 English articles with geographical names. This video is brought to you by the following English learning websites. English articles, uh, and, and the, can be quite confusing at times. In this video, we'll go over how to use them with various geographical features. It's a little complicated. First, let's take a look at the difference in usage between uh and the. With common nouns, uh is used to indicate a singular item that is being mentioned for the first time, or has not been specified. For example, there's a river near my house. This is the first time it's mentioned. The river is frozen in the winter. It's referring to the same river a second time. Is there a river near your house? Hasn't been determined yet. I'm asking a question. Yes, but the river is dry in September. Referring to the specific river now. You can think of it like this. A river, lake, mountain, etc. Only one person knows which one. The river, lake, mountain, etc. Both people know which one. Or, if the speaker, writer, is pointing to the feature in the same sentence, use the. It could, if it could be any object, or one of many, use uh or an. For example, the mountain over there is actually a volcano. I'm identifying the specific mountain, but a volcano could be one out of many. We can also say that a volcano is referring to an object or concept generally, but the mountain is referring to a specific object. With plural nouns, we cannot use uh or an. Instead, we use some, the, or no article at all. For example, there are some lakes in the Midwestern United States. Could be any lakes. The lakes in Minnesota are famous. Specifically, those lakes in Minnesota. Lakes are an important source of fresh water. Lakes in general. Perhaps a chart will be helpful. This article chart is adapted from eslgold.com. Non-specific. Any one, singular, or any group, plural. One of many, or one of many groups. Specific. Which one, or which ones. This one, or that one. Only this one, or only that one. In the plural, these, or those, or only these, or only those. In general, is referring to the concept in general. Let's look at some examples. Singular. A river. There's a river near my house. Only I know which one. The river. The river is dry. Now you know and I know which one I'm referring to. A river. A river provides fresh water. This is talking about rivers in general. Plural. Some rivers. There are some rivers near my house. The rivers. The rivers are beautiful. The ones near my house. Rivers. Rivers provide fresh water. There's no article here and it's talking about rivers in general. What's the difference between there is a lake near my house, the lake near my house is beautiful. In the first sentence, you're helping the listener focus on the topic. From general lakes to a specific lake. So that the other person can know what you're referring to. Only the speaker knows which lake but the listener has a general idea. In the second sentence, the lake is identified. Both the speaker and listener know or can imagine a particular lake. Now let's move on to proper nouns. Proper nouns make everything more complicated. Proper nouns are given names and are always capitalized. For example, the mountains in Colorado are quite well known. Known. Common noun. The rocky mountains in Colorado are well known. Proper noun. There are specific rules that go with named features and landmarks like lakes, rivers, oceans, mountains, etc. We'll look at them individually. Generally, the article the is not capitalized unless it comes at the beginning of a sentence. Number one. Rivers. Use the with names of rivers. Sometimes you can omit the word river. The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States. Not Mississippi River is the longest river. You can also say we crossed the Mississippi yesterday. Two. Lakes. Do not use the with names of individual lakes. Sometimes the word lake comes after the name, sometimes before. If you're not sure, ask the locals. For example, we went to Lake Tahoe last summer. Bear Lake is near Logan in Cache Valley. Special case. The Great Salt Lake is very shallow. Groups of lakes usually require the article the. The Great Lakes form part of the border between the U.S. and Canada. Oceans and seas. Like rivers, named oceans and seas require the article the and sometimes the word ocean or sea is omitted. The Pacific Ocean is much larger than the Atlantic. Have you ever traveled on the Mediterranean? See? Note, sometimes these names can refer to regions, not just bodies of water. For example, I'm going to visit the Caribbean this summer. Review. Rivers, lakes, oceans and seas. See the chart below. Rivers. Use the. The word river can be omitted. The Nile River. The Amazon. Lakes. Know the. Don't omit the word lake. Lake Victoria. Utah Lake. Groups. The Great Lakes. Great Lakes. Special cases. The Great Salt Lake. Oceans and seas. Use the. The words ocean and sea can be omitted. The Indian Ocean. The Pacific. Mountains, mountain ranges and peaks. Mountains follow the same basic patterns as lakes. When referring to a single mountain, no article is used. When referring to ranges or groups of mountains, the is needed. Additionally, the word mountains is often omitted and the name pluralized. For example, Table Mountain. Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Everest. Pike's Peak. The Rocky Mountains. The Andes Mountains. The Himalayan Mountains. Notice the N on Himalayan. Kind of changes it into an adjective form. The Rockies. The Andes. The Himalayas. We use the plural form here. Note, the form Mount Blank is much more common than Blank Mountain. No apostrophe is needed for named peaks. We don't write Pike Apostrophe S Peak. Five. Islands and groups of islands. Generally, we refer to individual islands without the and groups of islands with the. Following the same pattern as the one for mountains. For example, Ellis Island, Bali, Jamaica. These are all individual islands. The Hawaiian Islands. The Maldives. Are groups of islands. Special cases. The Big Island in Hawaii is referring to one island. Review. Mountains, Peaks, and Islands. See the chart below. Single. Mount Pinatubo. Mount Rainier. Copper Mountain. Pikes Peak. Mount Ikea. Groups. The Appalachians. The Rocky Mountains. The Alps. Special cases. The Mount of Olives. Islands. Okinawa. Easter Island. Madagascar. Groups. The Canary Islands. The Florida Keys. The Bahamas. Special cases. The Big Island in Hawaii. Six. Continents and regions. Continents are referred to by name without an article. For example, Asia, South America, Africa. Can be cultural as well as physical areas. However, if we're referring to the landmass in its physical form, we can also say the N continent or the continent of blank. Notice we put an N on the word with the blank continent. Example. The North American continent. The continent of Africa. The European continent. The Indian continent. Continent is not capitalized here. Regions can be referred to with the, often without the word region. For example, the Middle East region or the Middle East. The Arctic. The Southwest. Seven. Countries, states and cities. Generally, if countries are referred to in the plural, the article the is used. For example, the United States. The Philippines. The Bahamas. The Netherlands. A special case would be the United Kingdom. Some official names include the before blank of blank. For example, the Republic of Korea. The State of Idaho. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is rare but some cities even include the in their names. For example, the Hague. Review. Continents, regions, countries, states and cities. See the chart below. Continents. No article is needed. South America. Europe. Asia. Special phrasing. The continent of Africa. The African continent. Region. Use the. The Antarctic. The Middle East. A special case would be Southeast Asia where no the is used. Countries and cities. No article is needed in most cases. For example, Denmark and Tokyo. Special cases. The Bahamas. The Philippines. The Hague. Countries and states. No article is required. Official names. The Republic of Ghana. The State of Ohio. Eight. Gulfs, Bays and Harbors. Named Gulfs, Bays and Harbors usually do not require articles unless the word of is part of the name. For example, Hudson Bay. Ha Long Bay. New York Harbor. The Gulf of Mexico. The Bay of Bengal. The Gulf of Thailand. Special cases. The Persian Gulf. Chesapeake Bay is sometimes referred to as the Chesapeake Bay or the Bay. The Bay area usually refers to the area surrounding San Francisco Bay. On maps you might see the article the omitted. Perhaps to save space. Nine. Deserts, canyons and valleys. Deserts usually require the and the word desert is often omitted. The Gobi Desert. The Mojave Desert. The Sahara. The Kalahari. Named canyons usually do not require an article. King's Canyon. Bryce Canyon. Marble Canyon. A notable canyon with the in its name is the Grand Canyon. Named valleys usually do not require an article. For example, Central Valley. Utah Valley. San Fernando Valley. Special cases. The Red River Valley. The Valley of the Sun. Note, sometimes local people may refer to a particular valley as the Valley. In Los Angeles, the Valley is San Fernando Valley. In Arizona, it is the Phoenix area. Ten. Parks. In the U.S., there are several types of parks. National Parks, State Parks and City Parks. Most do not require an article. Yellowstone National Park. Goblin Valley State Park. Central Park. Victoria Park. For well-known national parks, the words National Park are often omitted. For example, have you been to Yellowstone? No, but I've been to Yosemite. Ready to test your knowledge? Fill in the blanks with the, uh, or zero, meaning no article or nothing. Feel free to stop the video if you'd like more time for this exercise. Here are the answers. There is a big lake near Milwaukee. Lake Michigan is part of the Great Lakes. The Sierra Nevada Mountains are located in California. The Missouri River connects to the Mississippi near St. Louis. Attic Island is part of the Aleutians. That's the name of an island chain. Is the Gulf of Thailand connected to the Pacific or the Indian Ocean? I might visit Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon this summer. The Hudson River empties into New York Harbor. Mount Fuji is probably the most famous volcano in Asia. The Sahara and the Persian Gulf are well-known features of Africa and the Middle East. References. I was first introduced to this concept by my mentor, Dr. Lynn Henriksen. I would like to credit his book as a source of information. I also got ideas from the following textbook. Thanks for watching. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at www.eslgold.com. Submit question and don't forget to subscribe to our channel and click on the like button below.