Articles with place names: the Nile, but Lake Como – exercises on the or no article with places
About this lesson
This B1 drill lesson gives articles with place names exercises: which countries, waters, mountains, islands, streets and buildings take the, and which take no article.
- Grammar
- The for rivers, seas, ranges, deserts, island groups, museums and names like the USA; no article for most countries, cities, lakes, single mountains, streets, parks and airports.
- Topic
- Sanne's travel blog, six months into a year around the world, then her email to her grandpa, photo captions, travel tips and a chat about the USA.
- Activities
- Choices, sorting, full-name gap-fills, corrections, tables, matching, drag-and-drop, a memory game, word order, quizzes, a chat and a test.
What's inside
Chapter 1The rule
- PictureUnlock
- Study the scheme: articles with place namesGrammar schemeTry it
- Is the sentence correct? Mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Sort the names: the or no article?Sort into columnsTry it
- Choose the right words: the or no article?Choose the optionUnlock
- Write the full name of each placeFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 2Countries, continents and cities
- Choose the right words: countriesChoose the optionTry it
- Sort the countries: what kind of name is it?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Correct the mistake: write the name of the country, city or continentFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the right words: continents, states and parts of a countryChoose the optionUnlock
- Match the beginnings and the endings: which country?MatchUnlock
- Choose the correct sentence: countries and continentsQuizUnlock
Chapter 3Rivers, lakes and mountains
- Choose the right words: rivers, seas and oceansChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right words: lakes, mountains and islandsChoose the optionUnlock
- Sort the places: with the or without?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Fill in the table: write the full nameFill in the tableTry it
- Drag the words into the gaps: complete the namesDrag and dropUnlock
- Match the beginnings and the endings: vacation memoriesMatchUnlock
- Find the mistake and choose the right wordsQuizUnlock
- Read the geography quiz and write the answersFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 4Streets, parks and famous buildings
- Choose the right words: around townChoose the optionUnlock
- Sort the places in the city: the or no article?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Correct the mistake: write the name of the placeFill in the gapsTry it
- Choose the right words: hotels, museums and famous buildingsChoose the optionUnlock
- Read the New York tour plan and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Choose the correct sentence: famous placesQuizUnlock
Chapter 5Real life: Halfway around the world
- Read Sanne's blog postReal-life documentUnlock
- Read the blog post again: true or false?True or falseUnlock
- Read Sanne's email to her grandpa and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Sanne's photo captions and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read Sanne's travel tips and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right replies: Sanne asks you about the USAChatTry it
- Test yourself: choose the right answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Choose the right words: a geography lessonChoose the optionUnlock
- Correct the mistakes: write each name the right wayFill in the gapsUnlock
- Sort the places around the world: the or no article?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Find the mistake in each sentenceQuizUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: the place and what it isMemory gameUnlock
- Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the right words: buildings, streets and airportsChoose the optionUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: name and kind of placeDrag and dropUnlock
- Match the beginnings and the endings: travel storiesMatchUnlock
- Read the sentences: are they correct? Mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Choose the correct sentence: travel plansQuizUnlock
- Read the family chat about a trip to Washington and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Read Ludmila's postcard and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read the river cruise ad and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the table: the full names of more placesFill in the tableUnlock
Grammar: the with place names
Most place names take no article: Japan, Lima, Lake Como, Central Park. The kind of place decides when the comes in: waters, mountain ranges, island groups, plural country names and many buildings take it, so students learn the groups rather than every name.
Articles with places: the Nile, but Lake Como
Some place names take the, and most don't. The kind of place decides.
Names that take the
The goes with plural country names and names with States, Kingdom or Republic; rivers, seas, oceans and canals; ranges, deserts and island groups; names with of; hotels, museums and many famous buildings; and parts of a country: the Nile, the Louvre, the north of Chile.
| Kind of place | Examples |
|---|---|
| countries with States, Kingdom, Republic, Emirates | the USA · the UK · the Czech Republic · the United Arab Emirates |
| countries with a plural name | the Netherlands · the Philippines · the Maldives |
| rivers, seas, oceans, canals | the Nile · the Red Sea · the Pacific (Ocean) · the Panama Canal |
| mountain ranges, deserts | the Alps · the Andes · the Himalayas · the Sahara |
| island groups | the Canary Islands · the Galápagos Islands · the Bahamas |
| names with of | the Statue of Liberty · the Great Wall of China · the Bay of Bengal |
| hotels, museums, galleries, theaters | the Seaview Hotel · the Louvre · the British Museum · the Apollo Theater |
| many famous buildings, towers, bridges, monuments | the Eiffel Tower · the Taj Mahal · the Golden Gate Bridge |
| parts of a country or continent | the north of Chile · the south of Spain |
Names with no article
Most countries, continents, cities and states have none: Japan, Asia, Texas. Neither do lakes, single mountains and islands, streets, squares and parks, or a name + Palace, Airport or Station: Times Square, Heathrow Airport.
| Kind of place | Examples |
|---|---|
| most countries | Japan · Peru · Egypt · Canada · Brazil |
| continents | Asia · Africa · Europe · South America |
| cities, towns, states | Lima · Tokyo · Cairo · Texas · California |
| lakes | Lake Como · Lake Titicaca · Lake Victoria |
| single mountains | Mount Fuji · Mount Everest · Mount Kilimanjaro |
| single islands | Bali · Sicily · Tenerife |
| streets, avenues, roads, squares, parks | Fifth Avenue · Times Square · Central Park |
| a name + Palace, Airport, Station | Buckingham Palace · Heathrow Airport · Penn Station |
One mountain or a range, one island or a group
Lake and Mount come before the name, with no article: Mount Everest, Lake Michigan, but a range is the Himalayas. River, Sea, Desert or Islands come after it, with the, and the stays when the kind is left out: the Amazon, the Sahara.
Name + kind of place
Lake and Mount come before the name, with no article: Lake Como, Mount Fuji. River, Sea, Ocean, Desert, Mountains, Islands, Canal come after the name, with the: the Amazon River, the Sahara Desert, the Canary Islands. You can often leave the kind out, but the stays: the Amazon, the Pacific, the Sahara.
One place or a group?
One: no article
- Mount Everest
- Lake Michigan
- Tenerife
A group: the
- the Himalayas
- the Great Lakes
- the Canary Islands
Mistakes to catch
The scheme corrects the Japan, the Lake Como, skied in Alps and the Mount Everest. And The has a capital T only at the start of a sentence: We love the Netherlands. The Netherlands is very flat.
Common mistakes
We spent a month in the Japan.
We spent a month in Japan.
most countries: no article
Our hotel was on the Lake Como.
Our hotel was on Lake Como.
lakes: no article
Have you ever skied in Alps?
Have you ever skied in the Alps?
mountain ranges: the
My dad climbed the Mount Everest.
My dad climbed Mount Everest.
one mountain: no article
Watch out!
Countries with a plural name need the: the Netherlands, the Philippines (not: I live in Netherlands). Most countries, cities and continents have no article: Japan, Paris, Asia (not: the Japan, the Paris). The has a capital T only at the start of a sentence: We love the Netherlands. The Netherlands is very flat.
Examples
- We sailed down the Nile and climbed Mount Sinai.a river: the · one mountain: no article
- My cousin lives in the Netherlands, near Amsterdam.a plural name: the · a city: no article
- Lake Como is at the foot of the Alps.a lake: no article · a mountain range: the
- We walked through Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.a park: no article · a museum: the
- Our hotel was on Fifth Avenue, near the Empire State Building.a street: no article · a famous building: the
- Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic.one island: no article · a group, an ocean: the
More lessons on this grammar: Articles lessons and exercises
Try the articles with place names exercises
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What's in the lesson
- 43 auto-checked exercises
- 2 games
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 picture
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- use the with plural names and States, Kingdom or Republic: My aunt lives in the Netherlands. Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic.
- leave out the article with most countries, continents and cities: We flew to Australia in May. Europe has a lot of old cities.
- put the before rivers, seas and mountain ranges, but not before Lake or Mount: Vienna and Budapest are both on the Danube. We climbed Mount Olympus.
- use no article with streets, squares and parks, and the with museums and famous buildings: the café on Fifth Avenue, We went up the Eiffel Tower at sunset.
- Grammar:
- articles · the with place names · no article · proper nouns
- Topic:
- grammar practice · travel · geography · world trip
Teaching tips
- Use a world map as the board: point at a river, a range, a lake or a country, and students call out its name with or without the before they open the drills.
- Sort by kind, not by name: pairs list ten places they know from home and group them under the scheme's headings, such as rivers, lakes, single mountains, ranges, streets and museums.
- Plan a route like Sanne's: pairs write five stops for a dream trip, each a different kind of place: We'll sail down the Danube, climb Mount Etna and stay on Lake Garda. Classmates check every article.
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The whole course: English Grammar Practice · B1
English Grammar Practice · B1 has 28 drill lessons, one grammar point each: the present perfect continuous, narrative tenses, future forms, modals of deduction, the second conditional, the passive, relative clauses, reported speech, question tags and linkers. Each has the rule as a scheme, 43 to 47 exercises that check themselves, 15 of them for homework, and no new words.See the course
- 1Present perfect continuous: how long have you been doing it?
- 2Present perfect simple or continuous: how many or how long?
- 3Past perfect: what had happened before?
- 4Narrative tenses: telling a great story
- 5Future forms: plans, promises and timetables
- 6Future time clauses: I'll call you when I land
- 7Used to, be used to, get used to: settling in
- 8Modal verbs: can, must, should or might?
- 9Could, was able to, managed to: did you make it?
- 10Modals of deduction: whose bag could it be?
- 11Second conditional: what would you do?
- 12Conditionals compared: real or imagined?
- 13Present and past passive: how is it made?
- 14Passive in other tenses: what's being done?
- 15Relative clauses: the person who, the place where
- 16Reported statements: who said what?
- 17Reported questions and commands: what did they ask you?
- 18Indirect questions: could you tell me where it is?
- 19Question tags: it's your first day, isn't it?
- 20Gerunds and infinitives: enjoy doing or decide to do?
- 21Reflexive pronouns: did you make it yourself?
- 22Although, however, despite: great view, tiny room
- 23So, such and because of: what a storm!
- 24Phrasal verbs: who's going to clean it up?
- 25All, both, either, neither, none: two or a whole group?
- 26-ed and -ing adjectives: bored or boring?
- 27Advanced comparatives: the more, the better
- 28Articles with place names: the Nile, but Lake Como