Do you know where “Southern” Alps is?
Hello, YutakaM-san.
According to Wikipedia, this term can refer to the Southern Alps in New Zealand or geological division of the European Alps.
There is a town named “南アルプス市(Southern Alps City)” in Japan.
I noticed that “Alps” should read “the Alps.” Thank you.
Have you been there?
I have not been there.
Were you wondering about the use of the article?
Is “the Alps” treated as singular or plural?
Yes, I am always wondering about the use of the article.
I would probably ask, “Do you know where the Southern Alps are?” The tricky part is that it’s a town and a singular noun. So, in this case, I think your original question is grammatically correct.
I confess I left out an “a” before geographical division.
“Do you know where Minami Alpusu City is?” also works.
All mountain ranges take the article. The Alps, the Japanese Alps, the Southern Alps (NZ), the Himalayas, the Urals, the Pyrenees, the Rocky Mountains. So do other geographic features like rivers, seas, deserts, canyons etc. The exception seems to be lakes, which start with the term lake. Lake Erie, Lake Baikal.
If a town is called Southern Alps City, this does not take an article. It is a proper name, and not a mountain range.
Some countries take the article. The Czech Republic, the Argentine (as opposed to Argentina which does not take the article).
It is always the definite article since there is only one of them. We cannot have a Nile River. We can have a river, but the Nile is only one (usually).
Or Minami Arupusu City.
We agree then.
Thank you steve and Maitee. I feel that LingQ is wonderful.
Snowdonia doesn’t take an article. It’s the mountain range in Wales which Snowdon belongs to.
Is there only one mountain called by that name in that mountain range?
Yes, there is only one Snowdon in Snowdonia. I have no idea why the range isn’t called the Snowdonias, in line with pretty much every other mountain range on the planet. but there you are.
“The Southern Alps is a mountain range which runs along the western side of the South Island of New Zealand.”(Wikipedia)
I wonder if there is a mountain range called “the Northern Alps” or just “the Alps” in New Zealand.