climate of ... country is typical to ... other large continental areas in ...
temperature zone. It is very warm in ... summer and in all of it except ... south is cold in ... winter. ... west, and
especially ... southwest, is very dry. ... capital of ... United States Washington, D. С is not located in any state,
but lies between ... states of ... Maryland and ... Virginia. ... principal cities of ... U.S. are ... New York, ...
Chicago, ... Philadelphia, ... Detroit, ... Los Angeles and ... Cleveland. ... population of ... United States is not
evenly spread over ... country, but is concentrated largely in ... east. ... heart of ... American agriculture is ...
"corn-belt", ... belt of ... very fertile land extending from ...Nebraska eastwards as far as ... Pennsylvania. In this
area ... principal crop is ... corn. West of ... corn-belt is ... wheat-belt extending ... north and ... south from ...
Texas to ... North Dakota and into ... Canada. ... principal products of ... south are ... cotton and ... tobacco
although ... corn is also grown here. ... agriculture of ... California, because of its favorable climate, is confined
largely to ... special crops, such as ... citrus crops and ... grapes. ... mineral deposits of ... U.S. are concentrated
largely among ... Appalachian Mountains. There are, however, ... important oil-fields in ... Texas, ... Oklahoma
and ... California, and ... important iron mines in ... Minnesota. Because of ... overwhelming concentration of ...
minerals in ... northeastern part of ... U.S manufacturing is also concentrated there.
 The Use of Articles with Names of Persons
the zero article
1) Generally no article is used
with names of persons.
e.g. There was a letter from Susan
inviting me to a party.
I did not see Charles Strickland for
several weeks
2) No article is used either if
names of persons are modified
by such attributes as little, old,
young, dear, poor, honest.
e.g. Young Jolyon, standing by the
little piano, listened with his dim
smile.
When dear old Emily went back to
town after staying with them for a
fortnight, she sent the children a
doll's house.
3) We find no article with names
of members of a family, such as
Mother, Father, Aunt, Uncle,
Grandmother, Grandfather,
Baby, Nurse, Cook, when they are
treated as proper names by the
members of that family. In this
case such nouns are usually
written with a capital letter ,
which shows that they are regarded
as proper nouns.
e.g. "How nice that you've come!" she
said. "Mother is still resting, but she
will be down soon."
She went into the hall: "Is Nurse
the indefinite article is used
1)
(a)to indicate one member of a
family,
e.g. "The boy is a Benbowl" he
replied hotly
e.g. I have often wondered if Arthur
was really a Burton.
"The boy is a Benbowl" he replied
hotly
(b) one resembling somebody:
e.g. His face always reminded
Michael of a Lincoln grown old.
2) with a name modified by a
descriptive attribute when it is
the centre of communication in
the sentence. The adjective
usually denotes the mood of the
"person described:
e.g. He was met at the door by an
angry Isabel, who demanded
to know what he meant by
coming home at that hour.
The dinner was served by a silent
Mrs. Keats .
A personal name has the indefinite
article if it is modified by the
adjective certain:
Last night I found a gentleman
waiting to see me when I returned
home — a certain George Reed (i. e.
someone who called himself George
Reed).
Note. If a personal name is
preceded by a title (Mr., Miss,
Colonel, Sir, etc.), the indefinite
article before it is equivalent to
the definite article is used
1) with a name in the plural to
indicate the whole family,
e.g. The Granges were the only people
I knew in the town
e.g. The Elliots were intelligent people.
He didn't even know the Browns
had a daughter.
He's very different from the rest of
the Jacksons.
2) with a name modified by a
limiting attribute, (mostly
postpositional phrases):
e.g. It was the Jane I had known
before, perfectly simple, homely
and unaffected.
e.g. She was not the Mary of
our youth
e.g. Is he the Jones who is a writer?
Now she was more like the Julia of
their first years of marriage.
3) [a] with a name modified by
a descriptive attribute when the
limitation is clear from the
context or situation
e.g. a) A remarkable number of guests
went without coffee because
it was not the right sort, a
detail that had been
overlooked by the
embarrassed Otto.
"I am the celebrated Mortimer
Ellis'1 he said
Suddenly, to everybody's
surprise, the silent Mr. Fanthorp swung
round and addressed Barbara.
back?"
"Father wants us to move into a
smaller place," Mike said. "What have
you done to Baby?" Mother asked.
"certain":
e.g. He was engaged to be married to
a Miss Smith.
e.g. "A Mr. Drake phoned in the
morning, but he didn't leave any
message," Lydia said.
[b] or when the attribute
indicates a permanent quality of
the person in question
b) He slapped him on. the shoulder,
which startled and slightly
annoyed the prim George
Augustus,

Sometimes the indefinite article

before a personal name without a title
may mean "certain":

e.g. "Did a woman see you sometime

today?

A Nelly Conway?" he asked anxiously.

Personal names turn into

common nouns when they
denote things associated with
the names of certain persons.
Such nouns follow the general
rules of the use of articles for
common nouns:

"Has the museum a Millais?" I asked.

Every morning he drove out in a rickety

old Ford.

[Sometimes, owing to a change of meaning,

names of persons become countable nouns
indicating concrete objects (a) or typical
features associated with a well-known
name (b). The articles with such nouns are
used in accordance with the general rules
for countable nouns.]

e.g. a) Lanny has sold them an

especially fine Goya.
He wanted to know how much a
Buick cost.
There was a rack of books and
among them he saw a Hemingway,

b) She felt like an Alice in

Wonderland.
Mozart was called the Raphael of
music.
Swithin smiled and nodding at
Bosinney said: "Why, you are quite a
Monte Cristo."