Which cases have I to use ‘The’ + toponyms in? Which cases have I to use ‘The’ + toponyms in? Hello. I had an exercise in Rosetta Stone (it’s an software for languages learning) on grammar. All the t

Vadim M.

Which cases have I to use ‘The’ + toponyms in? Which cases have I to use ‘The’ + toponyms in? Hello. I had an exercise in Rosetta Stone (it’s an software for languages learning) on grammar. All the tasks were made by me correctly. But I did them intuitively. In that exercise, I had six sentences with gasps that I had to fill. Here are they: 1. they swimming in [Pacific Ocean / The Pacific Ocean] (I choosed 2nd option ); 2. I grow corn in [France / The France] (I choosed 1); 3. The oil industry is very important in [Egypt / The Egypt] (I choosed 1); 4. We were born in India, but we’ve lived in [United Kingdom / the United Kingdom] for 3 years (I choosed 2); 5. The manufacturing industry is very important in [China / The China] (I choosed 1); 6. This animal is swimming in [Arctic Ocean / the Arctic Ocean] (I choosed 2) Why am I supposed to use ‘the’ in one cases and not supposed to do it in another ones? Did I get it right, that I’m NOT supposed to use ‘the’ when I’m talking about the objects that are on the ground?For example, ‘I don’t want to swim in the Arctic Ocean (AO), because it’s cold’. I’ve used ‘The’ because the AO isn’t on the ground. Another instance, ‘I really want to drink a beer with the Germans in Germany’. I haven’t used ‘The’, because Germany is a country and it is on the ground. And the last instance: ‘My friend sent me great tea from the United Kingdom’. I’ve used ‘the’ because the UK is an island and it isn’t on the Ground. Thank you in advance.

Oct 25, 2018 4:32 PM

Answers · 9

No, it's nothing to do with the ground. It's simply that some are just names (with no meaning) like Vadim, and some are descriptive names (articles, adjectives and nouns with meaning) like The Russian Guy. eg: kingdom is a noun, united means together, 'the united kingdom. :)

October 25, 2018

Grammar in Use Intermediate, 2nd edition, unit 74 - Names With and Without "the" Africa (proper noun) the United Kingdom (proper noun based on the common noun "kingdom" - which kingdom? the United Kingdom) the Atlantic Ocean (which ocean? the Atlantic Ocean) the Nile (= the Nile River; which river? the Nile River)

October 25, 2018

Hallo, Vadim. The word 'the' is known as a 'definite article' (not a toponym, which is something else entirely). In English we have definite ('the' is the only definite article in English) and indefinite articles ('a' and 'an'). Yes, you chose correctly in each of the examples above, in other words all your answers are correct. However, the correctness of your answers has nothing to do with whether or not something is 'on the ground', as you put it. It has to do with whether or not the name of a thing or place (the noun) has been 'qualified' in some way, using an adjective or adjectival clause, or a phrase, OR if you are indicating something generally or specifically. So in the case of a country or place, you would for example say: 'I spoke to friends from Germany' but you would say 'I spoke to friends from THE Federal Republic of Germany.' Also, you would say: 'I spoke to friends from England/Britain ', but 'I spoke to friends from THE United Kingdom/UK.' Or 'I spoke to friends from America' but 'I spoke to friends from THE United States'. In the case of nouns like 'corn', if you are referring to corn in a specific way (talking about a specific thing, e.g. THIS corn), you would use the indefinite article 'the', to indicate for instance the corn on your plate, or corn from a particular place, etc. If you are talking about corn generally, e.g. the fact that you ate corn while you were on holiday, or prefer maize to corn, for example, you do not need the article 'the'. So you would say: 'I ate corn all holiday' but 'I ate THE white corn' OR 'I ate THE corn they gave me.' I hope this is helpful. If you have any further questions about this, you are welcome to ask. Regards, Shirley

October 25, 2018

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