Names of organizations

· Names of well-known institutions, foundations, organizations typically have the definite article, and they keep it when they are abbreviated: the United Nations (the UN), the BBC, the FBI, the Ford Foundation.

The TUC runs ten-day courses all over the country.

The BBC never reported my speeches.

If an abbreviation is pronounced as a word, then there is no article. So “the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries” is usually called “OPEC” /ə υ pek /. Other examples are “ NATO” and “UNICEF”

· Some names of charities do not have the definite article: Oxfam, Christian Aid, Mencap.

· Businesses and chains of shops are referred to with no article: General Motors, Sony, Woolworths, Shell, Nissan, Singapore Airlines.

Now Collins have brought it out in a new translation.

This applies even when abbreviation is used which is not pronounced as a word: BP /bi: pi: / (British Petroleum), KLM, BA, ICI, IBM and so on.

…corporations like IBM, RCA and Xerox.

However if a word like “ company ” is used, then the definite article is used: the Bell Telephone Company.

You can find alternatives like: “General Electric” and “GEC” as well as ” the General Electric Company”.

Names of political institutions

The following names typically have the definite article

· The names of most political or government bodies and institutions: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Department of Trade and Industry, the State Department, the Cabinet.

Look at the percentage of lawyers in the Senate.

This is true also of foreign institutions, translated or not: the Bundestag, the Supreme Court, the Finance Ministry, the Supreme Rada, and so on.

Exceptions to this are: Parliament (but the House of Parliament), Congress, and names of councils: Kent County Council, Leeds City Council.

It happened when I was elected to Parliament in 1964.

But names of locations and buildings that are used to refer metaphorically to political institutions stay as they are: Whitehall, Westminster, Downing Street, Washington, the Kremlin.

· Official titles: the Secretary of State, the Foreign (or Prime) Minister, the King, the Premier.

But article is not used if the name accompanies the title: President Washington

· Names of political parties: the Labour party, the Conservative party, the Republicans.

· Names of law enforcement bodies, civil and military: the Army, the Navy, the state militia, the police, the Air Corps.

· Names of bills, acts, and other legislative deliberations: the Magna Carta, the Missouri Compromise.