§ 3. Derivative Orientating Names

No article is used with the derivative orientating names which are derived from basic groups of orientating names (address names etc.).

J. Orientating names derived from address names:

a) denote places of activity:

• names of prisons, e.g. Dartmoor (from the name of a region), Wandsworth (from the name of a village), but: the Maze Prison:

• names of military bases, e.g. Greenham Common — an RAF base at the village of Greenham Common.

b) denote events:

• names of annual events, e.g. Cowes (week) - an annual sailing and yachting regatta at Cowes;

• names of disasters, e.g. the effect of Chernobyl on British agriculture.

2. Orientating names derived from personal names:

a) denote places of activity named by possessive nouns:

• names of hotels (Brown's);

• names of shops (Foyle's);

• names of museums (Madam Tussaud's);

• names of restaurants (Leoni's).

Note: In some cases the possessive suffix is developing into special orientating marker without apostrophe, e.g. Selfriges (department store), Bairclays (bank). This tendency is especially evident if we compare the form of some orientating names at different stages of the development of English: e.g. Outside Harrod's it was (A.Christie; 1947). Thousands of British shops now stock Swarovski -from designer jewellery at Harrods to the tiny crystals that decorate Mark and Spencer belts and brooches (RD, 1989).

b) denote objects of activity when an orientating name coincides with the personal name:

• names of bells, e.g. Great Paul;

• names of hurricanes, e.g. Then along came Hurricane Hugo (RD);

• names of reference books, e.g. Wisden - a cricket reference book.

Exercise 46. Fill in the blanks.

1. I watched the big planes take off from ... Cointrin, Geneva Airport. 2. He had become an expert on equipment at a departure desk at ... Kennedy. 3. ... Corpses of Jews (cemetery) lie about me rotting in the mould of their holy field. 4. Lieutenant Mike Phillips and John Connors sat in the humid darkness of the beach at ... Howard Air Base on December 19, 1989. 5. Mrs. C. had rung my office at ... Columbia Broadcasting to say hello. 6. He was now a tuberculosis patient in ... hospital. 7. He had married and grown into a responsible member of the community, a pillar of ... Baptist Church. 8. Casualities were taken to two hospitals, ... Bartholomew's and ... University College Hospital. 9. Robert immediately took her to the casualty department at ... Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. 10. It was delayed until the days after completion of ... Desert Storm Operation. 11. The French tanker, Betelgense, caught fire at ... Banty Bay. 12. ... Operation Woodpecker is a summer play-scheme for children. 13. ... Hong Kong, part of Jardin Matheson, already controls about 15%. 14. ... NASA was proposing a space shuttle employing the highest technology. 15. "How many people are there at ... Congress", my six-year-old wanted to know the night before we went to visit ... Capitol Hill.