Exercise 4. Explain the difference between these pairs of sentences

1.  The Antarctic is a polar region around the South Pole.

Antarctica is the Earth's southernmost continent. It is situated in the Antarctic region.

 

2. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean.

The Society Islands are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean.

 

3. Ireland is separated from Great Britain by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel.

 The island of Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

 

4. The international border between Nepal and China runs across the summit point of Mount Everest.

The Himalayas occupy a large territory in five countries, including the People's Republic of China.

 

5. Trump Tower is a 58-floor skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

The Tower of London a historic castle located on the north bank of the River Thames in central London.

 

6. Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is one of the world’s most-visited museums.

The British Museum features a permanent collection of some eight million artefacts.

 

7. The Great Lakes of North America consist of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.

Chicago is located on the shores of the Michigan.

 

 

EXERCISE 5. Explain the reasons for the articles in these sets of contrasted examples.

1. London is the largest city of England and the United Kingdom.

The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) − follows closely the medieval borders of the city.

London Heathrow Airport is a major international airport and the busiest airport in Europe by passenger traffic.

 

2. Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa with the population of 2,3 million people.

The Republic of Botswana has transformed itself into one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Its key industries are mining, cattle, and tourism.

Students enter the University of Botswana, Botswana College of Agriculture, Botswana International University of Science and Technology

 

3. Victoria Harbour separates Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north.

Lake Victoria was renamed after Queen Victoria by the explorer John Hanning Speke. It has since been recognized that the native guides used the name Lake Nyanza to describe it to him.

Victoria Peak is a hill on the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is a major tourist attraction that offers views of the surrounding islands.

 

4. The People’s Republic of China is the country with the highest death toll because of air pollution.

 In recent decades, China has suffered from severe environmental deterioration.

China Agricultural University is a university in Beijing that offers programs in agriculture, biology, engineering and veterinary medicine.

The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is a national research university under the direct leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

 

5. The Congo River, formerly known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile.

The historic kingdom of Kongo was named for the indigenous Kongo people and was one of the African countries hit by slavery export.

Congo Square is part of Louis Armstrong Park located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The neighborhood is famous for its history of African American music.

 

 

EXERCISE 6. Explain the use of articles in the following song lyrics and quotes:   

 

1. I follow the Moskva

Down to Gorky Park

Listening to the wind of change.

An August summer night,

Soldiers passing by,

Listening to the wind of change.

(Scorpions, Wind of Change)

 

2. It starts down in Wapping

There ain't no stopping.

By-pass Barking and straight through Dagenham

Down to Grays Thurrock

And rather near Basildon,

Pitsea, Thundersley, Hadleigh, Leigh-On-Sea,

Chalkwell, Prittlewell,

Southend's the end.

(Billy Bragg, A13, Trunk Road to the Sea)

 

3. Such a melting pot on the corner selling rock preachers pray to God.

Hail a gypsy cab takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Someone sleeps tonight with a hunger far more than an empty fridge.

I might make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams – baby, I'm from New York!

(Alicia Keys, New York)

 

4. Far over the Misty Mountains cold,

To dungeons deep and caverns old,

We must away, ere break of day,

To seek our pale enchanted gold.

(J.R.R. Tolkien, Far Over the Misty Mountains cold)

 

5. And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

 

Let freedom ring from the Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

 

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

(Dr. Martin Luther King, I Have A Dream speech)