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Hrsanei Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

The choice of articles for places

Hi.

Why do we use the before river Thames but nothing before Times Square and Lake Garda?

Ex. The London Marathon takes place every year near the River Thames.

Ex. People say that you always meet someone you know in the middle of Times Square in New York.

Ex. It is possible to go sailing on Lake Garda in the summer.

I would be grateful if you could explain the reason for the choice of articles.

Thanks
  

Top answer

Hi, Broadly speaking, I would say that a great deal of this is simply idiomatic. Clive

— Clive

  • Hi, Broadly speaking, I would say that a great deal of this is simply idiomatic.
  • Clive
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9 Answers
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Hi,

Broadly speaking, I would say that a great deal of this is simply idiomatic.

Clive
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Thank you Clive.

Isn't there any rule for the use of article for such places?
Memorizing all of them seems impossible.

Thanks
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hrsaneiI would be grateful if you could explain the reason for the choice of articles.
I believe the reason is simply historical accident. At some point in time people began to refer to these geographical entities in some consistent way, whether with or without an article. From then on, only that one way seemed right.

It may be surprising, but when
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Thank you very much Jim for your helful explanation.
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hrsaneiIsn't there any rule for the use of article for such places?
When I studied English in high school, I found in my grammar book.

CB
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Thank you very much Cool Breeze.

Having looked at the list, I have the impression that we use the definite article before the names of sea, river and ocean, but no article is needed before the names of lakes. Am I right?

Thank you
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hrsaneiThank you very much Cool Breeze.
Having looked at the list, I have the impression that we use the definite article before the names of sea, river and ocean, but no article is needed before the names of lakes. Am I right?
Thank you
Yes. I have mentioned the most common groups of proper nouns that take the article and the names of lakes are n
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Hi,

Another bit of detail -

The Great Lakes, and a few others, take the form of eg Lake Superior.

But miost lakes are eg Musselman Lake.

Then, of course, there's 'the River Thames' versus 'th
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Thank you very much Clive.

Thank you very much Cool Breeze.
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