The use of articles with other proper names

		Zero Article	Definite Article
1	Buildings, bridges	Waterloo Bridge Westminster Abbey	traditional use the Tower (of London) the White House the Old Bailey (the Crown Court in the UK)
2	Airports, railway and bus stations,	Heathrow Airport Victoria Station	-
3	Hotels, clubs, restaurants, cafes, pubs	-	the Hilton; the Green Hotel the National Tennis Club the Restaurant Bretagne the Café de la Paix the Headless Woman
4	Museums, picture galleries, monuments	-	the National Gallery the British Museum the Washington Monument
5	Concert halls, theatres, cinemas	Carnegie Hall (traditional name)	the Royal Albert Hall the Old Vic Theatre the Odeon Cinema the Kharkiv Shevchenko Ukrainian Drama Theatre
6	Ships and boats	-	The Titanic The Seagull
7	Newspapers	-	The Daily Mirror The Financial Times
8	Magazines	Vogue Teen Vogue	-
8	Names of historical events	-	the Paris Commune the Russian Revolution the Industrial Revolution the Napoleonic Wars the gold rush
9	Parties and organizations	-	the Conservative Party The League of nations the NATO the European Union

Exercises

Exercise 1. Match the words with their definitions.

Part 1

1	a continent	a	a watershed
2	tropics	b	the place where a river enters a sea
3	a jungle	c	a large piece of land surrounded on three sides by water:
4	a desert	d	a long narrow hill-top
5	a pole	e	a river mouth widening into the sea, where fresh water mixes with salt water
6	the Equator	f	a river flowing into a larger river or lake
7	an estuary	g	either of the ends of the Earth’s axis of rotation
8	a river mouth	h	the region between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, with a hot climate
9	a tributary	i	a river falling down a steep height
10	a waterfall	j	an imaginary line round the Earth, equidistant from the poles
11	a divide	k	any of the main continuous bodies of land
12	a cape	l	land overgrown with tangled vegetation, especially in the tropics
13	a ridge	m	an area without sufficient rainfall and, consequently, vegetation to support human life;

Part 2

1	a galaxy	a	a body of ice originating in mountains in snowfields moving slowly
2	a constellation	b	the regular rise and fall of the sea due to the attraction of the Moon and Sun
3	the Milky Way	c	a flat-topped steep-sided plateau
4	a cliff	d	a deep, narrow valley running through mountains
5	a gorge	e	a long, jagged mountain chain, especially in Spain or Spanish America
6	a canyon	f	a tongue of land surrounded on three sides by water but still attached to a larger landmass
7	a glacier	g	a congregation of millions or billions of stars, held together by gravity
8	a plateau	h	a narrow passage of water connecting two large bodies of water
9	a strait	i	an area of fairly level high ground
10	the tide	j	a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern in the sky;
11	a sierra	k	a steep rock face, especially on the coast
12	a mesa	l	the faint band of light crossing the night sky, consisting of stars in the plane of our Galaxy
13	a peninsula	m	a narrow opening between hills

Exercise 1.2. Translate the unknown words from Exercise 1 into Ukrainian or Russian.

Exercise 1.3. Define the active words from Exercise 1 without looking at the given definitions.

Exercise 2. Complete these sentences as in the example: The Nile is a river.

1. The Atlantic is ________________________________.

2. The Alps are ______________________________.

3. Greece is _________________.

4. The Sahara is __________________.

5. The Amazon is ___________________.

6. The Mediterranean is _______________.

7. The Bahamas is ___________________.

8. Crete and Corsica are __________________.

9. Everest is the highest ___________________ in the world.

10. Michigan and Erie ['IqrI] (озеро Эри) are two of the Great __________.

11. The ‘Great Bear’ is ___________________________.

Note: 10 constellations most often referred to:

1. Andromeda [æn'drɔmɪdə]

2. Orion [ə'raɪən]

3. Sagittarius / The Archer [ˌsæʤɪ'tɛərɪəs]

4. Cassiopeia ["kxsI'qVpIq]

5. Cancer

6. Taurus ['tɔːrəs]

7. Aquarius [ə'kwɛərɪəs]

8. Gemini ['ʤemɪnaɪ]

9. Scorpio ['skO:pIqV]

10. Leo

Exercise 3. There follows a selection of words describing a range of geographical features. Read each set of notes and see if you can guess which country is being described. For those who can’t guess, the answers are given below, but be careful, they are not in the right order.

1. a peninsula bounded by a large mountain range in the North – a wide plateau extending to the ocean in the South – unpredictable monsoon climate – population concentrated in the northern plains;

2. enormous forest areas in the interior – coastal mountains in the West – numerous islands off the north coast – lowlands in the North – continental climate, severe inland, more moderate by the sea – total area: 3, 851, 809 square miles;

3. a wide variety of land and climate – a huge river basin in the North – thickly forested – a vast plateau in the South – densely populated in coastal belt to the East – relatively underdeveloped in central areas beyond the highlands in the South-East – lies on the Equator;

4. consists of four main islands – mountainous and hilly – many active volcanoes – subject to earthquakes, typhoons and tidal waves – extends through many degrees of latitude – the climate, therefore, is very diverse;

5. located round the mouth of the Rhine and opposite the Thames estuary – a long coastline – most of the country flat and low-lying – large areas in the West and North below sea level – subject to floods – complex network of canals;

6. mountainous with numerous lakes – varied climate according to altitude, ranging from tropical to temperate to cold – highest point over 18,000 feet – desert in the West – half of the country lies inside the Tropic of Cancer;

7. to the North the southern slopes of a gigantic mountain chain – tropical forests and jungle – highest peak 8,845 metres – fertile valleys for agriculture in central zone;

8. most highly developed country in its continent – rich in mineral deposits and other natural resources – large industrialised urban areas round coasts – rural in the interior – rich vegetation, good irrigation;

Answers: South Africa, India, Canada, Nepal, Brazil, Mexico, Holland, Japan.

Exercise 4. Give two nouns which collocate with the adjectives below. Try not to repeat any of the nouns you choose.

1. sandy

2. steep

3. shallow

4. rocky

5. turbulent

6. dangerous

Exercise 5. Complete the paragraph below about Ukraine.

1. ________________________ is a _______________________ in __________________.

2. The countryside is _____________________ in the north and ______________________ in the south.

3. The country’s economy is based on _________________________.

4. The longest river is ____________________.

5. The most famous chain of mountains is ______________________________________.

6. The highest peak is __________________________.

7. _________________________ is a major environmental problem in Ukraine today.

Exercise 6. Do the general knowledge quiz below. In case of doubt, find out the information you need in the Internet.

1. How many continents are there in the world? What are they?

2. How many oceans are there in the world? What are they?

3. What is the highest mountain in the world? 

4. What is Kilimanjaro famous for? 

5. What is the longest river in the world?

6. What is the longest river in Europe? 

7. What is the longest river in Ukraine?

8. Where is the highest waterfall in the world? 

9. Name some countries which have geysers and hot springs.

10. What is delta and which great river has one?

11. Where are the Straits of Gibraltar? 

12. Where is the Cape of Good Hope?

13. What is the southernmost point of South America?

14. What is the capital of the USA?

15. What oceans does the Panama Canal join? 

16. Which river flows through London?

17. What desert occupies much of northern Africa?

18. Which country has the largest population in the world?

19. What joins the Red Sea and the Mediterranean?

20. Which is the largest continent?

21. What separates Spain and Morocco?

22. In which mountain range is Everest?

Exercise 7. Decide whether statements below are true or false. Correct the false ones. In case of doubt, find out the information you need in the Internet.

1. Our galaxy is called the Milky Bar. 

2. Our solar system has nine principal planets.

3. Earth is thought to have the highest density of all the planets.

4. A constellation is another word for star.

5. A meteor is sometimes known as a shooting star.

6. Meteorites can be bigger than meteors.

7. Asteroids are orbiting rocks found between Mars and Jupiter.

8. An astrologer would know more about the surface of Venus than an astronomer.

9. Halley’s Comet was expected to appear in the 1990’s.

10. UFO stands for unidentified flying object.

11. Pluto was first discovered during the twentieth century. 

12. Saturn is further from the Sun than Uranus.

13. Mercury is the hottest planet.

14. Neptune is the nearest planet to the Sun

15. A light year is nearly six million miles. 

Exercise 8. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with the necessary articles.

1. People have always wanted to be able to fly like birds in ___________ sky.

2. Every solar system has __________ sun.

3. _________ Equator runs round the middle of ________ earth.

4. When _________ moon passes between __________ sun and _________ earth, it is called an eclipse.

5. That night there was ________ amazing sky, full of different colours.

6. It’s the oldest university in _________ world.

7. We don’t know how old _________ universe is.

8. Gorillas can only be found deep inside ________ jungle.

9. Camels have been called ‘ships of __________ desert’.

10. I prefer living in ________ country; it’s quieter than ________ town.

11. When we were kids we loved the beach so we used to spend all our holidays at ________ seaside, but now we prefer _________ mountains, especially _____ Alps.

Exercise 9. In the paragraph below, all the definite articles have been omitted. Insert them wherever necessary.

Brazil is fifth largest country in world. In north densely forested basin of River Amazon covers half country. In east country is washed by Atlantic. Highest mountain chain in South America, Andes, does not lie in Brazil. Brazil’s most famous city is Rio de Janeiro, former capital. Capital of Brazil today is Brasilia.

Exercise 10. Fill in the gaps in the text with the definite articles wherever necessary.

My journey took me across ___________ Atlantic Ocean from _______ Europe to ___________ South America. I travelled through ____________ Amazon rainforest and down through the interior of ___________ Brazil as far as ________ Iguacu Falls. From there I headed north again, through ______ Bolivia, round _____ Lake Titikaka and up to Cuzco. Then I crossed __________ Andes and finally arrived in Lima. For the last part of the journey I flew to __________ Jamaica in ______ West Indies.

KEY

My journey took me across the Atlantic Ocean from _______ Europe to ___________ South America. I travelled through the Amazon rainforest and down through the interior of ___________ Brazil as far as the/- Iguacu Falls. From there I headed north again, through ______ Bolivia, round _____ Lake Titikaka and up to Cuzco. Then I crossed the Andes and finally arrived in Lima. For the last part of the journey I flew to __________ Jamaica in the West Indies.

Exercise 11. Creative writing.

Imagine that you are a pilot who has just made a solo flight around the world. Write a two page article to a youth magazine about what you have seen from the sky. Follow the recommendations below on how to write magazine articles.