Names of political institutions

The following names typically have the definite article

• The names of most political or government bodies and institutions: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Department of Trade and Industry, the State Department, the Cabinet.

Look at the percentage of lawyers in the Senate.

This is true also of foreign institutions, translated or not: the Bundestag, the Supreme Court, the Finance Ministry, the Supreme Rada, and so on.

Exceptions to this are: Parliament (but the House of Parliament), Congress, and names of councils: Kent County Council, Leeds City Council.

It happened when I was elected to Parliament in 1964.

But names of locations and buildings that are used to refer metaphorically to political institutions stay as they are: Whitehall, Westminster, Downing Street, Washington, the Kremlin.

• Official titles: the Secretary of State, the Foreign (or Prime) Minister, the King, the Premier.

But article is not used if the name accompanies the title: President Washington

• Names of political parties: the Labour party, the Conservative party, the Republicans.

• Names of law enforcement bodies, civil and military: the Army, the Navy, the state militia, the police, the Air Corps.

• Names of bills, acts, and other legislative deliberations: the Magna Carta, the Missouri Compromise.

Practice

Exercise 1 Insert articles where necessary.

1. ____ Strand opens into ____ Trafalgar Square, with its fountains, ____ Nelson’s Column, ____ Admiralty Arch and ____ National Gallery. 2. Government offices line ____ Whitehall, and on the right is ____ famous Downing Street. 3. ____ Louvre and ____ Metropolitan Museum are both world famous. 4. ____ New York Stock Exchange is located on ____ Wall Street. 5. ____ Columbia University, ____ Princeton University, and ____ Yale University are all regarded as excellent American universities. 6. There are many beautiful shops on ____ Fifth Avenue in ____ New York. 7. ____ Central Park is right in ____ heart of ____ New York City. 8. ____ Royal Hawaiian Hotel is one of the oldest in ____ Honolulu. 9. ____ President of ____ United States and ____ Prime Minister of England are both heads of state. 10. ____ Parliament is not in session today. 11. ____ Navy reported the loss of two ships. 12. ____ police are holding two men on suspicion of murder. 13. ____ Thanksgiving is celebrated at the end of November. 14. ____ legislative branch of the government makes the laws; ____ executive branch carries them out. 15. He belongs to ____ Democratic party. 16. ____ President Nixon made many speeches in ____ Congress. 17. ____ Supreme Court is going to announce their decision on this case soon. 18. ____ Monroe Doctrine stated that European countries were not to interfere in the affairs of ____ Latin America. 19. ____ Election Day in ____ United States occurs on ____ Tuesday after the first Monday in November. 20. ____ Valley Art is ____ oldest theatre in my hometown.

Exercise 2 Insert articles where needed.

1. ____ Chapultepec Park is located in ____ Mexico City. 2. ____ Shea Stadium can seat thousands of people. 3. There is a huge fountain in ____ middle of ____ Sunshine Mall. 4. ____ Hilton Hotel is located on ____ Main Street. 5. We stayed at ____ Philmore Motel. 6. ____ Golden Gate is one of ____ most beautiful bridges in ____ world. 7. Class will be held in ____ Social Science Building. 8. ____ Desert Botanical Gardens is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon. 9. ____ Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford. 10. ____ San Diego Zoo is one of my favourite places to go. 11. A famous sight in Honshu-Shikoku, Japan is ____ Ikuchi Bridge. 12. ____ Apollo is a famous New York theatre. 13. A new wing is being added to ____ Good Samaritan Hospital. 14. Dr. Potter’s office is in ____ Fine Arts Building. 15. ____ Hanging Gardens of Babylon were among the seven wonders of the ancient world. 16. ____ Westinghouse Company makes household appliances. 17. ____ Fiesta Mall is a great place to shop. 18. ____ Cherry Lane runs parallel to ____ Colt Road. 19. That store is located on ____ Eighth Avenue. 20. ____ Beatles were a famous musical quartet.

Exercise 3 In the sentences below, only one of the underlined noun groups is appropriate. Cross out the one that is wrong.

1. Times/ The Times is a daily newspaper. 2. Kremlin/The Kremlin has so far made no response to the protest. 3. He’s been a newsreader for BBC/the BBC for 10 years. 4. Italy won a World Cup/the World Cup in 1982. 5. Are you staying at home for Christmas/the Christmas? 6. ICI/The ICI is one of the world’s largest companies. 7. Newsweek/The Newsweek appears, not surprisingly, every week. 8. Whitehall/The Whitehall has denied any knowledge of the affair. 9. The Barclays Bank/Barclays Bank have opened a new branch in the High Street. 10. John Major replaced Margaret Thatcher as leader of Conservative Party/The Conservative Party in 1990. 11. Wimbledon/The Wimbledon is the most famous tennis event in the world. 12. The proposal was rejected by Finance Ministry/ the Finance Ministry. 13. Is Vidomosti /the Vidomosti a daily or weekly newspaper? 14. House of Lords/ The House of Lords will vote on the bill tomorrow? 15. In 1954 he joined General Electric Company/ the General Electric Company, or GEC/the GEC as it is usually known. 16. British newspapers are usually divided into popular papers, like Today/the Today and Sun/the Sun, and quality papers, like Guardian/the Guardian. 17. Don’t forget it’s Mother’s Day/ the Mother’s Day next week. 18. Several countries are interested in joining European Community/the European Community. 19. He was one of the youngest to be elected to Senate/the Senate. 20. This article was published in Spectator/the Spectator. 21. Olympic Games/The Olympic Games were restarted in Athens in 1896. 22. There have been arguments about the role of UNESCO/the UNESCO. 23. I can remember Easter/an Easter when it snowed all the time. 24. Cathay Pacific/The Cathay Pacific offers daily flights to Tokyo. 25. United Nations/The United Nations was formed in 1945.

Exercise 4 Choose the correct form, with or without the.

1. Have you ever been to British Museum / the British Museum? 2. Hyde Park / The Hyde Park is a very large park in central London. 3. Another park in central London is St James's Park / the St James's Park. 4. Grand Hotel / The Grand Hotel is in Baker Street / the Baker Street. 5. We flew to New York from Gatwick Airport / the Gatwick Airport near London. 6. Frank is a student at Liverpool University / the Liverpool University. 7. If you're looking for a good clothes shop, I would recommend Harrison's / the Harrison's. 8. If you're looking for a good pub, I would recommend Ship Inn / the Ship Inn. 9. Statue of Liberty / The Statue of Liberty is at the entrance to New York harbour / the New York harbour. 10. You should go to Science Museum / the Science Museum. It's very interesting. 11. John works for IBM / the IBM now. He used to work for British Telecom / the British Telecom. 12. 'Which cinema are you going to this evening?' 'Classic / The Classic.' 13. I'd like to go to China and see Great Wall / the Great Wall. 14. Which newspaper shall I buy - Independent / the Independent or Herald / the Herald? 15. This book is published by Cambridge University Press / the Cambridge University Press.

Exercise 5 Insert the right article.

1. I went shopping at ____ Macy's and bought ____ expensive overcoat. 2. They are going for ____ walk near ____ London Zoo in ____ Regent's Park. 3. There is ____ cinema in ____ Bridge Street called ____ Odeon. 4. ____ Victoria Coach Station is near ____ Apollo theatre. 5. When we went to ____ Paris we saw ____ Eiffel Tower and ____ Louvre. 6. ____ Smith's bookshop is in ____ High Street opposite ____ Barclays Bank. 7. Let's go to ____ Red Rose - it's better than ____ Dick's. 8. I'd rather do some shopping at ____ Selfridges than go to ____Tate Gallery. 9. Does ____ Lloyds Bank have a branch near ____ Edinburgh Castle? 10. I prefer reading ____ Time Magazine to reading ____Washington Post. 11. Does ____ Great Wall of ____China run through ____ middle of ____ country? 12. ____Ambassador is going to ____ Philippines on ____ Royal Yacht. 13. ____ Buckingham Palace, ____ Trafalgar Square, ____ Houses of Parliament, ____ Tower of London, ____ Tower Bridge, ____ National Gallery are the usual sights in ____ English capital. 14. In the mornings she used to read ____ "Vogue" and he usually read ____ "Mirror". 15. The names of the following streets have the definite article: ____ Mall, ____ Strand, ____ Wall Street, ____ Unter den Linden. 16. This producer got ____ Nika for this film.

Exercise 6 Fill in the blanks with articles before miscellaneous proper names if necessary.

1. On the other bank of ____ Potomac lies ____ Arlington National Cemetery, where ____ President Kennedy was buried. 2. Tom and Miss Baker sat at either end of the long couch and she read aloud to him from ____ Saturday Evening Post. 3. Sensation at ____ London airport. Attempt to smuggle 12 jewels worth three quarters of a million. 4. He strolled down ____ Madison Avenue past ____ old Murray Hotel and over ____ 33d Street to ____ Pennsylvania Station. 5. Didn't you know that? He's man­ager of ____ Grand Opera House. 6. Then still keeping a hundred yards behind, we followed into ____ Oxford Street and so down ____ Regent Street. 10. I graduated from ____ New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of a century after my father. 11. ____ Jefferson Memorial was built in memory of the third President of ____ USA, Thomas Jefferson, who was also the author of ____ Declaration of Independence. 12. ____ White House is the President's residence. 13. At half past six on a Friday evening in January, ____ Lincoln International Airport, Illinois, was functioning, though with difficulty. 14. Hurstwood wrote her one morning asking her to meet him in ____ Jefferson Park, ____ Monroe Street. 15. He remembered having seen her sitting in ____ Botanical Gardens waiting for Bosinney. 16. This was in ____ Broadway Central, which was then one of the most important hotels in the city.17. Across ____ Fifth Avenue, through ____ Madison Square by the winding paths, east on ____ Twenty Third Street and down ____ Third Avenue wound the long serpentine com­pany. 18. He has been to ____ Eton and ____Oxford and he doesn't forget to let you know it. 19. I presume that it was committed in the cloakroom of ____ House of Commons. 20. Well, I am connected with ____ Wel­lington — the new hotel on ____ Broadway. 21. Every morning her mother had read two newspapers from cover to cover: ____ Daily Telegraph and ____ Daily Mirror. 22. Approaching ____ Malta Street, ____ Soho, Soames thought with wonder of those seven years at ____ Brighton. 23. He stood by the window of the sitting-room which gave view over ____ Hyde Park. 24. They drove off eastward, down ____ Strand and into a little side street, by ____ Charing Cross. 25. You want to see ____ Lincoln Park and ____ Michigan Boulevard. They are putting up great buildings there. 26. ____ Savoy is a luxury hotel in ____ Strand in London.

Exercise 7 Insert articles where necessary.