ARTICLES WITH GEOGRAPHIC NAMES EXERCISE 1 (ESL)

Grammar review Articles with geographic names — the or no article?

Geographic names follow specific article rules that must be memorised as patterns. Most proper geographic nouns take no article, but certain categories always take the.

NO article with:
• Most countries: France, Canada, Japan, Brazil
• Continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
• Cities and towns: Paris, London, New York, Cairo
• Single islands: Sicily, Corsica, Bali
• Lakes (with the word “Lake”): Lake Superior, Lake Geneva
• Mountains (with the word “Mount” or “Mount”): Mount Everest, Mount Fuji

USE the with:
• Countries whose name includes a common noun: the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Czech Republic
• Plural country names: the Maldives, the Seychelles
• Rivers: the Amazon, the Nile, the Thames, the Mississippi
• Oceans and seas: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean
• Mountain ranges: the Alps, the Himalayas, the Rockies, the Andes
• Groups of islands: the Canary Islands, the Bahamas, the Caribbean
• Regions: the Middle East, the Far East, the Midwest

Memory tip: If the geographic name is a collection (range, group, chain) or includes a generic noun (states, kingdom, republic), it takes the.