[PW] Re: Geographical features and the definite article

[David Anderson]

The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th ed., p.194+ (Place Names) discusses
capitalization, political divisions, topographical names, and structures and
public places, but not specifically when to use a definite or indefinite
article.

Page 550 (article 18.124) discusses alphabetization of Names beginning with
[non-English] articles, usually under the article, eg, El Dorado, El Paso,
La Crosse, La Porte, Le Havre, Los Angeles, etc.

Perhaps the note on p.258 of Morton Freeman's the Wordwatchers' guide to
good writing & grammar (Writer's Digest Books, 1990) will help: "The primary
function of _the_ is to specify a particular thing, whereas the articles _a_
and _an_ designate one of a class. Do not capitalize _the_, even though part
of the title, when the syntax requires a _the_. Not "We all read _The New
York Times_," but "We all read the _New York Times_."

Perhaps we can extend the use of the phrase "The primary function of _the_
is to specify a particular thing," to the place named. Therefore, we
wouldn't say _The_ Lake Michigan, or _The_ River Jordan. ??

Does this work?
David Anderson
retired

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <UmbraScit at aol.com>
To: <list at project-wombat.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 1:18 PM
Subject: [PW] Geographical features and the definite article


>
> The caller's question:
>      Why do some geographic features use the definite article (the Carp
> River) and others don't (Lake Michigan)?
>
> The answer so far:
>      Rivers, (the Carp River) oceans (the Pacific Ocean), seas (the
Sargasso
> Sea), groups of mountains (the Rocky Mts.), groups of islands (the
Hawaiian
> Islands), and a country composed of smaller divisions (the United States)
take
> THE.
>
> Harbors (Good Harbor), creeks (Shalda Creek), bays (East Bay), ponds
(Walden
> Pond) do not take THE.
>
> But it's not that simple. Some sources suggest that if the noun
designating
> the geographic feature comes first, there is no article (Lake Michigan),
but to
> contradict that, we have The Jordan River and The River Jordan; Lake
Leelanau
> and Fish Lake, not The Lake Leelanau.
>
> Is there any order in all this chaos, or is it a case of regionalisms and
> localisms arbitrarily using or not using the definite article with
geographical
> features?
>
> Sources would be appreciated. Many thanks.
>
> ________________
> Michael J. Sheehan
> The Senior Corner, TADL
> http://seniors.tcnet.org
> _______________________________________________
> Project Wombat
> list at project-wombat.org
> http://www.project-wombat.org
>
>