The Definite article before proper nouns

The definite article is used to determine proper nouns in the following cases:

a) Before persons' surnames in the plural to refer to the whole family. (E.g. The Browns were sitting at the table and having tea.)

b) Before a person’s name or surname with the limiting attribute. (E.g. She was again the Marv he had met years ago.)

c) As part of substantivized adjectives and before ordinals in the names of kings (E.g. Peter I (pronounced «the first»); Louise XIY (pronounced «the fourteenth», Alexander the Great).

d) As part of substantivized adjectives denoting na­tionalities: (E.g. The British are famous for their conservatism).

e) Before names of countries and states including words like republic, union, commonwealth, kingdom, sta­tes: the German Federal Republic, the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America.

f) Before names denoting groups of islands: the Bri­tish Isles, the Bahamas, and the Canary Islands.

g) Before names of mountain ranges in the plural: the Rocky Mountains/the Rockies, the Alps/the Swiss Alps.

h) Before names of rivers, channels, canals, seas, oceans: the Nile, the Thames, the English Channel, the Suez Canal, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific (Ocean).

i) Before names of regions: the Far East, the Middle East.

j) Before a limited number of names of cities and streets: the Hague (a city in the Netherlands), the Strand, the Mall (streets in London).

k) Before names of cities, countries, etc., with the limited attribute: the London of the 1980s, the England of the 19'' century.

1) Before names of hotels, restaurants or pubs, theat­res, cinemas, museums or art galleries: the Hilton (Hotel),

the Peking (Restaurant), the National Theatre, the Covent Garden, the British Museum, the Tate Gallery.

m) Before names of places or buildings, especially with the limiting of- attribute: The Empire State Building, The Bank of Scotland, the Houses of Parliament, and the Museum of Fine Arts.

n) Before names of newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.: «The Times», «The Economist», «The Observer».

o) Before names of ships and boats: the Titanic, the Sedov.

p) Before names organizations and political parties: the Navy, the Army, the Liberal Party, the London City Council.

But: Parliament, Congress.

The Definite article in collocations and set expressions

- The definite article may be used before nouns of any class defined by the limiting attribute or a subordinate clause: He kicked the snow from his shoes and then came up to the armchair opposite mine. She walked along the street that led to his house. She is the lady who lives next door to me.

- The definite article is used before nouns attributed by ordinals, by the adjectives same, very in the meaning «actual», following, next in the meaning «closest in space, order, or degree; immediately following in time», last in the meaning «after the others; final; the least suitable». (E.g. He was the first person to arrive. My father sits in the same chair every evening. She died at the very height of her fame. This was the very thing he looked for. He felt sick hut on the following day he seemed quite well again. The next house to ours is a mile away. Where will you be during the next few weeks?)

- The definite article is used after the words one of, some of, many of, each of. (E.g. Can I have one of the books?)

Some of the articles are easy to translate. (E.g. Each of the boys got excellent marks.)

Besides, the definite article is part of numerous a) preposition + noun set phrases used in a sentence as, adverbial modifiers or predicatives and b) verb + noun set phrases functioning as one verb.

a) Preposition + noun/substentivized adjective set phrases: at the top, at the bottom, in the beginning, in the middle, in the centre, in the end, in the rain, in the cold, in the heat, in the main, in the market, in the original, in the slightest, on the whole, on the one hand, on the other hand, on the alert, on the look-out, on the market; out of the question, to the life.

b) Verb +noun set phrases: be on the safe side, break the heart, break the ice, break the news, keep the bed, play the game, take the trouble to do, tell the truth