[Grammar] articles

[lanatsotsoria]

my question is that is there an article before names of lakes or not? some grammar books say there is, on this site i wrote a test and one of the correct answers in the test was that there is no article before lakes.thanks for your answer heforehand)))

 

[Tdol]

Which grammar books?

I would use an article with groups of lakes - the Lake District, the Great Lakes - but not with names of individual lakes - Lake Windermere, Lake Victoria. There may be local exceptions, but not enough to justify saying that we should use the definite article IMO. Many grammars disagree with the ones you're reading- Michael Swan's Practical English Usage, Quirk et al's Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, and so on. You can say I swam in the lake, but you would say I swam in Lake Windermere, not [strike]I swam in the Lake Windermere[/strike].

 

[SoothingDave]

In my experience, we do not use articles for lakes. (An individual lake, as noted above.)

The Saint Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario.

 

[Barb_D]

The only exception I know is The Great Salt Lake, in Utah.

 

[lanatsotsoria]

thanks for answers )) Tdol -grammar books that georgian writers wrote,they aren't reliable ,i looked in Merphy and Michael Vince , if you know them ,but as i remember lakes weren't mentioned in these books.Anyway it's not logical we use definite article before oceans,seas,rivers,canals but not before lakes?

 

[bhaisahab]

thanks for answers )) Tdol -grammar books that georgian writers wrote,they aren't reliable ,i looked in Merphy and Michael Vince , if you know them ,but as i remember lakes weren't mentioned in these books.Anyway it's not logical we use definite article before oceans,seas,rivers,canals but not before lakes?

It might not be logical, lanatsotsoria, but the English language is rarely logical.

 

[5jj]

Tdol - grammar books that [STRIKE]g[/STRIKE]Georgian writers wrote[STRIKE],they[/STRIKE] aren't reliable. , [STRIKE]i[/STRIKE] I looked in M[STRIKE]e[/STRIKE]urphy and Michael Vince , if you know them ,but as [STRIKE]i[/STRIKE] I remember lakes weren't mentioned in these books.

[FONT=&quot]Swan, Michael (1980) Practical English Usage (3rd ed, 2005), Oxford: OUP, page 65, #17
[/FONT]

 

[lanatsotsoria]

Thank you very much for replies ))) I guess I'll have to just learn exceptions

 

[emsr2d2]

My question is - [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] "Is there an article before the names of lakes or not?" Some grammar books say there is but on this site I wrote a test and one of the correct answers in the test was that there is no article before lakes. Thanks in advance for your answers. [STRIKE]heforehand)))[/STRIKE]

Your last post was much better but I have made amendments to the first one above. Please remember to always start a sentence with a capital letter, capitalise the word "I" (first person singular) and to put a space after a full stop.

 

[lanatsotsoria]

Thank you very much I'll remember your advices for future.

 

[Tdol]

thanks for answers )) Tdol -grammar books that georgian writers wrote,they aren't reliable ,i looked in Merphy and Michael Vince , if you know them ,but as i remember lakes weren't mentioned in these books.Anyway it's not logical we use definite article before oceans,seas,rivers,canals but not before lakes?

Articles with geographical words is an area that is strange and can seem illogical. Why do we use no article with most mountains but an article with mountain ranges?

 

[TheParser]

I guess I'll have to just learn exceptions

*** NOT A TEACHER ***


(1) As you know, the beautiful and orderly nation of Switzerland has Lake Geneva.

(2) I notice that in the 19th century and in the earlier part of the twentieth century,

most English writers referred to it as The Lake of Geneva.

(3) Perhaps this is an example of how English (and other languages?) tend to

simplify over the years. You can see this development in countries' names, for we

no longer refer to:

the Sudan, the Lebanon, the Ukraine, etc.