Editing Proper noun (section)

=== Proper names and the definite article ===
Because they are used to refer to an individual entity, proper names are by their very nature definite; so many regard a [[Article (grammar)#Definite article|definite article]] as redundant, and personal names (like ''John'') are used without an article or other determiner. However, some proper names are normally used with the definite article. Grammarians divide over whether the definite article becomes part of the proper name in these cases, or ''precedes'' the proper name. ''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' terms these ''weak proper names'', in contrast with the more typical ''strong proper names'', which are normally used without an article.

Entities with proper names that use the definite article include geographical features (''the Mediterranean'', ''the Thames''), buildings (''the Parthenon''),  institutions ('the House of Commons''), cities and districts (''The Hague'', ''the Bronx''), works of literature ('' the Bible''), newspapers and magazines (''The Times'', ''The Economist'', ''the New Statesman''),{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|pp=517–518}} and events (''the '45'', ''the Holocaust''). In standard use, plural proper names take the definite article (''the Himalayas'', ''the Hebrides'').{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|pp=517–518}} Among the few exceptions are the names of certain bands ([[Heavy Metal Kids]], [[L.A. Guns]], [[Manic Street Preachers]]).

However, if adjectives are used, they are placed after the definite article ("the ''mighty'' Yangtze"). When such proper nouns are grouped together, sometimes only a single definite article will be used at the head ("''the'' Nile, Congo, and Niger"). And in certain contexts, it is grammatically permissible or even mandatory to drop the article.

The definite article is not used in the presence of preceding possessives ("''Da Vinci's'' Mona Lisa", "''our'' United Kingdom"), demonstratives ("life in ''these'' United States", "''that'' spectacular Alhambra"), interrogatives ("''whose'' Mediterranean: Rome's or Carthage's?"), or words like "no" or "another" ("that dump is ''no'' Taj Mahal", "neo-Nazis want ''another'' Holocaust").

An indefinite article phrase voids the use of the definite article ("''a'' restored Sistine Chapel", "''a'' Philippines free from colonial masters").

The definite article is omitted when such a proper noun is used attributively ("''Hague'' residents are concerned ...",  "... eight pints of ''Thames'' water ..."). If a definite article is present, it is for the noun, not the attributive ("''the'' Amazon ''jungle''", "''the'' Bay of Pigs ''debacle''").

[[Vocative]] expressions with a proper name also have the article dropped ("''jump'' that shark, Fonz!", "''O'' Pacific Ocean, be pacific for us as we sail on you", "Go Bears!", "U-S-A! U-S-A!").

Only a single definite article is used where the construction might seem to require two ("the '<s>The </s>Matterhorn' at Disneyland is not the actual mountain of that name"). In a grouping, a single definite article at the start may be understood to cover for the others ("''the'' Germany of Hitler, British Empire of Churchill, United States of Roosevelt, and Soviet Union of Stalin").

Headlines, which often simplify grammar for space or punchiness, frequently omit both definite and indefinite articles. 

Definite articles used in the title of a map might be omitted in labels within the map itself (Maldives, Sahara, Arctic Ocean, Andes, Elbe; though typically The Wash, The Gambia). It is also customary to drop the definite article in tables (of nations or territories with population, area, and economy, or of rivers by length).