Geographical names.

1. Geographical names like all the other proper nouns are used without articles: England, France, Moscow, London.

The same holds good when a geographical name is modified by an attribute in pre-position: North America, Latin America, Central Asia.

Note. The word groups including nouns like republic, union, kingdom, states are always used with the definite article: the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland.

2.Geographical names modified by a particularizing attribute are used with the definite article.

The Philadelphia into which Frank Algernon Cowperwood was born was a city of two hundred and fifty thousand and more. (Dreiser)

3.With names of oceans, seas, rivers the definite article is used: the Pacific Ocean (the Pacific), the Black Sea, the Thames, the Ohio River.

4.Names of lakes do not take the article if the word lake is used, which is nearly always the case; if it is not mentioned we find the definite article: Lake Windermere, Lake Ontario, the Ontario.

5.With names of mountain chains the definite article is used: the Urals, the Alps.

With names of mountain peaks no article is used: Elbrus, Everest.

6.With names of groups of islands the definite article is used: the Hebrides, the Bermudas.

With names of single islands there is no article: Madagascar.

7.The names of the following towns, countries and provinces are used with the definite article: the Hague, the Netherlands, the West Indies, the Ruhr, the Riviera, the Crimea, the Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Congo. The Lebanon is generally used with the definite article, occasionally without the article.

8.Names of streets and squares are used without articles: Oxford Street, Wall Street, Trafalgar Square, Russell Square.

There are a few exceptions: the High Street, the Strand, the Mall