With and without the
· They live near the lake. They live near Lake Constance.
We use the with the names of oceans, seas, rivers and canals:
The Atlantic (Ocean) The Mediterranean (Sea) The Red Sea
The Indian Ocean The Channel(between Franse and Britain) The Suez Channel
The (River) Amazon The (River) Thames The Nile
We use the with plural names of people and places:
People the Taylors (=the Taylor family), the Johnsons
Countries the Netherlands, the Philippines, the United States
Groups of islands the Canaries / the Canary Islands, the Bahamas, the British Isles
Mountain ranges the Rocky Mountains / the Rockies, the Andes, the Alps
· The highest mountain in the Alps is Mont Blanc.
North / norhtern etc:
We say: the north (of France) but northern France
annaabi.ee 
