In English, the names of most diseases are used without an article, but, for example, influenza and the plague are used only with ‘the’, while a cold and a stroke follow general rules and can use ‘a’ or ‘the’. Names of institutes use the article ‘the’, universities do not use an article (unless it’s a state university, then it uses the article). Coastlines generally use ‘the’, beaches do not. Pagodas and mosques use ‘the’, churches and temples (including pagan ones) do not. Rivers use ‘the’, waterfalls do not. Swamps use ‘the’, lakes do not. Bridges use an article, except Tower Bridge, streets do not use an article, except The High Street. Mountains do not use an article, except Matterhorn, canyons do not use an article, except the Grand Canyon. Archipelagos use an article, unless it’s a country or state (Hawaii), but there are exceptions to this exception: names of archipelagic countries that are plural (the Bahamas). Isn’t that wonderful?
(From a good tutorial on articles (http://englishpage.com/articles/index.htm), borrowed from fortunatus.lj.ru)
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 