When to use "the" before compound proper noun?

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allans
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When to use "the" before compound proper noun?

Post by allans »

I have read these rules about when to use the article "the" before proper nouns, which were very helpful.
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nou ... no-the.htm

However, I was a bit confused about some expressions involving proper nouns and "the" that I found online that seemed not covered by the link.

In England there is a place called "Derwent Valley," which is based on the river Derwent. In other words, by the rules in the link above, Derwent is the name of a place, and hence no "the" should precede it. However, a google search yields multiple results that write "the Derwent Valley," i.e. inconsistent with the rule in the link above.

The same goes for "Derwent Valley Mills," where all texts I came across online wrote "the Derwent Valley Mills," although as per the rule in the link, "Derwent Valley" should be the name of a place, and so there should not be "the" before this proper noun, right?

Thanks a lot if you could explain how this may be a kind of exception to the above rule or if there is some other explanation!
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Alan
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Re: When to use "the" before compound proper noun?

Post by Alan »

These are only general guidelines, and individual exceptions, as is so frequently the case in English, need to be checked via appropriate reference materials (incl. the Internet).

However, the particular case that you cite is probable explained by the fact that 'the Derwent Valley' stands for 'the Derwent River Valley'.
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