Page 115 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

literature classes, it would probably be best to write it uncapitalized: Professor
Hernandez is the funniest guy in the department of mathematics.

8.8 Definite Article and Proper Nouns

Notice that I did not capitalize the in the Department of Mathematics. Usually,

we do not capitalize the before proper nouns (see section 8.7, Proper Nouns).

Some organizations, such as many newspapers, may prefer it in their own
writing for their own audiences, but for everyone else, good writing style usually

means writing it as the and not The.
For example, it’s better to write the New York Times unless you work for The

New York Times.
Knowing which proper nouns need the definite article the can be difficult,

and is best learned one at a time. There is no perfect rule to help you figure it

out, but in general we use the definite article if there is a very distinctive noun
that we are thinking of, perhaps the only one of its kind. Sometimes we use a

definite article before a proper noun because it’s part of the name.
We usually use the definite article:

■ for plural names: the Kardashians, the Dardanelles, the Philippines,
■ the Great Lakes, the Andes Mountains when the article is

specifying a kind or characteristic, either with an adjective or by
using of to show possession: the Central Intelligence Agency, the

White House, the United States of America, the Statue of Liberty, the
■ Gulf of Siam for newspapers but not magazines or most online

periodicals: the London Times, the Sydney Morning Herald. An

exception: The New Yorker.
■ for rivers, oceans, and seas, but not individual lakes or ponds:

the Amazon River, the Black Sea, the Arctic Ocean Proper nouns for
■ ■ ■ places where the definite article is usually used: the Bahamas the Bronx

■ the Gambia the Sudan